Observations on occlusion of the vagina and uterus, with its means of prevention, and the operation necessary for its removal / by Evory Kennedy.

Date:
[1839?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on occlusion of the vagina and uterus, with its means of prevention, and the operation necessary for its removal / 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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    nations, as in those of infants, the result of neglect or other- wise. When the irritation is removed or lessened, then if the fistu- lous aperture be large, or not easily commanded, it may be reduced by touching the edges of it with the actual cautery, so as to enable the bladder to retain the urine longer, and after this has been attended to, a mould of softened wax* should be introduced into the vagina, so as to take accurately its form, a cast of this is to be taken in plaster of Paris, and in this is to be moulded a plug of caoutchouc, with or without an adapting stalk, such as we see in stalk pessaries, with a ball and socket joint, connecting it to a plate fitting to a vulva pad, all of which are to be kept in situ by a T bandage. [Doctor Kennedy here exhibited to the Society several of these instruments and plaster moulds of different forms.] The following case was one so treated. B. M., set. 34, sent up in 1836 from County Meath, after her sixth pregnancy; all the children born alive but labours tedious ; last followed by sloughing vagina, and with in- ability to retain urine. The vagina was found nearly occluded by the adhesion of its walls at one point, by which it was divided into two chambers, the adhesion occupying two-thirds of the circumference posteriorly, and on each side. The upper chamber engaged about one-fifth of the whole cavity, and had communication with the os uteri and bladder by a fistulous opening into its neck, about the size of a silver penny; the upper and lower chamber communicated by an aperture somewhat larger than a pea, through which the urine constantly escaped, as also the menses. Various methods were tried to relieve her, and she left hospital wearing a plug of plaster of Paris made to * Dentists' wax should be obtained, and softened by exposing it to the heat of the fire, not by immersing in hot water ; it should be rolled as nearly as possible into the shape of the vagina, and a strong tape, so placed within it as to catch the wax, and answer as a handle to assist in its extraction.