Two cases of occlusion of the vagina with retention of menstrual fluid / by C.J. Cullingworth.

  • Cullingworth, Charles J. (Charles James), 1841-1908.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Two cases of occlusion of the vagina with retention of menstrual fluid / by C.J. Cullingworth. 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.

    6/12 (page 6)
    cleansing of fingers and instruments, and by the avoidance, as far as possible, of the admission of air into the vagina, both during and after the operation. With regard to the desirability of washing out the parts after the operation with warm carbolised water, or other antiseptic solution, authorities are divided in opinion. My own observations have led me to the conclusion that in cases where no putrefactive change has taken place in the retained fluid, it is better to let it drain away of itself. This was the plan I adopted in the case above recorded, and certainly, no case could have progressed more satisfactorily. Whether the successful result was due, in any degree, to the avoidance of douching, or whether, as the advocates of douching would say, it occurred in spite of it, cannot of course be determined. One thing, however, is clear, namely, that antiseptic washing out of the vagina is not essential to uninterrupted recovery. Case 2.—Early in the month of August, 1887, I received a letter from Dr. M. J. Fox, of Accrington, requesting me to see with him a girl of 16, named Martha Alice W., the daughter of a working-man residing at Oswaldtwistle. The letter informed me that the case was one of vaginal atresia, with retention of menstrual fluid, requiring operation, and gave some further particulars as to the patient’s history, &c., which I have Dr. Fox’s kind permission to incorporate in the following report. On August 12th I visited the patient, and found her entirely bed- ridden. She was extremely weak, pale, and emaciated, and complained of vomiting, complete loss of appetite, and pain in the lower part of the abdomen and back. Her pulse was rapid, and her skin hot and dry. Her illness commenced in March, 1885, when she was confined to bed for about six weeks. In September of the same year she had another attack of acute illness of a similar nature, and from that time had been in more or less continual suffering and ill-health. She liad never men- struated, though her symptoms were all greatly aggravated at periodic intervals of a month. As the patient lay in bed there was no perceptible enlargement of the abdomen, but, on palpation, a distinct tumour was felt in the hypogastric region, extending three inches from the pubes upwards. The upper portion of the tumour was rounded, soft, and