New mode of treatment for delayed or non-union of a fractured humerus : read before the Medical Society of the County of Erie, June, 1854 / by Frank H. Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, Frank Hastings, 1813-1886.
Date:
[1854?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: New mode of treatment for delayed or non-union of a fractured humerus : read before the Medical Society of the County of Erie, June, 1854 / by Frank H. Hamilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    1/8
    w ^^X^vv^X^b-i<^ J*, ft w i, J NEW MODE OF TREATMENT FOR DELAYED OR NON-UNION OF A FRACTURED HUMERUS, READ BEFOKE THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE COUNTY OF ERIE, JUNE, 1854. BY FRANK H. HAMILTON, M. D. It has been observed by surgeons that non-union results more frequently after fractures of the shaft of tbe humerus, than after fractures of the shaft of any other bone. This observation is confirmed by my own researches. Comparing- the humerus with the femur, between which, above all others, the circumstances of form, situation, &c, are most nearly parallel, and in both of which non-union is said to be relatively frequent, I find that of forty- nine fractures of the humerus, four occurred through the surgical neck, twelve through the condyles and twenty-nine through the shaft. In one of the twenty-nine, the patient survived the accident only a few days. In four of the remaining twenty-eight, union had not occurred after the lapse of six months and in many more was it delayed considerably beyond the usual time. Two of the four were simple fractures, and occurred near the middle of the humerus; the third was compound, and occurred near the middle also- the fourth was compound, and occurred near the condyles. This analysis supplies us, therefore, with four cases of non-union, from a table of twenty-eight cases of fractures through the shaft. Of eighty-seven fractures of the femur, twenty occurred through the neck, one through the trocanter major, and one through the condyles. The re- mainino- sixty-five occurred through the shaft and generally near the middle, and in not one case, was the union delayed beyond six months.