The treatment of mucomembranous colitis by colostomy / by John M. Elder.

  • Elder, John Munro, 1859-
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The treatment of mucomembranous colitis by colostomy / by John M. Elder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    inated the operation of appendicostomy, by bring- ing the appendix up out of the wound, suturing it there, cutting off the distal end, and introducing a catheter through it to the caecum, and irrigat- ing daily. The author mentions previous cases done by the Kader-Gibson method and with suc- cess. The first appendicostomy was reported in August, 1902, and in October of the same year, Willy Meyer (16), in a female patient who had had colitis for two years and had lost sixty pounds, carried out the same procedure with a resulting cure. The opening in the appendix he states will close spontaneously as a rule, and where it fails to do so can be sealed by the actual cautery (17). Many other cases have gone on record, but these will serve to indicate the marked advance in this special line of abdominal surgery. From left sided inguinal colostomy a step was made when the whole colon was put at rest by an oper- ation done on the right side, and this seems to be the better operation. The colon is at rest, and at the same time an opportunity is afforded to carry out irrigation from fistula to anus if so de- sired. The Kader-Gibson and Weir methods are ingenious ways of affording means to irrigate without inconvenience to the patient, permit- ting him to continue his occupation and, judging by cases reported, promising a cure of the dis- ease. As yet we have not enough cases on rec- ord to determine whether this will answer in all, and whether an open colostomy will not often be needed, even in cases so treated. The Weir