36 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



that no general recommendation for their performance will 

 answer. The reader is referred to the general index, for 

 reference to the detailed description of each operation in- 

 cluded within the scope of these surgical processes. 



ECRASEMENT. 



DEFINITION. — Ecrasement is the process of crushing 

 the nutrient vessels of an organ or growth by means of the 

 ecraseur or other instrument, for the purpose of preventing 

 haemorrhage from them. It is one of the methods of abla- 

 tion, adopted for many veterinary operations, because of its 

 practicability over other more tedious methods of controlling 

 the flow of blood. 



INDICATIONS. — Ecrasement is now the almost univer- 

 sal method of managing the blood vessels in the castration 

 of the larger domestic animals. The testicles are exposed 

 by a single slash of the scalpel, the ecraseur chain or emascu- 

 lator is slipped over the spermatic cord, and then with a few 

 turns or a single squeeze the organ falls off and the cord 

 retracts into the inguinal canal. The operation is done ; no 

 further attention is given to the large blood vessels that have 

 been divided. Without this valuable process complicated, 

 annoying methods are required to prevent an inevitable, 

 copious bleeding. Ligation, cauterization, torsion, and 

 clamping are among its numerous predecessors. All of these 

 require tedious manipulations which, in the case of castra- 

 tion, favor the development of complications. In the castra- 

 tion of the large domestic animals ecrasement meets with the 

 greatest favor, but it is also frequently adopted in the castra- 

 tion of small animals and always in the ablation of the ovaries. 

 In vaginal ovariectomy of the mare and cow, and in laparo- 

 ovariectomy of any of the domestic animals, ecrasement is 

 the universal method of preventing the haemorrhage. 



In the ablation of tumors ecrasement can often be used to 

 very good advantage. After the tumor has been dissected 

 down to the peduncle through which the chief nutrient ves- 

 sels enter, its ablation can be neatly completed' with a few 

 turns of the ecraseur without danger of serious haemorrhage. 



In the ablation of scirrhous cord no other good method of 

 managing the bleeding is available, especially when the cord 

 at the seat of ablation is so large and so hard as to render 

 ligdtion ineffectual. 



INSTRUMENTS.— The common crushing instruments 

 used in. veterinary operations are the ecraseur alnd the emas- 



