Surgical Tourniquets in Orthopaedics
Abstract
The modern pneumatic tourniquet traces its roots to the time of the Roman Empire (199 BCE-500 CE), when non- pneumatic bronze-and-leather devices (Fig. 1) were used to control bleeding from limb amputations during war. The goal was to save a life without regard for the limb. The term tourniquet, coined by Jean Louis Petit, is a derivation of the French verb tourner, meaning to turn. Petit described a new screw- like device that tightened a belt to stop arterial blood flow. With the advent of general anesthesia, Joseph Lister was the first to use a tourniquet to create a bloodless surgical field , in 1864. At the end of the nineteenth century, Friedrich von Esmarch advanced tourniquet design by devising a flat rubber bandage for exsanguination and to stop blood flow . In 1904, Harvey Cushing introduced the first inflatable (pneumatic) tourniquet, thereby permitting tourniquet pressure to be monitored and manually controlled.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA627550
Entities
People
- Andrew Eisen
- Bassam A. Masri
- James A. Mcewen
- John Frederick Kragh
- Shahryar Noordin
Organizations
- United States Army Institute of Surgical Research