The diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the stomach and intestines / by William Fitch Cheney.

  • Cheney, William Fitch, 1866-1941.
Date:
[1936], ©1936
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the stomach and intestines / by William Fitch Cheney. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    this operation, freeing all restricting bands and removing the ap¬ pendix, five years have elapsed, and the patient has never had any further trouble. II. Gallbladder Dyspepsia Clinical History Next in frequency to chronic appendicitis and perhaps equaling or exceeding it as a cause of interference with gastric functions comes chronic cholecystitis. It does not always disturb digestion, but it does so often enough to make it imperative to investigate the possibility of gallbladder disease in every case of chronic dyspepsia. Sometimes the gastric symptoms simply form a background for other manifestations that point directly to the gallbladder itself. Sometimes they comprise the only evidence of disease over long periods of time. Sometimes they do not occur at all, even when attacks of gallbladder inflamma¬ tion recur frequently and are unmistakable. Thus it becomes possible to formulate groups of cases of chronic cholecystitis with reference to the effect they produce upon gastric functions. The first of these presents a history of recurring attacks of bil¬ iary colic with good health and digestion between attacks and no complaint whatever of the stomach. The second group relates a story not only of these recurring attacks of severe pain but also of constant stomach trouble between them. In the third group the chronic disturbance of digestion becomes the chief complaint with no violent pain at any time but only minor intercurrent attacks that implicate the gallbladder, such as discomfort experienced from time to time in the right side below the ribs, a feeling of fullness and soreness or a dull ache and sense of distension. These symptoms may annoy for days at a time, then disappear entirely for weeks or for months.