Esparza de MH

Language: Spanish
References: 20
Page: 235-240
PDF size: 128.06 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, former military and defender in the siege of Pamplona, imposed by France in 1521, was hitted in his legs by a gun-fire stone ball which produced soft tissue damage in his left leg and an open fracture in the right tibia, on his mid and proximal thirds. First treatment for his wounds applied in the battlefield by the French surgeons consisted on cauterization, which allowed him not to receive certain boiling oils, currently used for the cure of venom introduced by gunpowder. Actually it was surprising that primary bony union did appear in spite of infection. Unable for fighting he was sent to Guipúzcoa for better care. As malunion of the tibia went on, he was submitted to diverse manipulative corrective procedures, which were resisted by Saint Ignatius without complaint. As a result of such a treatment, both, infection and his general condition impaired and of course, malalignement of fracture prevailed. After a surprinsing improvement, which seems to be a true miracle since open fractures used to be a common cause of death, a bony prominence prevented the proper use of military footwear. His decision was to make the surgeons remove the prominence by saw in a third surgery, which naturally was again not enough for leg improvement. A series of subsequent orthopaedic corrective procedures with the help of inquisition-like instruments also failed to recover the aligment of his right leg. As he finally became convinced about his inhability, unfortunately (or fortunately.....) he decided to abandon the military life for joining the eclesiastic life that led him to sanctity.

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