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1803LarreyDJ

 

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Fragment from the book: Larrey DJ. Relation historique et chirurgique de l'expedition de l'armée d'Orient, en Egypte et Syrie (Historical account and surgery of the expedition of the Army of the Orient, in Egypt and Syria, 1803). The author describes exarticulation in the hip joint and the technique of cutting the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF), which he calls the "interarticular ligament". The text in Russian is available at the following link: 1803LarreyDJ.


Quote pp. 325-328 

Les praticiens qui ont proposé l'extirpation de la cuisse ne sont point d'accord sur la manière de la faire; cependant presque tous, craignant l'hémorragie de l'artère crurale, commencent par la ligature de ce vaisseau, forment ensuite un lambeau aux dépens des muscles fessiers, découvrent la partie postérieure de l'articulation, ouvrent la capsule, coupent le ligament inter-articulaire, et achèvent l'opération en formant le lambeau interne (1).

(1) Voyez les opuscules de M. Morand, page 189, mémoire de M. Volher.

 

Ce procédé est extrêmement pénible, difficile et dangereux; les hémorragies qui résultent des artères fessières, sciatiques et circonflexes sont très-difficiles à arrêter, le membre étant en place; l'os se désarticule avec la plus grande difficulté, et on court le risque, par les différentes attitudes qu'on est obligé de donner au malade, de faire rompre la ligature de l'artére crurale; ou même, en passant le couteau de la cavité cotyloïde sur les attaches du triceps adducteur, on peut toucher ce tronc artériel, même au-dessus de la ligature, quelqu'atten. tion qu'on ait prise pour la faire près de l'arcade crurale; il y a d'autres inconvéniens qu'il est inutile de détailler.

Pour exécuter mon procédé, je mets d'abord le blessé sur le pied de son lit, dans une position presque horizontale, et me place en dedans de la cuisse que je dois opérer; un aide vigoureux et intelligent comprime l'artère crurale, à son passage sur la gouttière osseuse du même nom; ensuite je fais une incision aux tégumens de l'aine sur le trajet des vaisseaux cruraux que je mets à découvert ; je les dissèque avec précaution, et après avoir isolé le nerf qui se trouve en dehors, je passe entre lui et l'artère une aiguille courbe mousse (1), de manière à y comprendre l'artère et la veine pour les lier ensemble.

(1) Du modèle de celles que j'ai adressées à l'Académie de chirurgie en 1792, et pour lesquelles cette compagnie m'accorda un prix dans sa dernière séance publique, le 18 avril 1793.

 

J'ai l'attention de porter cette ligature immédiate au-dessous de l'arcade crurale, pour la faire au-dessus de l'origine de la musculaire commune, dont la section, pendant l'opération causeroit, sans cette mesure, des hémorragies mortelles. Après avoir fait cette ligature, et placé celle d'attente, je plonge per pendiculairement mon couteau droit entre les tendons des muscles qui s'attachent au petit trochanter et la base du col du fémur, de manière à faire sortir la pointe à la partie postérieure ou diamétralement opposée, et en dirigeant le couteau obliquement en dedans et en bas, je coupe d'un trait toutes les parties qui doivent former le lambeau interne auquel il ne faut pas donner trop de volume. Je fais relever le lambeau vers les parties génitales, par un aide et on découvre aussitôt l'articulation. L'artère obturatrice, et quelques branches de la honteuse, sont comprises dans cette coupe, il faut en faire de suite la ligature. Un seul coup de bistouri suffit pour couper toute la capsule articulaire, et par une simple abduction de la cuisse, la tête du fémur est presque luxée; le ligament inter-articulaire se présente, et l'on juge combien il est facile de le couper avec le même bistouri. Je prends ensuite un petit couteau droit avec lequel je forme le lambeau externe et postérieur, en passant son tranchant entre le bourrelet osseux de la cavité cotyloïde et le grand trochanter, et je finis le lambeau par une division dirigée en bas et en dehors faite à peu près au niveau de cette éminence, et de manière à donner à ce lambeau une forme arrondie; l'aide qui tient le lambeau bouche l'orifice des artères ouvertes, des quelles on fait la ligature successivement. Il faut les lier toutes, jusqu'aux plus petites, pour prévenir les hémorragies consécutives, et pouvoir réunir les lambeaux. Si les parties qui les forment ne sont point irritées , on peut y faire quelques points de suture entrecoupés avec les aiguilles dont j'ai parlé; mais il ne faut point toucher les muscles, il suffit de comprendre dans la suture la peau et le tissu graisseux. On fixe les lambeaux en contact par des compresses graduées, trempées dans le vin rouge, et par un bandage contentif et bien appliqué.

