A History of Limb Amputation [electronic resource] /
Kirkup, John R.author.
A History of Limb Amputation traces humanity’s long experience of natural amputations due to congenital absence, disease, frostbite, toxins, domestic and wild animal trauma, and for non-medical reasons related to punitive, ritual, and legal actions, ultimately leading to the development of elective surgical amputation. While the evolution of surgical techniques forms a major chapter in the book, many ancillary problems are addressed including the control of hemorrhage and infection, the approach to pain relief, the development of suitable instruments and equipment, and the invention of prostheses, all suitably illuminated with case histories and relevant illustrations. In addition, alternative procedures designed to avoid amputation, increasingly important in the last two centuries, are debated, and factors associated with self-amputation in extremis, not rare according to press reports, are also examined. A separate chapter considers the philosophy and interpretations of society, patients, and surgeons faced with amputation, particularly before anesthesia. The book will be of interest to medical and social historians, surgeons, and nurses undertaking amputations, limb-fitting surgeons and prosthetists, limb manufacturers, and amputees themselves.
Description based upon print version of record.
and Sources -- Natural Causes of Dismemberment -- Accidental Causes for Amputation: Auto-Amputation -- Ritual, Punitive, Legal and Iatrogenic Causes -- Cold Steel and Gunshot Causes -- Elective Amputation: Early Evolution to the End of the 17th Century -- Elective Amputation: From the 18th Century to 1846 -- Elective Amputation: From 1846 to Recent Times -- Interpretations of Amputation by Society, Patients and Surgeons -- Surgical Instrumentation and Equipment -- Indications, Timing and Procedures -- Stumps: Reattachment,Management, Complications, Revision and Care for Limb-Fitting -- Artificial Limbs and Rehabilitation.
A History of Limb Amputation traces humanity’s long experience of natural amputations due to congenital absence, disease, frostbite, toxins, domestic and wild animal trauma, and for non-medical reasons related to punitive, ritual, and legal actions, ultimately leading to the development of elective surgical amputation. While the evolution of surgical techniques forms a major chapter in the book, many ancillary problems are addressed including the control of hemorrhage and infection, the approach to pain relief, the development of suitable instruments and equipment, and the invention of prostheses, all suitably illuminated with case histories and relevant illustrations. In addition, alternative procedures designed to avoid amputation, increasingly important in the last two centuries, are debated, and factors associated with self-amputation in extremis, not rare according to press reports, are also examined. A separate chapter considers the philosophy and interpretations of society, patients, and surgeons faced with amputation, particularly before anesthesia. The book will be of interest to medical and social historians, surgeons, and nurses undertaking amputations, limb-fitting surgeons and prosthetists, limb manufacturers, and amputees themselves.
Surgery.
Orthopedics.
Medicine—History.
Anesthesiology.
Surgery.
Surgical Orthopedics.
History of Medicine.
Anesthesiology.