Leg Ulcers [antikvár]

PREFACE This book is an attempt to review the extensive literature on the subject of leg ulcers and to integrate, as far as possible, the knowledge that has been acquired. The results of personal experience in a leg ulcer clinic, held weekly over a period of eight years, have been incorporated. Records have been kept of over a thousand patients seen both at this clinic and in private practice. As new methods become available medical research is more complex, more specialised and more an affair for teams of experts. Using these methods much important work is being carried out and our knowledge of the peripheral circulation extended. In the light of such advances there is a tendency for clinical studies to be considered out-dated and out-moded. However, clinical investigation still appears to be capable of throwing light on certain ^etiological factors such as the influences of heredity, constitution and environment. Without comprehension of the patient as a whole we are unlikely to advance in our knowledge of disease processes. Much information, some useful, some valueless, is to be found widely scattered through the medical literature. Only by an occasional pause to try to appraise and assimilate the knowledge acquired can we prevent ourselves from becoming overwhelmed by its quantity and bewildered by its variety. The circulation of the lower limbs and the problem of leg ulcers have engaged the attention of medical writers of many nationalities for hundreds of years. Any attempt to review the information which has accumulated is inevitably incomplete but it is hoped nevertheless that this monograph may prove of some value to other workers in this field and of practical assistance to those treating unfortunate sufferers from this painful condition. I am grateful to Dr. John T. Ingram, Dr. F. F. Hellier and other colleagues and practitioners who have referred patients to me, and to Sister Irene Gray whose help and skill