The purpose of this paper is to report a new method for reducing the tendency to hemorrhage in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (Osler-Rendu disease). Although the periods of observation of the patients treated were of short duration, the longest having been just over one year, the results to date of writing were of sufficient interest to merit a preliminary report.
DEFINITION
The term hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia was first advocated by Hanes1 in 1909. He defined this disease as a "hereditary affection manifesting itself in localized dilatations of the capillaries and venules forming distinct groups of telangiectases which occur upon the skin of the face, nasal and buccal mucous membranes, and give rise to profuse hemorrhage either spontaneously or as a result of trauma." The cardinal findings for the establishment of the diagnosis of this disease are contained in Hanes' definition: (1) the hereditary tendency toward the disease, (2)