Observations on aneurism : and its treatment by compression / O'Bryen Bellingham.

  • Bellingham, O'Bryen, 1805-1877.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on aneurism : and its treatment by compression / O'Bryen Bellingham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    Bourdelot. This instrument, Foubert states, be bad con- structed of different sizes, so that it could be adapted to the thigh and leg as well as to the arm. In addition to compressing instruments, a form of bandage, invented by Genga, was in pretty general use at the period in question, and seems to have been sometimes preferred in wounds of the brachial artery. The following is Guattani's description of the mode of applying this bandage. The axillary artery and the wounded vessel being compressed by an assistant, and a tourniquet tightened above the elbow, each finger of the hand on the affected side is to be separately bandaged, a longer and a broader roller is then to be carried round the hand and forearm, up to the elbow: pledgets, dij)ped in spirits of wine, or wine and water, are laid on the affected part, and the tourniquet being removed, the compresses and bandages are to be continued up to the axilla. Genga, in addition, placed a piece of stick surrounded with lint upon the vessel along the arm, and when the bandage reached the axilla, he carried a second roller from above downwards over the former. The whole was wet twice a day, and the appa- ratus was not disturbed for twelve or thirteen days. These compressing instruments and bandages were employed as well in recent wounds of arteries as after the formation of an aneurism; but down to the middle of the 18th century, this mode of treatment was limited to the brachial artery and its branches, or to small arteries in other situations, and to cases where the aneurism was small and of recent occurrence: when the tumour increased much in size, the operation (called that for aneurism) was performed. This consisted in laying open the sac in its whole length, (having previously applied a tourniquet to the arm) removing the coagula and fluid blood ; tying the artery above and below the opening; then filling the wound with charpie ; and applying bandages and compresses.