Volume I

From Primary Surgery

Primary Surgery: Volume I

Non-Trauma

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Original Publication

Publisher: Oxford Medical Publication Edited by:

Maurice King James Cairns Jim Thornton Anne Bayley
Peter Bewes Jim Thornton Nelson Awori	Alan Beasley James Boland Michael Crawford	Frits Driessen Allen Foster Wendy Graham	Brian Hancock Branwen Hancock Gerald Hankins

Neville Harrison Ian Kennedy Julius Kyambi

Samiran Nundy Joe Shepherd John Stewart

Grace Warren Sir Michael Wood

Chapters

1. The background to surgery
2. Theatres, antiseptics, and antibiotics
3. The control of bleeding
4. Basic methods and instruments
5. The surgery of sepsis
6. Pus in the pleura, the pericardium, and the peritoneum
7. Pus in muscles, bones, and joints
8. Pus in the hands and feet
9. Methods for abdominal surgery
10. The acute abdomen: intestinal obstruction
11. The surgery of the stomach
12. The appendix
13. The gall-bladder, pancreas, and spleen
14. Hernias
15. The surgery of conception
16. The surgery of pregnancy
17. The medicine of pregnancy
18. The surgery of labour
19. Other obstetric problems
20. Gynaecology
21. The breast and the Thyroid
22. Proctology
23. Urology
24. The Eye
25. The ear, nose, and throat
26. The teeth and the mouth
27. Orthopaedics
28. Paediatric surgery
29. Surgery, AIDS, and hepatitis B
30. The surgery of tuberculosis
31. The surgery of leprosy
32. The Surgery of 'tropical' diseases
33. Oncology
34. Terminal care

Back Cover Summary

Primary Surgery volume one, Non-Trauma, is the first of a four volume system of surgery, anaesthetics, and obstetrics for doctors in the district hospitals of the developing world. The second volume, Trauma has already been published, and so has Primary Anaestesia. A third volume called primary Mother Care is in preparation, and describes those procedures (family planning, antenatal care, and the normal delivery, etc.) which are common to doctors and paramedics; the remaining obstetric and gynaecological methods are here.

These manuals are for non-specialist doctors and for medical students. They describe what a doctor can do if he cannot refer a patient, both in an emergency and for 'cold surgery'. From the twenty or more specialties into which surgery has now fragmented, these manuals select those methods which the generalist can make good use of. Although they focus on such common problems as Caesarian section, the resection of dead gut, and the release of pus from infected bones, they recognize that in aggregate rare problems are comparatively common, and aim to be comprehensive. The organization and equipment of the theatre is described, and there is a detailed equipment list.

A reader from Africa writes 'With the volume on Trauma (which never leaves the theatre) open, my colleagues and I have done several operations successfully, which we previously knew nothing about. I was especially impressed with the descriptions of how to make burr holes for intracranial bleeding. Following the instructions, a patient who had been unconscious for 10 days woke up after evacuation of bilateral subdural haematomas.