Surgery of the stomach, with report of cases : one case of gastrostomy, two cases of gastrectomy / by Albert Vander Veer.

  • Vander Veer, A. (Albert), 1841-1929.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Surgery of the stomach, with report of cases : one case of gastrostomy, two cases of gastrectomy / by Albert Vander Veer. 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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    operative intervention, and my recollections of gastric fistula, after having read fully the history of Alexis St. Martin, date from November, 1874, when I attended a clinic'in London, con- ducted by the late Dr. Murchison. He presented three cases of malignant disease of the . stomach that had resulted in fistulous openings, and which were dilated upon by the lecturer. He was very clear in his remarks that much good would surely result from the operation that had been done a few times, but contem- plated more recently by the. then, operating surgeon, i. c., making a gastric fistula for relief of stricture of the oesophagus, that could not be treated otherwise. Very soon after this I was im- pressed by some of the reports made by surgeons in the London hospitals, who had persuaded patients to consent to this operation for comfort, maintenance and continuance of life. About this time one of the best articles on the subject of feed- ing the patient through an artificial opening, in a satisfactory manner, was presented by Dr. Poolcy, of Columbus, Ohio, a young surgeon who promised a brilliant career in the work he was then doing, and who gave 11s a clearer definition and classifi- cation of the terms gastrostomy and gastrotomv. From this time on operations upon the stomach have developed with the same rapidity, the same certainty of success as have operations upon other portions of the abdominal cavity, and no one can deny but that some of our most brilliant advances in surgical practice have been in connection with attacks upon this one time nnich-dreaded serous cavity. Billroth’s masterly operation of pvlorectomy developed along about this time, in the decade between 1874 and 1884, attracting the attention of thinking, operating surgeons to that extent it seemed as though it was destined to be a definite advance in sur- gery, and one of the fixed operations, but even greater advances than this were to be accomplished. We were just upon the eve of more brilliant achievements by other operators, which were not long in being developed bv the thoughtful, earnest surgeons of the time. At last we had special works upon the subject of gastric surgery, and one who is abreast of what is being done at the present time, cannot but rejoice, and feel a degree of comfort in his profession, when he takes up such a volume as is presented by Mayo Robson on Surgical Treatment of Diseases of the Stomach. Here we find a book that presents the subject of my few remarks well up-to-date, here are operations described and