A memoir on indolent ulcers, and their surgical treatment / by John Gay.

  • Gay, John, 1812-1885.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A memoir on indolent ulcers, and their surgical treatment / by John Gay. 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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    the smaller veins,—not, for instance, for the saphenous,— subcutaneous division; and to this suggestion the principle of subcutaneous operations, now so generally applied, is, I believe, to be traced. In this manner Sir Benjamin cut through clusters of veins; but the results were not in the main so satisfactory as to lead him to con- tinue the practice or to recommend it to others. “ The wound, in most instances, healed by the first intention. The varicose veins were obliterated, and, usually in a few days, the patient suffered no inconvenience from the operation. However, in some cases the wound suppurated instead of healing by the first intention, which protracted the cure. In some instances in which I had recourse to this operation a remarkable occurrence took place. Although I was satisfied that the cluster was divided, the disease was not cured. It seemed as if the veins healed without becoming obliterated. As the ductus choledochus, or the intestinal canal, will heal after the application of a ligature, without the con- tinuity of the canal being destroyed ; so it appears to be with divided veins under certain circumstances.'* The object of the subcutaneous section was to save the vein from contact with the air or with foreign bodies; and this Lisfranc and Ricord afterwards attempted to accomplish by dividing the vein and cutting off a portion of its extremities. This proceeding, how-% * Brodie’s Lectures on Pathology and Surgery, p. 10P.