Orthopaedic Injuries of the Civil War; An Atlas of Orthopaedic Injuries and Treatments During the Civil War

Format is approximately 8.5 inches by 11 inches. 76 pages. Illustrations. Cover has some wear and a chip at the bottom front edge. The Civil War was a major impetus for the development of the Orthopedic specialty. The work presents a Preface, Introduction, Background, a multi-part section on Anatomical Regions, and an End Matter section which includes Glossary, End Notes, Bibliography, Index of Text, Index of Cases, Index of Tables, and information about the authors. A Minnesota native, Dr. Kuz specializes in hand surgery (including reconstruction after trauma and arthritis), children's hand conditions and problems, and surgery of the wrist, elbow and shoulder. Joint replacement and sports injuries are also areas of special attention for Dr. Kuz. He has authored numerous scientific articles, a book chapter, and two books on Civil War medicine. He was elected by his peers for inclusion in Best Doctors in America consecutively since 1996, and selected as Grand Rapids "Best Plastic Surgeon" by Grand Rapids Magazine for the past 10 years. Dr. Brad Bengtson is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Michigan dedicated to helping his patients achieve the surgical or non-surgical results they desire. His reputation for excellence, state-of-the-art techniques, and compassion have created a large following of patients seeking to reduce the effects of aging. He has a passion for making a difference in the lives of patients. With his surgical expertise and over 20 years of plastic surgery experience, Dr. Bengtson travels the world educating plastic surgeons on his innovative procedures and techniques. Extracted from a discussion on the web on Civil War wounded [Essential Civil War Curriculum by Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, 2018]. It is important to examine the nature and effects of wounds since one-third of Civil War deaths resulted directly from these wounds, and many more soldiers suffered non-fatal but permanently damaging injuries. The chief sources of battlefield wounds were artillery ammunition and bullets. Those most likely to be killed in battle were men hit directly by artillery projectiles of any sort, and those suffering a piercing wound in the head or trunk of the body. Most soldiers shot in the extremities were not immediate fatalities unless their limb was blown off or they were wounded in a major artery. Severe damage to arms and legs made amputation the treatment of choice in such cases. However, most wounds were not so severe and did not require amputation. Far more surgeries consisted of cleaning and stitching wounds, as well as removing bullets and bone fragments. Out of 174,206 known wounds of the extremities treated by Union surgeons, nearly 30,000 wounded soldiers had amputations with approximately a twenty-seven percent fatality rate. Historians estimate that there were some 25,000 Confederate amputations with a similar fatality rate. In some cases, surgeons on both sides performed resections or excisions (the terms were interchangeable), removing several inches of shattered bone or a mangled joint. These surgeons attempted to avoid amputation when only the bone and muscles, not the nerves and arteries of the limb, were damaged. This shortened the limb but often left some function. Because the surgery weakened the limb, it was more often performed on arms than legs. Union surgeons performed at least 4,656 resections or excisions, but these operations had a higher fatality rate than amputations. When a soldier sustained a battle wound, his initial treatment depended on the severity of the wound and his location on the battlefield. If the wound was minor, the soldier could walk to the nearest first aid station for bandaging and then return to the battle but the more severely wounded had to be removed from the field. Field hospitals were established as close to the battlefield as possible without being in artillery range or at risk of capture. Here doctors removed bullets, cleaned and bandaged wounds, and performed amputati.…