The practice of medicine and surgery : applied to the diseases and accidents incident to women / by W.H. Byford and Henry T. Byford.

  • Byford, W. H. (William Heath), 1817-1890.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The practice of medicine and surgery : applied to the diseases and accidents incident to women / by W.H. Byford and Henry T. Byford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    721/852 (page 709)
    but the degree will depend upon the nature of its contents. If they are not vitiated, but consist of the bland albuminous fluid found there ordinarily, it is very slight indeed, and lasts for a very short time only. But should pus, or the ichor of decomposition, be mingled with it, we Bhould be prepared to expect serious if not fatal results. I once had an opportunity of observing the progress of a case for several months, where this rupture and effusion were frequently re- peated. About every three weeks the woman would attain to a large size, and a well-defined large cyst could be felt filling up the whole abdomen and distending it greatly, when suddenly, without premoni- tion or apparent cause, the cyst would give way, the swelling would become more diffuse, fluctuation more obvious, and the cyst could be no longer defined by the touch ; slight fever and some tenderness of the abdomen would last for two or three days, when copious per- spiration and diuresis would evacuate the fluid in a few days more. After this process was completed, the abdomen would be lank, and a small cyst could be felt rising up from the left ilium; it would in- crease and burst at the end of three weeks, as the other had done before. I saw the patient frequently while this process was repeated six or seven times, when, as she would not submit to the operative proce- dure which I insisted upon, I was dismissed, and an irregular prac- titioner, who was sure he could cure her, installed in my place. Not long (perhaps three months) after I was discharged she died from the inflammation resulting from one of these effusions, probably because the contents of the cyst had become vitiated by inflammation. But these growths may produce a pathological condition of the system without becoming themselves the seat of disease, by the great size they may attain mechanically interfering with the functions of the pelvic and abdominal viscera. Before rising out of the pelvis it may displace the uterus, and cause inconvenience from this effect; it may press upon and obstruct the rectum, bladder, and urethra, or upon the iliac veins, causing obstruction to the flow of blood, and varicose veins in the legs, phlebitis, or phlegmasia dolens; or pressing upon the nerves, cause neuralgic pains in the limbs, hips, etc. It is plain that such pathological effects, when induced, would be serious, in proportion with the greater or less impaction in the pelvis by its Continued growth. Ordinarily, these inconveniences do not prove very embarrassing to the functions of the important vital organs, but sometimes the case is far otherwise, and life is very much shortened and health rendered miserable. As it rises into the abdomen these mechanical troubles are apt to be lessened ; and as the room is com- paratively so great in that cavity, quite a while elapses before any great disturbance results from mechanical pressure. After awhile, however, the abdominal muscles are distended beyond convenient size, and the tumor is strongly pressed among the viscera. The kid-