TY - JOUR T1 - THe frustum sign revisited AU - Schumacher HR Y1 - 1969/08/04 N1 - 10.1001/jama.1969.03160180119021 JO - JAMA SP - 773 EP - 774 VL - 209 IS - 5 N2 - To the Editor:—  In the article "Blood Loss After Fractures of the Hip" by Capt Richard C. Gardner, MC, USAF (208:1005, 1969), his patients underwent high femoral trochanteric osteotomy and operative blood loss was measured by radioactive labeling and an automatic blood volume computer. He used trochanteric osteotomy since it would simulate the blood loss found with intertrochanteric hip fractures. The average blood loss was 1,295 cc with a range of 500 cc to 2,650 cc. It is interesting that these results correspond to those obtained by use of a tape measure and some simple arithmetic. We presented a technique (New Eng J Med279:3811, 1968) whereby blood loss could be crudely determined by likening the thighs to frustums (parts of a conical-shaped solid formed by cutting off the top by a plane parallel to the base). The volume of the normal thigh is then determined and subtracted SN - 0098-7484 M3 - doi: 10.1001/jama.1969.03160180119021 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1969.03160180119021 ER -