Outlines of the diseases of women / by John Phillips.

  • Phillips, John.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of the diseases of women / by John Phillips. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    164/332 (page 144)
    CHAPTER XII. AFFECTIONS OF THE UTERTJ S—(continued). V. Uterine Displacements. The usual position of the uterus iu the pelvic cavity has already been described in Chapter i. (p. 22). The uterus itself is normally quite mobile, and owing to the firm and elastic nature of the tissues composing it should maintain its shape in spite of outside influences. But from congenital and acquired causes, this organ may become subject to alterations in its situation as regards the surrounding viscera and in the relation of the cervix and body to one another ; it is customary to divide these altera^ tions, or displacements, as they are called, into three divisions. 1. If the uterus be rotated around an imaginary transverse axis, so that its long diameter no more remains about at right angles to the plane of the pelvic inlet, and if the relative angle of the body to the cervix be un- altered, we get what is called a version; it is a dislocation. Rotation forwards will then be a condition of ante- version, and backwards retroversion. 2. If the long axis of the body and that of the cervix do not bear their normal relation to each other—i.e., if the angle made by them is less obtuse than from 165° to 1300, we have a flexion and in an anterior direction : should the body become bent on the cervix in a back- ward direction, we have a posterior flexion. It may be described as a deformity ; we may have, therefore : Anteflexion, or excessive anterior bending ; Retroflexion, or posterior bending ; Lateri-flexion, or lateral bending to the right or the left. Flexion usually takes place at a point on a level with the internal os uteri, or slightly above it; the body is never flexed on itself.