THE TECHNIQUE OF PIROGOFF'S AMPUTATION OF THE FOOT.

Abstract

Pirogoff was the celebrated Russian surgeon of the Crimean War. He was the surgeon in charge of the Russian forces at Sebastopol, and it was in 1852 that he devised his operation of osteoplastic amputation of the foot. His contemporary, Syme of Edinburgh, had not long previously given to the world his equally famous method of amputating the foot and, not unnaturally, in a clinical lecture on the subject ( Lancet , Vol. I, 1855, p. 307), explained the superiority of his operation to that of Pirogoff. The only practical difference between the two operations was that Pirogoff retained a piece of calcaneum in the heel flap, while Syme dissected it out. I have ventured to bring this operation to your notice because it appears to me to be one of great merit, particularly in cases of railroad injuries, and because the satisfaction to be derived from it will depend largely