Frostbite

Abstract

THE origin of gangrene subsequent to exposure to cold air or contact cooling has found the most diversified explanations. The general trend of opinions seems to have two different directions. One group, under the leadership of Blackwood¹ and Ungley and his collaborators,² attributes most of the damage to a peripheral vasoneuropathy and seems to believe that injury to muscles and other tissues is subsequent to the damage of nerve fibers, which represents the main feature of the disease. Lewis and Love³ went so far as to attribute most of the damage following frostbite to the bursting of individual cell membranes . . .