Rifle—Plate 17.
UPPER EXTREMITY.
Gunshot Fracture of the Elbow.
The bullet in transverse course and high velocity through both bones of the forearm struck the head of the radius, thus starting several splitting lines of fracture and separating large fragments. Smaller fragments which received some of the energy of the missile have been carried along with it in turn, striking the ulna and carrying away smaller fragments from it and causing the laceration which marks the wound of exit.
Such wounds, with laceration of soft parts and fragmentation of the bone, are prone to infection, against which treatment is directed. The indications to be met are much like those of the wound shown in plates [18] and [19]. Excision or immediate methods of bone repair are contraindicated by infection.
Results will depend upon the nature and extent of infection.
Plate 18.
