The surgery of the stomach : a handbook of diagnosis and treatment / by Herbert J. Paterson.

  • Paterson, Herbert J. (Herbert John), 1868-1940.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The surgery of the stomach : a handbook of diagnosis and treatment / by Herbert J. Paterson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    i CHAPTER II THE PREPARATION AND TREATMENT OF PATIENTS BEFORE GASTRIC OPERATIONS Like success in other walks of life, success in gastric surgery depends on attention to detail. There are some who scofi at elaborate preparations, minimise the importance of after- | treatment, and regard the patient's fate as sealed for good ' or ill when the wound is closed. I think this is a mistake. Attention to detail in the treatment of patients before and ' after operation, is second only to the skilful performance of the operation itself. Often skilful nursing and after-treat- ment will pull through a seemingly hopeless case, and always will add greatly to the patient's comfort and prospect of a speedy convalescence. There is no finality in surgery. Methods are being changed continually. I do not propose to describe, or even to summarise, all the different methods in use, but simply to give an account of those, which from an experience of over a thousand operations, as weU as from watching the practice of many other surgeons in this I country, America, and on the Continent, personally I have . i found to give the best results, and which from experience I can recommend. PREPARATORY TREATMENT The minimum period of preparation for an abdominal operation (except, of course, in case of emergency) should be three days, but whenever practicable I prefer the prepara- tion of the patient to be commenced a week before the date fixed for the operation. During this period the bowels are B