Gunshot Roentgenograms / A Collection of Roentgenograms Taken in Constantinople During the Turko-Balkan War, 1912-1913, Illustrating Some Gunshot Wounds in the Turkish Army

by Clyde S. Ford

Shrapnel—Plate 140.

LOWER EXTREMITY.
Gunshot Fracture of the Left Tibia and Fibula,
with Lodgment of the Missile.

As the heel lay on the plate it is easy to identity the tibia and fibula of the left leg.

The course of the ball from the internal malleolus across to the lower end of the tibia and fibula is well marked by the trail of metal particles left by the contact of the ball with the bones. The indistinctness of the shadows of the lead particles and of the ball and the very slight enlargement of the ball indicates a contact with the anterior surface of the tibia and of the fibula with lodgment of the ball beneath the skin at the anterior border of the lower end of the fibula. The remaining energy of the missile was almost entirely spent on the tibia, causing a long oblique fracture, so that the contact with the fibula resulted in a crack only, without the separation of a fragment.

The treatment in such cases is conservative, with the subsequent removal of the ball from its superficial location.

Plate 141.

Shrapnel—Plate 141.