Fracture of the femur: A clinical study

✍ Scribed by R. Hamilton Russell

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1924
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 781 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0007-1323
• DOI: 10.1002/bjs.1800114309

✦ Synopsis

THE man who invented the term 'simple fracture' has been called an unconscious humorist, and the quip derives some justification from the frequency with which closed fractures are found to present so much difficulty in their management as to require operative fixation of the fragments. All are agreed that the opening up of a simple h c t u r e is a measure to be deplored ; but all are not agreed as to the exact reasons which render such a serious step imperative. We hold that there is only one circumstance that can justify such a surgical procedure ; that is, mechanical impediment to the reposition of the fragments. To put it concisely, the purpose of operation must only be to enable fragments t o be brought into position; and operation is not justified when its purpose is merely to keep them there. During the last ten years the method I shall describe, and its guiding principles, have been very thoroughly tested a t the Alfred Hospital, Melboarne, and during the last two years a t the Children's Hospital also.