Surgical Treatment of Nasal Hemorrhage

In the last 7 months of 1959, two patients were admitted to the University of California Medical Center, Los Angeles, with nasal hemorrhage of sufficient magnitude and persistence to require surgical ligation of the blood supply to that organ. One of these patients bled so severely, in fact, that bright red blood presented at the rectum. Because of this finding, an abdominal exploration was initially performed in an unsuccessful search for a bleeding gastrointestinal lesion. The prompt and complete cessation of bleeding which followed surgical interruption of the blood supply to the nose in each case suggests that these procedures with their low morbidity and complete lack of sequelae should enjoy wider application in cases heretofore requiring extensive cauterization, prolonged nasal packing, and repeated transfusions. It is reasonable to expect that the hospital stay of the typical patient with severe nosebleed might be shortened and rendered more comfortable by an