Since gelatin injections were first recommended for the control of severe hemorrhages in various organs, and for the treatment of aortic aneurism, they have been used quite extensively. Much has been said in favor of this method, but several deaths have resulted. The fatal results were due to such complications as septic thrombosis, phlegmons, malignant edema, and particularly to tetanus.
Several communications have recently appeared which again strongly emphasize the dangers connected with the subcutaneous injection of gelatin. Chauffard1 reported a fatal case of tetanus following a gelatin injection, and states that seventeen similar fatal cases have previously been placed on record. Dieulafoy2 a few weeks later reports another instance of fatal tetanus developing after a gelatin injection given to control a severe tubercular hemoptysis, and he adds four more cases not included in Chauffard's statistics, bringing the total number of such deaths to twenty-three.
Quite an elaborate