Ergotism

✍ Scribed by P. Tfelt-Hansen; I. Gøthgen; J. Fielding; R. Donovan; F. Burrows; R. Hurlow

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 208 KB
• Volume: 67
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0007-1323
• DOI: 10.1002/bjs.1800671122

✦ Synopsis

Missile injuries of the abdomen

Sir Mr Dent and Mr Jena are to be congratulated on their good results in penetrating abdominal injuries sustained in war (Br. J . Surg. 1980 67: 305-10). They rightly highlight the lethal effects of colon injury and recommend a selective pol~cy of resection with primary anastomosis and primary closure (usually without colostomy) according to need in the individual case. With this I agree, but I do hope (as I am sure they do) that their experience will not be over-interpreted as a licence to carry out primary anastomotic procedures or primary closures indiscrimnately. True, they do not find suture line failure at autopsy; however, I believe that sepsis is more likely if time is spent working to repair the large bowel and is also more probable if a suture line is present irrespective of its integrity. The starting oint in surgical management is still that repair of colonic gunsiot wounds should not be done, however many and increasing exceptions to that rule may be found.