A short account of a case of disease of the appendix caeci, cured by operation, with suggestions as to the propriety of adopting a similar method of proceeding in certain cases of peritonitis / [Read before Med. Soc. London., Sept. 25th, 1848].

  • Hancock, Henry, 1809-1880.
Date:
1848
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A short account of a case of disease of the appendix caeci, cured by operation, with suggestions as to the propriety of adopting a similar method of proceeding in certain cases of peritonitis / [Read before Med. Soc. London., Sept. 25th, 1848]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    abdomen has been opened successfully by the large and small section, for the removal of ovarian tumours. Mr. Hilton has opened the abdomen upon two occasions for the relief of internal strangulation of the intestines, and nearly a century since, the elder Monro advised incising the colon in the lumbar region, where it is uninvested by peritoneum for the removal of intestinal concretions, a recommendation which has of late years been carried into effect by Amussat in France—but I know of no instance on record where the abdomen has been opened under the circumstances de¬ tailed above; for it should be borne in mind that in this case there was neither redness, nor fluctuation, nor any external sign indicative of circumscribed abscess of the part—the discharge evidently came from the cavity of the peritoneum, into which the opening was made. It may be premature to argue from the result of one case, but I trust that the time will come when this plan will be successfully employed in other cases of peritonitis, terminating in effusion, and which usually end fatally; those cases where in spite of the remedies employed the patient sinks and dies, and where, upon examination, a quantity of offensive turbid serous flocculent effusion is found poured out into the abdominal cavity. We fre¬ quently meet with instances of this disease, where, after the symptoms of inflammation have gone on for a certain time, the patient suddenly sinks into a typhoid state and dies. Upon examination after death, there are evident signs of inflammation, but not to such a degree as to account for death. It is true that all constitutions cannot resist disease to the same extent; but every one wTho has been in the habit of making post mortem examinations must have met with instances in which the appreciable signs of peritonitis, the extent to which inflammation has appa-