Observations on hypertrophy, / by Evory Kennedy.

Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on hypertrophy, / by Evory Kennedy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    mass, first attracts the attention, and excites the anxiety of the practitioner. This has been mistaken for a polypus, inversion or prolapsus of the uterus, as well as tumours of different kinds, and has even been removed under the impression of its being the first named complaint. It is to be diagnosed by introducing the fingers, or hand if necessary, into the vagina, when having ascertained that the uterus is in its natural position, by feeling the os and neck, we must satisfy ourselves that the connexion of the protruding tumour is with the neck of the uterus by an extended base, not a pedicle as in polypus. In fact, the exa- minator must satisfy himself of its being a continuation or elongation of the lips downwards by an excess of growth. The production is generally less tumid and thick, or rather more flaccid, just after delivery than during labour. M. Boivin must evidently allude to this form of disease, although we are at a loss to know how she applies the term skirrheux to the affection, when she says, Dans quelques cas particuliers d'affection de Puterus son col skirrheux sans etre augmente en grosseur, est beaucoup plus long que dans l'etat naturel son orifice extern s'avance quelque fois jusqu'a l'orifice vulvo-vaginal, et dans quelques cas memo, le franchit de plusieurs lignes.—Mem. de I'Art des Accouch. y 373. , The treatment in these cases, as well as in the former, after delivery, is the same. Nature herself adopts, in most cases, a very simple but effectual means of remedying the affection. As the uterus, but more especially its neck, contracts after deli- very, the blood, which previously supplied the hypertrophied part, ceases to be sent to it, the tumour becomes, as it were, naturally constricted or pressed upon at its connexion with the neck, and thus a natural ligature is applied; the nutritious vessels being prevented sending a supply for its growth, the effect is, that a gradual but quick process of absorption goes on in the neck, and in the majority of cases the tumour will have so diminished in size, that in the course of ten days or