Spinal caries : operative treatment, laminectomy, or so-called trephining of spine / by De Forest Willard.
- Willard de Forest
- Date:
- 1889
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Spinal caries : operative treatment, laminectomy, or so-called trephining of spine / by De Forest Willard. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![SPINAL CARIES: OPERATIVE TREATMENT— RESECTION OF LAMINA, ETC. By DE FOREST WILLARD, M.D., Ph.D., CLINICAL PROFESSOR OP ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY, UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA J SURGEON TO THE PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, PHILADELPHIA, ETC. [Bead March 6, 1889.] The operative treatment of spinal caries may be considered under three heads: 1. Evacuation of pus. 2. Erasion or removal of carious bone. 3. Vertebrectomy or excision of the lamina for the relief of pressure paralysis. 1. Evacuation of Pus.—Until very recently the expectant plan of treatment of spinal abscess was generally adopted by surgeons, since they had learned from the failures of their predecessors that septic poisoning and death were frequent results of interference. At the present time, with thorough antisepsis, such results are rare, and we can with confidence open any abscess, acute or chronic, with the full expectation that benefit will be ob- tained by the evacuation of an injurious material, the retention of which in the body may lead to most serious consequences from bacillary or tuberculous infection. That such evils do not more frequently occur from pus retention is due to the fact that nature attempts to escape the baneful influence by intrenching herself behind a firm wall of inflammatory tissue. a. Aspiration. My own practice is to use the aspirator in cases of doubt, when the abscess is very small, and when it is](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22275472_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
