The infant : a handbook of modern treatment / by Eric Pritchard.

  • Pritchard, Eric, 1864-1943.
Date:
1938
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The infant : a handbook of modern treatment / by Eric Pritchard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    362/774 (page 336)
    want of complete development of the secondary sexual charac¬ teristics. Treatment. Spontaneous descent may occur at any time up to the age of 14, but as a rule, without operation the testicle fails to descend into its normal situation, and under such conditions almost certainly atrophies. The arguments for operation greatly outweigh those for non¬ interference. In the first place, the hernia which usually com¬ plicates the condition is an actual or potential source of danger and requires attention. Secondly, the fixation of the testicle in its proper situation in the scrotum affords at least some oppor¬ tunity for the organ to develop normally. The best age for the operation is about 5 years, unless the condition is complicated by a hernia which gives trouble, or the condition is bilateral. In either of these circumstances, operation should be performed at an early date. Testicular, or other endocrine extracts are in my experience quite useless, but good results have been reported in cases of cryptorchidism by the administration of Antuitrin “ S,” which is a standardized highly purified extract of pregnancy urine, and contains an anterior-pituitary-like sex hormone. Dose 5 minims injected intra-muscularly every week. Ectopia Testis In the course of its descent the testicle may wander from its normal path, and reach one of the following aberrant positions : 1. The external oblique aponeurosis (iliac). 2. Between the anus and the scrotum (perineal). 3. Scarpa’s triangle (femoral). Treatment. In all these cases a plastic operation must be performed as soon as the abnormality is discovered. The testicle can as a rule be easily restored to its normal position, as there is no shortening of the spermatic cord. DISEASES OF THE KIDNEY Although in accordance with modern viewrs of their patho¬ genesis the various forms of Bright’s disease ought to be respec¬ tively distinguished as nephritides (inflammatory), nephroses (degenerative), and arterio-scleroses, from the standpoint of treat¬ ment it is perhaps better to adhere to the old nomenclature of— 1. Glomerular Nephritis. 2. Tubular Nephritis. 3. Chronic Interstitial Nephritis.