Quotation from: Manual of Surgery

Written by: Alexander Miles and Alexis Thomson


If the wound is aseptic, the fate of the foreign body varies with its
character. A substance that is absorbable, such as catgut or fine silk,
is surrounded and permeated by the phagocytes, which soften and
disintegrate it, the debris being gradually absorbed in much the same
manner as a fibrinous exudate. Minute bodies that are not capable of
being absorbed, such as particles of carbon, or of pigment used in
tattooing, are taken up by the phagocytes, and in course of time
removed. Larger bodies, such as needles or bullets, which are not
capable of being destroyed by the phagocytes, become encapsulated. In
the granulation tissue by which they are surrounded large multinuclear
giant-cells appear ("_foreign-body giant-cells_") and attach themselves
to the foreign body, the fibroblasts proliferate and a capsule of scar
tissue is eventually formed around the body. The tissues of the capsule
may show evidence of iron pigmentation. Sometimes fluid accumulates
around a foreign body within its capsule, constituting a cyst.

PREVIOUS GROUP HOME SITE HOME NEXT
Part of the RabbitHoleResearch Project
Change Tag: ~~ 0 ~~