On the causes of death after amputation / by Thomas Bryant ; communicated by John Birkett.

  • Bryant, Thomas, 1828-1914.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the causes of death after amputation / by Thomas Bryant ; communicated by John Birkett. 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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    in the joint are generally fatal, and that pyaemia is the chief cause of death in these cases. 4. That exhaustion and pyaemia are causes of death in equal proportions, or in about 40 per cent, of the fatal cases, and in 10 per cent, of all amputations of the thigh. 5. That exhaustion is most fatal in primary amputations, and the least so in amputations of expediency. 6. That pycemia is most fatal in amputations of expe- diency, and the least so in primary. 7. That primary amputations for the most part are fatal from exhaustion, 35 per cent, of the cases sinking from this cause; 15 per cent, from pyaemia; and from secondary haemorrhage and traumatic complications 5 per cent. each. 8. That exhaustion, pyaemia, and hectic are equally fatal causes in secondary amputations, proving fatal in 25 per cent. each. Amputations of the Leg. 1. That 37 per cent, are fatal: of pathological amputations 7'7 per cent.; amputations of expediency 66-6 per cent.; primary amputations 62'5 per cent. ; secondary amputations 666 per cent. 2. That amputations of the leg are 10 per cent, more fatal than of the thigh; the amputations of expediency and traumatic amputations being more fatal, and the latter more frequent. 3. That amputations of expediency of the leg are gene- rally fatal, being twice as fatal as those of the thigh. That pyaemia is the chief cause of death in 75 per cent, of the fatal cases, and in 50 per cent, of all such amputations. 4. That in primary amputations, pyaemia is the cause of death in half the fatal cases, or in 32 per cent, of all such operations ; exhaustion and visceral complications about 8 per cent. each. 5. That, comparing primary amputations of the thigh and leg together, they are equally fatal; but that pyaemia is twice as fatal in amputations of the leg as in amputations of the thigh.