Remarks on cancer of the prostate and the selection of cases for suprapubic prostatectomy : delivered at the Medical Graduates' College and Polyclinic, June 3, 1903 / by Reginald Harrison.

  • Harrison, Reginald, 1837-1908.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Remarks on cancer of the prostate and the selection of cases for suprapubic prostatectomy : delivered at the Medical Graduates' College and Polyclinic, June 3, 1903 / by Reginald Harrison. 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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    got rid of the distress connected with catheterism prac- tised under great difficulty, the growth within three or four weeks of the operation returned in the original site. It became necessary to fit a permanent drain pipe in the suprapubic opening, which enabled the patient to pass urine painlessly during the remainder of his life. The prostatectomy, however, proved useless, and the patient died from the recurrence of cancer in the part four months after the operation which had been undertaken for its removal. Secondary growth mani- fested itself in the spine about the ninth and tenth dorsal vertebrae. On microscopical examination the growth proved to be of a mixed character. The peri- phery of the mass was adenomatous, whilst the centre was carcinomatous. The growth cut like scirrhus of the breast, and yielded typical “ cancer juice ” on scraping. Mr. Watson Cheyne saw the patient in consultation with me. Case 2.—The second case was that of a professional man, aged 61, who consulted me in April, 1901, for frequency of micturition. As in the preceding case, the use of a catheter indicated that there was no residual urine in the bladder to account for this symptom, and that some other cause for it was to be sought. The prostate was examined per rectum, and it was found to be large and hard. It was noted, however, that the rectum was freely movable over it, and that the growth was not unduly fixed within the pelvis. I did not see the patient again till January, 1902, when the symptoms had become more urgent. The frequency of micturition had greatly increased, and with this a necessity for the use of the catheter. These symptoms were so urgent that on January 5 suprapubic prostatectomy was performed. What was apparently a fibro-adenoma of the prostate was enu- cleated with some difficulty in two pieces by the finger. The bladder had evidently for some time been immensely distended. The mouths of the ureteral orifices were so large that they would each admit the tip of the fore- finger. The naked-eye appearance of the growths was that of an adenoma, which the first microscopical ex- amination confirmed. A further examination, which