EXCISION OF PART OF THE ILEUM AND ALL OF THE CECUM AND ASCENDING COLON.ILEUM AND TRANSVERSE COLON UNITED BY A NEW METHOD.

The various ingenious methods used at present to unite the divided ends of the intestinal tract are prima facie evidence that no one method is satisfactory in all cases. The trend of surgical opinion seems in the direction of suture, as against mechanical appliances, and this results from the fact that an operative procedure requiring for its performance special apparatus is thereby handicapped. When the appliance is one that must be left in the intestinal canal till healing has been completed, additional disadvantages, such as gangrene and obstruction, at once suggest themselves. Undoubtedly, mechanical contrivances are sometimes indicated, but such instances should constitute the exception and not the rule.

In a previous paper¹ I have given results of experimental work in intestinal suturing and attempted to demonstrate the great advantages that the continuous suture penetrating all the intestinal coats has over the interrupted.