Is there a mortality attached to any of the classical operations for hemorrhoids? Undoubtedly there is. A word of protest against the rather common statement, by surgeons at least, that the mortality of a given operation is "practically nil." However small, there is a definite mortality for any surgical procedure to be weighed in the balance with the risk to life if no operation is done.
With special reference to the mortality and the subsequent condition ofthe patient, I wish to direct attention to a consideration of the relative merits and demerits of the three well-recognized types of operation for hemorrhoids: (1) the ligature method, (2) the Whitehead operation, and (3) the clamp and cautery operation. They are too well known to require description.
THE LIGATURE METHOD.
The pathologic condition about the lower end of the rectum in hemorrhoids—dilated, elongated and tortuous veins, often filled with simple or infective thrombi