Meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie
(Concluded from page 51)
ABDOMINAL SURGERY
The third main topic on the program, "Abdominal Surgery," was opened by Professor Clairmont of Zurich, who discussed the subject of "Peritoneal Adhesions." Peritoneal adhesions may be of congenital origin, of inflammatory nature, or they may appear postoperatively. They consist of connective tissue, which possesses a regenerative capacity, and constitute a defense reaction of the abdominal cavity. It has been established that the adhesions contain elastic fibers and blood vessels. The speaker had been unable to find any nerve fibers, although they have been observed by others. With the formation of adhesions, a tendency to break up sets in at once as a result of fermentative action. Adhesions experimentally produced show in an elucidative manner the drawing out, the thinning and, finally, the breaking up of the adhesions; on the other hand, in some cases adhesions that