Volume 1

Diseases of the ovaries : their diagnosis and treatment / by T. Spencer Wells.

  • Wells, Spencer, 1818-1897.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the ovaries : their diagnosis and treatment / by T. Spencer Wells. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    385/402 (page 363)
    aASTRO-HYSTEROTOMY. should prove to be very intimate, it will be the unpleasant duty of the surgeon to desist from any attempt to do more, and to close the wound as soon as possible: at least the two cases in which I made the attempt to do more have convinced me that I tried to do more than can be done with a fair and reasonable hope of saving life. -Case 5.—Fibroid Tumour of Uterus ; Gastro-Hysterotomy; Enucleation of Tumour; Death. An unmarried lady, thirty-five years of age, who bad been em- ployed as a governess in Italy, was sent to me by Dr. Sim of Naples, and was admitted under my care to the Samaritan Hospital in December 1862. She was suffering very much from a large fibroid tumour of the uterus, which had been noticed for several years, and its growth had been accompanied by profuse menorrhagia; but it had only attained a very large size during the last four years. Since then her Kfe had been repeatedly in danger from profuse haemorrhage, and she had become quite unable to earn her living as a governess. A very accurate diagnosis was made, and I strongly advised the patient to try and obtain admission to the Hospital for In- curables ; but she was most anxious to avoid such an end, and careful consultations were held as to the possibility of removing the tumour, and the best means of doing so. The impractica- biUty, or very great danger, of removal by the vagina being evident, it was thought that removal by a sort of Csesarian section offered the best hope of a good result. In undertaking the operation I knew perfectly well that the risk must be great, and both Dr. Stewart of the Middlesex Hospital (who was an old friend of the lady) and I fully explained to her that the risk was an 'unknown risk;' but she begged to run any risk in hope of a cure. Accordingly, on the 12th of January 1863 I laid open the abdomen, as in ovariotomy, and pressed the uterus and tumour outwards. I then cut through the uterine wall, and detached the tumour by my hand from its connection. The uterus at once contracted. There was very free bleeding at first, but it soon stopped. Two ligatures only were used.