Monro, Alexander: Observations On Crural Hernia: To Which Is Prefixed, A General Account Of The Other Varieties Of Hernia: Illustrated By Engravings (Edinburgh [u.a.], 1803)

6S
origin and course of the epigastric and obtu-
rator arteries, in order to point out to sur-
geons the poslibility, nay probability, of di-
viding the epigastric or obturator artery in
performing the operation for crural hernia.
The epigastric artery has been several times
divided in performing that operation ; and,
in an insfcaiice which occurred lately, fo great
a quantity of blood was lost, and there was so
much difficulty in taking up the artery by
ligature, in consequence of its retraction,
that as the operator (a surgeon of great
eminence) emphatically expressed himsels, it
threatened to pour out the patient's life with
her blood.
Even wounds of the smaller branches of
the epigastric artery, sometimes prove fatal.
Dr Carmichael Smyth has related the his-
tories of two such cases, and makes mention
of other similar cases which were commu-
nicated to him, in which the patients lost
their lives by a wound made in the small-
er branches os the epigastric artery, in per-
forming