Word: trueta
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Dates: during 1940-1940
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...with the Nazis only a few jumps behind, hard-pressed, sweating surgeons had to have some new and faster technique of treating wounds. Fortunately, most of them had read last winter the revolutionary work on wound surgery written after the small-scale war in Spain by brilliant Dr. Josep Trueta of Barcelona, now in England (TIME, Jan. 15). In treating 1,073 projectile fractures, Surgeon Trueta obtained wholly satisfactory results in 976 cases and there were only six deaths. His method: instead of lengthy and painstaking work in old-fashioned suturing and splinting (sewing up wounds and applying strips...
...plaster holds he will come to no harm." French surgeons in the War of 1870 pioneered the plaster closed method and in World War I it was used to some extent by U. S. Army Surgeon Hiram Winnett Orr, now of Lincoln, Neb., who contributed a preface to Dr. Trueta's book, Treatment of War Wounds And Fractures (Hoeber...
...treating compound fractures caused by bullets, bombs and toppling masonry, doctors aim to: 1) prevent infection; 2) immobilize the limb for best circulation and proper knitting of bones. To prevent infection, Dr. Trueta carefully snipped away all bits of bruised and dying flesh, for dead tissues, deprived of circulation, are a fertile breeding ground for germs. He used no antiseptics, for most of them, he believes, kill not only germs but the delicate growing cells, do more harm than good. After the wound is trimmed, cleaned and firmly packed with dry, sterile gauze, and while the patient is still anesthetized...
...failures," continued Dr. Trueta, "can all be attributed to faulty technique: the surgeon had either tried to save a limb with insufficient blood supply or had not excised enough bruised tissue...
...Trueta admitted that there is a minor objection to "closed" treatment: a terrible stench. Although it is best to keep the original plaster in place until the limb heals (usually from six to eight weeks), the cast sometimes has to be changed, when the smell becomes unbearable. Dr. Trueta discovered that a salve of brewers' yeast, applied directly to the wound, reduced the odor, did not interfere with healing. Since yeast was scarce in warring Spain, most of his cases stank to high heaven...