The management of laparotomy patients and their modified after-treatment / by H.J. Boldt.

  • Boldt, Hermann Johann, 1856-
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The management of laparotomy patients and their modified after-treatment / by H.J. Boldt. 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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    To make doubly sure as to the effect of fractional sterilization on positively infected catgut, I re- quested Dr. Arthur Mandel, of the Cornell Univer- sity Medical College, to inoculate some catgut, and he soaked it, after untwisting it, with the view of getting it thoroughly imbued with the bacilli and spores of anthrax and of tetanus and hay bacilli, for twelve hours in bouillon which had been thoroughly infected with the microorganisms named. The in- fected catgut was then replaced in tubes and sealed. It was then sterilized in the Kny-Scheerer labora- tory and returned to Dr. Mandel for examination. After every method of examination it was found absolutely sterile. The tests which I had made had the object of proving or disproving conclusively whether catgpit which contained very resistant mi- croorganisms, and subsequently properly sterilized, was absolutely reliable so far as the possibility of causing infection was concerned. At the meeting of this society held in Birming- ham, two years ago, I said a few words regarding the subsequent treatment of abdominal section pa- tients, but I was then still in the experimental stage with the treatment. The first premeditated impor- tant dej^arture from the long rest in bed after an ab- dominal section was made by Dr. Emil Ries, of Chi- cago, and, believing Ries to be conscientious and a good observer, I had no hesitation in putting the departure to the test. I added, however, one modifi- cation which I considered of the utmost importance for the patient’s abdominal wound; in fact I believe it to be the salient feature, namely, a proper abdomi- nal binder, which Ries does not consider necessary. I may add that in a letter dated November 17, 1906, Dr. Robert T. Morris states that he for a time required his patients to arise from bed so early after abdominal sections fifteen years ago, but again dis- carded the practice because of the severe criticism to which he was subjected by some of his colleagues in