It is essential in caring for every stump, after the actual amputation has been performed, (1) that bleeding be absolutely controlled; (2) that nerve ends be placed out of the way of cicatricial entanglement; (3) that proper drainage be provided; (4) that the soft parts be so brought together as to unite in the promptest and most perfect fashion. The possibility of the latter will depend very much on the occasion for the operation and the condition of the tissues. Operating in the presence of previous disease, as when the parts are inflamed or edematous, or as when one amputates at a point where more or less sloughing and separation of tissues have already occurred, the surgeon cannot look for such primary repair as furnishes an ideal termination, nor should he endeavor to make such close suturing or approximation as he would otherwise attempt. In fact, under these circumstances, it is often desirable to leave the wound widely open, perhaps packing it with yeast, in order to hasten sloughing and secure healthy granulating surfaces, which may be then brought together by secondary suture or by suitable strapping and bandaging. Nothing worse can happen than imprisonment of the debris resulting from the sloughing process.
But an amputation wound made with faultless technique, and in tissues previously healthy, may be closed with a minimum of drainage, or often without any, providing it be so closed as to leave no dead spaces in which blood clot may accumulate. This requires careful suturing, by numerous buried sutures, of muscle to muscle, tendon to tendon or to periosteum, and the like, the wound being gradually closed from its depth, and finally so bandaged that equable pressure shall be made, with comfortable support, but without undue pressure at any point. In aseptic cases animal ligatures and sutures (chromic gut) will prove reliable and efficient. In septic cases it would probably be better to trust to (secondary) silk, especially if parts are to be long exposed, so that it can be later removed. For the superficial wound silkworm sutures answer admirably.
For drainage a gauze packing for the worst cases, one or two tubes for ordinary cases, and for those which scarcely need it strands of catgut or of silkworm-gut, or two or three little rolls of oiled silk, will be sufficient.
In this country Link and in Germany Credé have practised the method of bringing parts together merely by equable pressure and bandaging. This has been of late modified by the use of strips of sterile adhesive plaster; and in certain instances, everything else favoring, it has given good results. It might be advantageously adopted in cases where it is feared that it may be necessary to reopen the wound, as it would permit an easy method of so doing.
Dressings should be copious and snugly applied, and the limb involved should be immobilized. Thus after a leg amputation it is well to bind the leg and thigh upon a suitably arranged splint, physiological rest, which is so essential to success, being in this way attained. The same is also true of the arm.
AMPUTATIONS OF THE UPPER EXTREMITY.
Amputations of the Finger and Thumb.
—It is desirable in the upper extremity to save every portion which can be preserved and still made useful. This is particularly true of the fingers, where every half-inch adds to their usefulness. When it is possible the palmar surface should be saved and made to cover the stump end, as it is not only more sensitive but denser and stands wear better. This is equally true of disarticulations or of divisions between the joint ends of the phalanges, which are best exposed by bending the finger, cutting the dorsal flap in this position, then stretching it and cutting the palmar flap ([Fig. 680]).
The vessels and nerves lying on the lateral aspect should be secured against hemorrhage, and cocaine solution introduced if local anesthesia is being practised. It is important also to remember the arrangement of the common palmar synovial bursa, with the digital prolongations to the thumb and the little finger, and that the three middle fingers are ordinarily shut off from it. Nevertheless if tendons be divided near the hand, and short finger stumps be made, it is easy to infect this common palmar bursa through retraction of the tendon and the consequent opening up of a tunnel directly into that cavity.
Fig. 680