The Dillon tribune., 1886-05-08
A NEW ARM FOR A MAN.
A SURGICAL OPERATION THAT WILL
PROBABLY PROVE SUCCESSFUL.


A Case of Exceeding MISUNDERSTANDING
n Large Surface of Exposed Flesh with
Pieces Cut from various Parts of the
Patients Bo.ly.
A surgical operation of exceeding inter-
est is being performed at the Hahnemann
hospital. 1t is one of those cases that
can not be finished at u single sitting, but
which must be carried through various
stages in II progressive way from the De-
ginning to the end. 1t was begun about
three weeks ago, and from the present
medical indications there is little drabt
that the result desired will be attained.
The patient is Christopher Doll. y Ger
man 81 wears old He received his in
jury accidentally. He was extremely
fond of smoking; :, PIPE. One evening
about nine mont hs $50 ne was enjoying
quiet smoke III his room. and Will. read
iIg fell asleep. In some way the pipe.
| which he still held IN his mouth, was
| overturned, and the hot ashes fell from
the bowl upon his shirt sleeves and set it
! on fire. 1t sE,D!.lcreu for 4 time, and
| burned several small holes in the sleeve,
! and then it burst into Il flame and the
! sleeper was aroused. The fire !,a.i reached
his flesh, and he tore 1T the burning cloth
nladly. He rolled over on the floor, and
| finally the flame was extinguisl,etl. His
right arm from the waist to the shoulder
was terribly burned. and it lool.c,i us if the
flesh could be scraped from the bone With
out trouble The pain was intense. and
from the nature of the wound it appeared
as if the arm would have to be ar1puta1cd
close to the shoulder. Private medical
| treatment was tried for time, but us it
did not accomplish any material benefit
Doll went to Il hospital. He remained un-
der constant care for two months.
LARGE SURFACE OF EXPOSED FLESH.
By this time the forearm ,iHd healed,
leaving frightful scar. with tile cicatri-
cal tissue drawing in every direction.
Despite she most parsevering treatment
the upper portion of the arm l:Dm the
elbow to the s.nliitcr could not ID" healed.
The patient wen; TO several h,"pt;,ls, but
could get no relief. There was s'csi a
large surface Of exposed flesh il, the wound
that the pus formation was unusually
large, and the au.iscrtic precautions which
were taken did not prevent the absorption
of the poisonous matter into the PATIENTS
system. Thus Il dangerous condition OF
notwithstanding was ser up He grew pale
and eni;:ciAted. LOST his strength anl
courage. and when he was admitted to the
tahne1nann hospital. about two months
ago, he was IL living skeleton, with h, ..ruy
muscular power enough lcf: To raise his
hand
AS soon rs he was admitted measures:
were taken to stamp out the blood conta-
mination, which We're eventually Success
full, and the patient began to re-
cover strength. When he got strong enough
and his body was sufficiently free from the
incidental disease, it was determined by
the attending surgeon to make Il new up
per arm from the flesh of the patients
body, and to heal up the wound by cover
ing it over with healthy tissue. At first
small pieces Of flesh were taken from var
ious parts Of his body and placed in differ
ent spots upon the raw shoulder rs q
matter OF experiment, to determine
whether the flesh could he successfully
grated. The experiment was successful
The little pieces Of flesh and skin united
and made little GASES on the diseased
shoulder. These minor operations were
performed several days apart, and without
the use of OF any ether than II local
anesthetic. Everything had gone on So
well that about ten days ago it was determ-
| ined to begin the more important part
Va lAV oP0ASSlAoA, WHICH, NOllssISCcO liz CONct-
ing up large portion Of the arm at one
time with flesh.
HOW THE ARM AS PATCHED.
The patient was first put under the in
tluence Of an annsthetic Then all the
cicatricial tissue upon the upper arm was
scraped with knife until it ble,l rrofusely
and was entirely raw. While the arm was
held away from the body two incisiol,s were
made about three inches apart running up
ward from the small ribs for about seven
inches At the lower end nj these incisions
Il crosscut was made, and then the strip Ut
flesh was dissected up from the ribs the
full length OF the incision, making Il large
i1ap. This was LETT united at the uppci
| end. Then the patients arm was brought
close to his side, and his loose flap was laid
| over OH the raw flesh OH the arm and
carefully pressed and fitted into position.
When this had been done there was still u
! large section of the upper back arm re-
| naming uncovered Two incisions were
again made similar to the first two. rum
ming up and down the upper portion of the
side of the back. The flesh was thick at
this point, and permitted free dissection
| While the upturned flesh was yet palpitat
ing with the heart influence, it was put
over the bleeding surface of the arm and
fitted into place. Then the two flaps were
securely fastened into position by long
bands of sticlSing-plaster, while larger
bands were run over the lower portion OF
the arm and around the abdomen and hack
and interlaced so that all motion of the
arm was stopped. After the whole wound
had been covered with All antiseptic dress
ing, the ether cone was taken off the "a
TENTS face, and he soon recovered con-
sciOusness. He suffered little from shock
and the hemorrhage was comparatively
| slight.