LIVING SUTURE GRAFTS IN THE REPAIR OF FRACTURES AND DISLOCATIONS

Abstract

The use of transplants of fascia lata in the repair of defects in the soft parts, as advocated by Gallie and Le Mesurier, has created a widespread interest in the use of living tissue as suture material. Many surgical conditions, especially recurrent and large direct hernia, are now satisfactorily dealt with by this method. Massive grafts had been used before and reconstruction of tendons accomplished; however, marked general use of the material had not come into vogue before the experimental and detailed clinical work of Gallie and Le Mesurier became known. There are now frequent reports on the use of this material for the correction of recurrent dislocations and repair of ligaments. A simple method for using massive transplants of fascia lata in the repair of certain acute lesions of the bone and joint is described here. Osgood and Bucholz have shown that tendons passed through drill holes in bone