VENESECTION (front Lat. moon, blood vessel scctio, a cutting, from secure, to cut ), PHLEBOTOMY, BLOODLETTING, Or I 4.EEDING. An incision into a vein, for the abstraction of blood. Although the operation may be performed on many of the superficial veins, it is usually re stricted to the median basilic vein at the bend of the elbow. The patient being placed in a sitting position, a bandage must be tied suffi ciently tight around the middle of the arm to arrest the venous circulation without materially affecting the pulse at the wrist. The forearm having been allowed to hang down till the veins are tense, the operator must make his selection, and taking the blade of the lancet between the forefinger and thumb of the right. hand, should fix the vein by pressing his left thumb upon it just below the part he is about to open. He should then steadily introduce the point of the lancet obliquely until the interior of the vessel is reached, and the blood is seen rising. Without penetrating deeper, Ile should thrust the instru ment forward, so as to open the vein longitudi nally to a sufficient extent. On removing the
thumb, the blood should emerge in a full jet. When a sufficient quantity of blood has been ab stracted, the thumb of the left hand should he placed on the wound, and the bandage loosened ; small pad of gauze should then be placed over the orifice, the parts should be cleaned of blood, and the pad of gauze compressed against the arm by the tape or narrow bandage, applied in the figure-of-eight form, with the crossing of the tape lying on the pad. After the operation the arm should be carried in a sling for a day or two. These are the details of veneseetion as ex tensively practiced everywhere up to the middle of the nineteenth century. The operation is nos practically obsolete, though there has been a ten dency to revive its application in a few diseases and conditions.