On the treatment of aneurism by manipulation / by William Fergusson.

  • Fergusson, William.
Date:
[1857]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the treatment of aneurism by manipulation / by William Fergusson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    towards free use of tlie limb was slower than was in accord¬ ance with the patient’s ideas, and he was induced to consult a charlatan, who applied a bandage to the foot and leg. This pressure speedily induced mortification, and the patient, in throwing himself back on his former attendants, was obliged to submit to amputation in the thigh, which, unfortunately, after all, did not save his life. All were interested in the examination of the arteries of the amputated limb, and it was with no small astonishment that a small aneurism was discovered in the popliteal artery, well plugged with a firm mass of fibrin. The limb had been, during life, a very stout one; there had been no suspicion of this disease, and after the patient was laid up, although the ham had fre¬ quently been examined, there wras nothing perceived to induce a suspicion of the presence of this tumour. The artery above and below the disease was remarkably healthy in tissue ; and the conclusion drawm from the history of this case was that, on the occasion of getting into bed, either a portion or the whole of the mass of fibrin had been so displaced as to obstruct the circulation in the arteries below, and thereby cause the pain or peculiar sensations of which the patient had complained, and that the spontaneous cure of aneurism was in favorable progress until the tight bandage had so obstructed the collateral circulation as to bring on mortifi¬ cation. This case seemed to me an illustration of the reasoning adopted by my old teacher. Some years after I was present at a consultation, which had been invited by a surgeon of great eminence and skill, on a case of popliteal aneurism, for the cure of which he proposed to tie the superficial femoral artery. The patient had been seen by this surgeon some three weeks before, and at that time the symptoms were so clear that he had indi¬ cated the proper course to be pursued, to which a willing- assent had been given. The patient went home to arrange some affairs, and the surgeon, who had given him the customary advice, saw him on his return for the first time when the consultants were met. A brief history of the