Practical remarks on throat and ear diseases. II. Treatment of goitre. III. Treatment of post-nasal catarrh in relation to deafness / by Lennox Browne.

  • Browne, Lennox, 1841-1902.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical remarks on throat and ear diseases. II. Treatment of goitre. III. Treatment of post-nasal catarrh in relation to deafness / by Lennox Browne. 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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    TREATMENT OF SUFFOCATIVE GOITRE. At the meeting of this Association in Edinburgh last year, Dr. Heron Watson related some cases of excision of the thyroid gland on account of goitrous enlargement, and received the support of Professor Lister, who showed a gland which he had removed in the method advocated by Dr. Watson. This gentleman had taken precautions against the most obvious danger of such a procedure—haemorrhage—by previ- ously tying the thyroid arteries ; and he had undoubtedly had greater success than any other surgeon who had performed the operation. Nevertheless, one fatal case had occurred in a series of seven, and others in which alarming haemorrhage had to be reported. I ventured on that occasion to express my opinion very strongly to the effect that the operation was totally unnecessary, because there were other reme- dial measures involving no danger whatever, and completely removing the enlargement, and with it the distressing and dangerous symptoms to which the disease frequently gives rise. I further stated that the procedure I advised was so simple that the patient was not required to remain in bed a single day, or even to cease from work ; and that the after-disfigurement was very much less than could be the case, even under the most favourable circumstances, when an incision had been made “from the thyroid cartilage to the sternum”. The two particular procedures to which I referred as suitable for the form of goitre under consideration were, the injection of tinc- ture of iodine into the substance of the gland after the plan of Liicke of Berne, and the introduction of a seton; and I stated that I had had several cases in my own practice : and had also seen many others treated with great success by colleagues. As many members of the Association appeared sceptical of the bene- fits to be derived from treatment so simple, I determined at the next annual meeting to relate some cases. I shall on this occasion recount but six, all of which have been sent to me by, or have otherwise been under the notice of, independent practitioners. In these cases, also, relief has been sought for and afforded on account of distressing symp- toms, and no case is included in which treatment was adopted solely to remedy a disfigurement. It is somewhat difficult to say in exactly what cases one may expect