In this article we wish to report the results of experiments performed in an attempt to determine whether or not sympathectomy influences the healing of cartilage and bone.
HEALING OF FRACTURES AND OF BONE DEFECTS AFTER SYMPATHECTOMY
The Literature.
—Physiologists have demonstrated repeatedly that removal of the sympathetic ganglions supplying a limb is followed by a dilatation of the blood vessels and increased flow of blood through that limb. Furthermore, certain investigators have maintained that an identical result is secured by the removal of a segment of the outer coat of the main artery. These developments have led clinicians to the use of one or another of these procedures in the treatment of almost every pathologic condition that might possibly be attributed to a deficiency in local circulation. One of these conditions is the state of delayed union or nonunion in fractures of the bones of the extremities.The first