Amputations; A Monograph from Volume III, Lewis' Practice of Surgery

Hagerstown, Maryland: W. F. Prior Company, Inc., 1942. Presumed First, Thus. Hardcover. [2], 229, [1], 4 pages. Includes occasional footnotes and detailed pictures. Some discoloration inside boards, and inside rear cover. Cover shows front edge moisture damage. Some page front edge rippling noted. Topics covered include Indications, Saw Line, Operations, Upper Extremity, Hand, Middle Phalanx, Metacarpophalangeal Joint, Forearm, Arm, Elbow Joint, Arm, Shoulder, Amputation, Lower Extremity, Foot, Leg, Thigh, Femur, Hip Joint, Skin Incision, Postoperative Treatment, Secondary Operations, Preparation for Prosthesis, After Care, Disability Produced by Amputations, Upper Extremity, Instruction in Use of Prosthesis, Materials, Artificial Hands and Tools, Types of American Prostheses. Intensive study of amputations from the prosthetic as well as the surgical standpoint was necessitated by World War 2, when the number of the amputated totaled a half million cases for all the nations engaged. Entering the war late, the United States profited by the surgical experience of U.S. allies in the study and practice of surgical methods. As a result, the fitting of the stump with its prosthesis and the return of the amputee' to society as an asset were accomplished, and marked progress in surgical methods were made. Contact between prosthetist and surgeon resulted in improved surgery and prosthesis, to the end that thousands were enabled to resume activity in the world at peace. Norman Thomas Kirk was born on 3 January 1888, in Rising Sun, Maryland. He received his Medical Doctor degree from the University of Maryland in 1910. He served as resident physician at the University Hospital, Baltimore, and as clinical assistant at the United States Soldiers' Home Hospital, Washington, DC, before being commissioned as first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps on 29 May 1912. Kirk was appointed to the Regular Army as First Lieutenant, Medical Corps, on 22 May 1913. He was assigned to Field Hospital No. 3 was stationed at Vera Cruz, Mexico, as part of the Punitive Expedition. In September 1917, he was assigned to the Medical Officers' Training Camp at Camp Greenleaf (Fort Oglethorpe), Georgia, serving there until January 1919, when he was ordered to Walter Reed General Hospital, Washington, DC, for surgical service. At Walter Reed in 1919, he transferred his practice from general surgery to bone and joint surgery. He was credited with treating at least one third of the major amputations incurred in World War I. He was acknowledged as one of the leading experts in the United States on amputation, and his major publications confirmed his reputation in both the military and civilian medical communities. When World War II appeared imminent, General Kirk assisted the Supply Division, Surgeon General's Office, in the revision of the Medical Department Supply Catalog, thus ensuring that it would include the proper items for the maximum professional care and treatment of the battle wounded.

Kirk was named Commanding Officer, Percy Jones General Hospital, Battle Creek, Michigan, in June 1942. Here, under his supervision, the Battle Creek Sanitarium was converted into a general hospital and its staff (mainly civilians) selected, organized, and trained. During the war, Percy Jones General Hospital served as a specialized center for the treatment of amputations, neurosurgery, deep X-ray therapy, and neurology. This hospital, originally intended to accommodate 1,750 patients, was expanded and together with Camp Custer, Michigan, became a hospital center with a maximum patient load of 12,000. President Franklin D. Roosevelt selected Kirk to replace Major General James Magee as The Surgeon General. He was appointed Surgeon General, United States Army, on 1 June 1943. Under his guidance as Surgeon General, the U.S. Army in World War II achieved a record of recovery from wounds and freedom from disease never before accomplished in history. For the first time, surgery was taken to the men at the front: 96 out of every 100 wounded who lived to reach a hospital survived as against 92 in World War I. Mobile hospitals were set up within a few miles of the front lines and medical aid men went into battle with the troops, administering to the wounded where they fell. Prompt surgery, aided by penicillin, the sulfa drugs, whole blood, and blood plasma administered at the front, together with new and improved surgical techniques was responsible for returning 375,000 of World War II's 598,000 wounded to duty in the theater and an additional 55,200 to duty in the United States. Under General Kirk's direction, his staff planned and organized the work of the Army Medical Department and cared for the largest American Army in history fighting a global war, administering to the 15,000,000 patients admitted to the 692 hospitals overseas and the 65 general and 13 convalescent hospitals in this country.
Condition: Good.

Keywords: World War 2, Prosthesis, Amputations, Military Medicine, Open Method, Guillotine, Carrel Tubes, Flapless, Closed Method, Rehabilitation, Stump, Postoperative treatment, Disability, Chopart, Elmslie, Syme Operation

[Book #79759]

Price: $125.00

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