'She thought it was her change of life' : reporting cases of uterine polypi, uterine cancer, inversion of the uterus, and sub-peritoneal fibroid / by A. Vander Veer.

  • Vander Veer, A. (Albert), 1841-1929.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: 'She thought it was her change of life' : reporting cases of uterine polypi, uterine cancer, inversion of the uterus, and sub-peritoneal fibroid / by A. 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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    simple polypus projecting from the external os. Her condition was made known to her, and an immediate operation urged. I was sent for on October io, 1887, and found her in such an exceedingly feeble condition that I really feared she might die from the additional slight shock of the operation. She, however, was very willing to have done what seemed to be best, was now entirely passive, knowing that she could live only a short time if not helped in some way. 1 found a large polypus filling the cavity of the vagina, and attached by a moderate-sized pedicle to the internal os. Around it I was able to pass the chain of the eeraseur, and to remove it without any great trouble, not giving the patient an anesthetic, as I feared she would be unable to endure it. The cavity of the uterus was curetted thoroughly, washed out with a weak solution of bichloride, and packed with iodoform gauze. This was removed at the end of forty-eight hours, and afterwards vaginal douches made use of, containing boracic acid in solution. This patient ultimately made a complete recovery, although her convalescence was somewhat slow in consequence of her exceedingly weak and exhausted condition. I present this as a case familiar to many of us, illustrating a class of cases where procrastination on the part of the practitioner, with absolute indifference and stubborness on the part of the patient, often costs the latter her life. Women seem to have in their mind the idea that they must expect all sorts of conditions to present at the time of the menopause, and are over-negligent, too frequently, in having their cases properly looked into. Belonging to another class of cases, which are far more sad, is the following : Mrs. B., aged 33, married, mother of three children has always been in good health, family history good, youngest child three years of age, which she nursed and weaned at the age of fourteen months; menstruated regularly after that until six months previous to her admission into the Albany Hospital, September, 1886. During that time, her flowing had continued almost constantly ; she suffered little pain, but was much weakened ; had emaciated somewhat, yet continued attending to her household duties, refusing all local treatment. Her family physician finally told her that he would have nothing more to do with her case, and that she must go to the hospital, where she came under my care. On making an examination, I found an epithe- lioma that embraced the entire cervix, extending to the lateral walls of the vagina, to the under surface of the neck of the bladder, and extending up along the lower portion of the urethra. It was abso- lutely impossible to do anything for her in the way of treatment or