On the operation for strangulated hernia / by Henry Hancock.

  • Henry Hancock
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the operation for strangulated hernia / by Henry Hancock. 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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    asserted by Sir A. Cooper. On the contrary, I believe that this abstraction of blood, and the consequent depress sion, have, among other causes, increased the mortalityj attending the operation for hernia. If the case were onei of mere simple inflammation, the bleeding would be oj service; but it must be remembered that, w7hen we operate) after the bleeding—after the faintness has been induced\ we commit a new violence upon the part we excite J fresh cause of inflammation by the wound we inflict; w hilst having previously depressed our patient by the abstractor of blood, we have rendered him unable to resist the energy of the attack, so that, should inflammation set in, we hav« deprived ourselves of our resources—we have reduced th« patient so much before the operation, that he wilj not bear any further depletion. In the same ratio as thij patient has been depressed, will be the urgency of tin symptoms; and the greater the urgency of the symptoms* the less will be the power of resistance or recovery possessed by the patient. I have often seen individua. bled before undergoing serious operations, and havin carefully watched the results. I can affirm that I hav never seen any benefit ensue from the piactice, but \er frequently harm. The mischief attending strangulate, hernia is very different to the common inflammatioj occurring under ordinary circumstances, and in most othd parts of the body. The depression attending injuries o vital organs is always present in strangulated hernia. Th patient, so long as constriction exists, is more or les rapidly, but at the same time with equal certainty, vergin towards a state of collapse. To this state we aie oblige) to add the shock of the operation, which often prove beyond the powers of the patient, who sinks and du without the power of making an effort at recovery. 1
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