On Tue, 4 Feb 1997, Keith Conover, M.D. wrote:
> Not a joke, really.
>
> I've been quietly listening to the list for a while, and indeed this
> is the right place to ask this question.
>
> I work as medical director for mountain and cave rescue teams, and we
> try to plan ahead for even unlikely occurrences -- such as a caver
> with a leg trapped under a rock.
>
> Don't worry about anaesthesia, bleeding control, etc. And don't
> worry about the skin and soft tissues -- cutting through them with a
> serrated pocket knife is fine.
>
> The problem is cutting through the big bone in the middle, in cramped
> spaces. In the operating room under controlled circumstances, we use
> a wire saw like those sold in camping stores (about 14" long with
There is a battery powered Dremel tool that takes a miniature circular
saw. I imagine the main drawback would be that the tool would need to be
parallel to the limb, which would practically force one to cut at an
angle. I will probably get teased for suggesting this; people on the list
already think I am overly fond of the Dremel.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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