Numerous studies of the collateral circulation in various parts of the body in man and the lower animals have been made, extending back to ancient times. Ligation of the large arteries, with subsequent preservation of the affected parts through collateral channels, has been successfully performed only in relatively few cases. One of the first ligations of the abdominal aorta in man was performed in 1817 by Sir Astley Cooper and, according to Keen ('OO), this was repeated by James (1830), Murray ( '34), Monteiro ( '40), South ( '56), 1lcGuire ( '68), Stokes ( '69)' Watson ( '69), and Czerny ( '70). All of these cases died, though that of Monteiro's survived for ten days. Brooks ( '26) has performed an aortic ligation in which the patient, a man, survived for thirteen weeks, dying of intestinal obstruction due to adhesions. In the discussion of Brooks' article, Matas states that he made a ligation of the abdominal aorta, the patient surviving one year, five months, and nine days, dying of tuberculosis.
Much work has also been done on this subject in animal experimentation, chiefly by Halsted ('09), Guthrie ( '12), Carrel ( '06), and Reichert ('24). However, in reviewing the literature of this field, it was found that no mention was made of the possible influence of the sex of the subject on the collateral response following aortic ligation. This investigation was undertaken with the purpose of discovering whether there was any difference according to sex in the effective collateral response.