A case in which ovariotomy was twice successfully performed on the same patient / by T. Spencer Wells.

  • Wells, Spencer, 1818-1897.
Date:
[1867]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case in which ovariotomy was twice successfully performed on the same patient / by T. Spencer Wells. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    restored to a state of health so perfect that she and her friends are as surprised as they are gratified. But there are exceptions to this rule. In some cases a disease believed to be innocent proves to be malignant, soon recurs, and proves fatal within a few months, or even within a few weeks after apparent recovery. In other cases the ovary which is left untouched because it is believed to be healthy, or so slightly diseased that its removal is uncalled for, becomes the seat of disease. In what proportion of cases this occurs we have as yet no means of knowing. It is only within the last ten years that the operation has been performed sufficiently often to furnish data for reliable statistics, and it is difficult to ascer¬ tain, even in some of these later cases, what has been the state of the patient's health for some years after operation. But it would be unreasonable to expect that in all cases the ovary left in the body would remain healthy. It is for future observation to decide how often and in what class of cases a recurrence of disease may be feared. It is satisfactory, however, to learn that if the remaining ovary should become diseased, the first operation need not add much to the diffi¬ culty of the second, and that of four cases in which a second ovariotomy has been performed, two have proved successful.