Cette méthode est prompte, et m'a été toujours facile; je l'avais conçue avant d'aller aux `armées; et l'essai que j'en avais fait sur le cadavre et les animaux m'en fesait espérer un heureux succès.


Quote pp. 325-328 

Practitioners who have proposed extirpation of the thigh do not agree on how to perform it; however, almost all, fearing hemorrhage of the femoral artery, begin by ligating this vessel, then form a flap from the gluteal muscles, expose the posterior part of the joint, open the capsule, cut the interarticular ligament, and complete the operation by forming the internal flap (1). 

(1) See the pamphlets of Mr. Morand, page 189, memoir of Mr. Volher.

 

This procedure is extremely painful, difficult, and dangerous; the hemorrhages resulting from the gluteal, sciatic, and circumflex arteries are very difficult to stop, once the limb is in place; The bone disarticulates with the greatest difficulty, and there is a risk, due to the various positions one is forced to give the patient, of breaking the ligature of the femoral artery; or even, by passing the knife from the acetabulum over the attachments of the adductor triceps, one can touch this arterial trunk, even above the ligature, no matter how careful one has been to make it near the inguinal ligament; there are other drawbacks that it is unnecessary to detail. 

To perform my procedure, I first place the injured person on the foot of their bed, in an almost horizontal position, and position myself on the inside of the thigh I am to operate on; a strong and skillful assistant compresses the femoral artery as it passes over the bony groove of the same name; then I make an incision in the skin of the groin along the course of the femoral vessels, which I then expose; I dissect them carefully, and after isolating the nerve that lies outside, I pass a blunt, curved needle (1) between it and the artery, so as to encircle the artery and vein and bind them together. 

(1) Based on the model of those I submitted to the Academy of Surgery in 1792, for which they awarded me a prize at their last public meeting on April 18, 1793.

 

I take care to place this immediate ligation below the inguinal ligament, above the origin of the common muscularis, the section of which, during the operation, would otherwise cause fatal hemorrhages. After making this ligature and placing the spare, I plunge my straight knife perpendicularly between the tendons of the muscles that attach to the lesser trochanter and the base of the femoral neck, so that the tip emerges on the posterior or diametrically opposite side. Directing the knife obliquely inward and downward, I cut in one go all the parts that will form the internal flap, which must not be made too large. I have an assistant raise the flap toward the genitals, and the joint is immediately exposed. The obturator artery and some branches of the pudendal artery are included in this cut; they must be ligated immediately. A single stroke of the scalpel is enough to cut the entire joint capsule, and by simply abducting the thigh, the femoral head is almost dislocated; the interarticular ligament is then exposed, and one can see how easy it is to cut with the same scalpel. I then take a small, straight knife with which I form the external and posterior flap, passing its edge between the bony rim of the acetabulum and the greater trochanter. I finish the flap with a downward and outward division made approximately at the level of this eminence, giving the flap a rounded shape. The assistant holding the flap plugs the openings of the open arteries, which are then ligated successively. All of them, down to the smallest, must be ligated to prevent subsequent bleeding and to allow the flaps to be joined. If the parts forming them are not irritated, a few interrupted stitches can be made with the needles I mentioned; but the muscles must not be touched. It is sufficient to include the skin and fatty tissue in the suture. The flaps are secured in contact with graduated compresses soaked in red wine and with a tight, well-applied compression bandage.

 

This method is quick, and has always been easy for me; I had conceived it before going to the armies; and the test I had made on the corpse and on animals made me hope for a happy success.




Larrey DJ. Relation historique et chirurgique de l'expedition de l'armée d'Orient, en Egypte et Syrie. Pais: Demonville et Scurs, 1803. books.google


The work is cited in the following publications: 


Dominique Jean Larrey (1766-1842) was a French surgeon in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. wikimedia.org

 

Portrait of Baron Larrey (1804) Author Marie-Guillemine Benoist; original in the wikimedia.org collection (CC0 – Public Domain, no changes).

ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, anatomy, role, surgical dislocation, terminology, scientific synonym, French, dislocation



NB! Fair practice / use: copied for the purposes of criticism, review, comment, research and private study in accordance with Copyright Laws of the US: 17 U.S.C. §107; Copyright Law of the EU: Dir. 2001/29/EC, art.5/3a,d; Copyright Law of the RU: ГК РФ ст.1274/1.1-2,7

                                                                   

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