Amputation

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

the cutting off of a part which, by its injured or diseased condition, endangers, or may endanger, the safety of the whole body. The amputation of a limb was in ancient times attended with great danger of the patient's dying during its performance, as surgeons had no efficient means of re- 7 シン AMPHITHEATER IN THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AT ARLINGTON straining the bleeding. The desired power of controlling the hemorrhage was obtained by the invention of the tourniquet in 1674, by a French surgeon, Morel, and its improvement early in the next century by his countryman Petit. The ancient surgeons endeavored to save a covering of skin for the stump, by havthe skin drawn upward by an assistthe ing ant, previously using the knife. In 1679 Lowdham of Exeter suggested cutting semicircular flaps on one or both side of a limb, so as to preserve a fleshy cushion to cover the end of the bone. Both these methods are now in use, and are known as the "circular" and the "flap" operations; the latter is most frequently used in this country. The question when amputation of a limb is necessary, is often, especially after an accident, one of the most difficult in surgery. The chief indications for it in these cases are very extensive destruction or laceration of the skin; injury to the large vessels or nerves; severe splintering of the bones. The diseases most commonly requiring it are disease of bones or joints, especially when the discharge from it threatens to exhaust the the patient; tumors, especially cancer and sarcoma, which cannot other wise be removed; and gangrene.