The antiseptic method in relation to drainage of the peritoneum in abdominal surgery / by J. Knowsley Thornton.

  • Thornton, John Knowsley.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The antiseptic method in relation to drainage of the peritoneum in abdominal surgery / by J. Knowsley Thornton. 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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    The first case in which I drained was my third after commencing antiseptic ovariotomy, and I put in the tube because the spray failed in the middle of the operation. I had also tapped in the old way, a short time before operation. At the first dressing I ob- tained. 3 0z. of bloody serum from the tube and sponge, and there was a little in the dressing. At the next changing, 12 hrs. later, there was about 3 oz. of paler serum, none had passed the sponge ; the next 12 hrs. only 2 oz., the next only 1 oz. at the bottom of the tube. I intended at the subsequent dressing to remove the tube, but found a decided increase in the discharge of pale yellow serum. From this time the increase in quantity was rapid, till the dressings were soaked each time; on microscopic examination I found the serum full of lymph corpuscles. From the morn- ing of the second day when the temp, was gg-6, it had been normal, and the patient was in all respects so well, that I felt certain the tube was keeping up irritation ; I therefore removed it when it had been in 72 hrs. No rise of temp, followed, and the pulse stood at 88. On the morning of the 5th day, I heard there was discharge, and found the dressings soaked with serum. The flow continued so freely till the gth day, that I used to turn the patient on her side and empty the peritoneum through the opening where the tube had been, of course under the spray. During this procedure, air could be seen freely bubbling in and out, and yet there was never any sign of putre- faction, and the temp., pulse, and general condition were quite normal. On the gth day the opening closed, and though for some days I could detect serum in the peritoneum in large quantity, there was no further discharge, and the patient got rapidly well and went home 19 days after the operation. I should