The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-05-01
REPAIRING SEVERED ARTERIES.
A Surgical Feat That Was Long
Thought to BE an 1mpossibility.

A surgical Feat That was Long
Thought to BE an Impossibility.
In the medical archives in the library
of St. Petersburg Is an account of q
most wonderful operation performed by
Kamtsky, one of the greatest surgeons
OF his time, an operation like which no
other is recorded. Poitinkosh, rich
farmer, cattle raiser and reindeer farmer.
residing north of st. Petersburg, suffer.
cd an injury to the upper end of the right
thigh, caused by being violently hurled
from his sleigh, the latter having struck
stump. The farmer in falling was jag.
ged by snag which struck about two
inches below the fold Of the flank, caus.
ing a torn, bleeding, gaping wound Of
about four inches in length, directly
downward and in line over the femoral
artery (the large artery which supplies
the entire leg with blood, the latter yes.
sci having been laid bare and severely
bruised in the wreck, no large vessels
having been torn.
KamtskEEwith the great wisdom Of a
world Of experience, wisely apprehended
the possible results of this peculiar
wound, and for the next "A hours he
spent every minute OF his time, valuable
as it was, working with chemical fire,
molten substances and apparatus of di.
vers kinds until finally the object Of his
efforts was finished, small, hollow, elias.
tic cooress tube about five inches long,
the composition of which is not recorded,
consequently not known. In Il hours aft.
err his task was finished careful scrutiny
of the injured limb revealed slightly
blush tint, scarcely noticeable, on the
end of the great toe. This was the signal
for operation to the surgeon, and the
stockman was Immediately taken to the
operating room, where in order to arrest
onc0ming gangrenc he was subjected to
nm odd and experimental operation.
After the patient was annsthetized the
wound was uncovered, carefully cleaned
and the tissue carefully pushed and dis
sected away from the large artery, expos
ing about 3la inches of bruised vessel
ready to disintegrate. A clamp was plac-
ed on the artery an inch above where
normal sound tissue began. Then he cut
the artery at the junction Of the bruised
and sound tissue, and, carefully drawing
the mysterious tube from its aseptic hid.
ing place, he slipped the cut, round end
Of the vessel into 1t about an inch, being
exceedingly careful while so doing to
keep the hollow tube collapsed and emp.
ty so as to avoid all danger produced by
the entrance of air.
Repeating the same process Mt the low
er end Of the artery, he inserted the tube
into the end of the vessel about the same
distance as the upper end lay in the tube.
Then gently releasing the lower clamp,
he allowed the tube to fill with blood
from the portion of the vessels below.
Then the final test came when he gently
and steadily moved the clamp above the
tube, thus establishing an unbroken chan
mel which would carry the blood to its
normal distribution. A slight pouching
Of the tube at first caused some fear as
to whether it were strong enough to stand
the pressure of the heart wave Of blood
as the latter pulsated through its new
channel. This latter defect was over
come. however, when the tube was laid in
the bed Of the bruised eXsected portion
and the external support Of the muscles
and tissues gave it sufficient strength to
overcome the pressure of the blood
stream. The wound was carefully closed,
the parts set at rest and results awaited
In SO hours the blue tint had disappeared
from the toe, and the color Of the skin Of
the leg changed from a pale ashy to
pink.
Two months aftcrward the patient was
attending his everyday duties as former
ly, suffering no inconvenience whatever
from his wound. Five years afterward
the patient died Of acute pneumonia, and
a post mortem examination Of the seat Of
the wound revealed Il strong firm plastic
composition tube Immediately in the
"situ" Of the composition tube, the latter
having been absorbed by the blood, not,
however, before the lymphatics had SO
encysted it, just as a bullet becomes en-
cysted in the body after months of time,
to the extent that when the tube was
eaten away by the blood this fibrous coat
answered the original plan of circulation.
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