Treatment of perineal wound after abdomino-perineal excision of the rectum

ABSTRACT

Soon after Sir Ernest Miles' 1908 proposal of a new method for performing abdomino-perineal excision in cases of carcinoma of the rectum, the closure of the resulting perineal wound became a controversial issue. Excluding the first 12 cases in wich Sir Miles closed the wound, the surgeons, affraid of the frequent, serious and even fatal hemorrhages, began leaving the wound open, giving preference to packing the cavity with bandages, believing that this procedure would give greater support to the pelvic floor preventing the formation of perineal hernias and that would aid in hemostasis...