Clinical report on ovarian and uterine diseases : with commentaries / by Robert Lee.

  • Lee, Robert, 1793-1877.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical report on ovarian and uterine diseases : with commentaries / by Robert Lee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    •more affected than in the organic diseases of the ovaria ilready described. n <• A ' M Andral has accurately described the changes of struc- ture produced in the ovaria by these malignant diseases :- «' Sometimes,'- he observes, these masses are iormed of fibrous, cartilaginous, or osseous tissue ; in other cases they are al- Z entirely composed of encephaloid matter. The walls 'of the cysts are thick, and their cavities gradually enlarge uuntil a tumour is formed, which fills not only the epigastrium, bbnt the whole abdominal cavity. The outer surface of the ttumour is unequal; in some points a fluctaution can be felt, vwliilc in others it has a hardness and density equal to bone. Dr Seymour has also described this affection of the ovaria, and has pointed out the connexion which often existsbetween iit and cancerous and fungoid diseases in other parts of the 'body, as the pylorus, lymphatic glands, and even bony and • muscular parts. This malignant disease he remarks, may •be recognised during life, by the want of nutrition, and the ■brokenhealth of the patient; the unevenncss and rapid •orowth of the tumour, the simultaneous enlargement ot the glands in other parts of the body, and the occasional occur- rence of lancinating pains in the part: this latter symptom is not constant. The pulse is quick and feeble, and as the disease proceeds there is hectic fever, and often aphthtc m the mouth, with an inexpressible sense of debility^ This disease occurs even at an early period of life, and it mppears to be excited in some instances by pregnancy, or to •be called into activity by the progress of impregnation. In tthe body of a young woman, under twenty years of age, Dr. I Carswei'l found on dissection an ovarian tumour of a malig- inant nature, as large as the gravid uterus at the full period. About five years ago I examined, with Dr. Merriman and 'Mr. Prout, the body of a woman about thirty years of age, >who had died from malignant disease of the right ovarium, : a few days after parturition. In the fourth month of preg- : nancy she began to suffer from a constant sense of uneasi- • ncss in the hypogastrium, and irritability of stomach; the countenance became sallow, and the constitutional powers greatly reduced. The abdomen, not long after, began rapid- ly to enlarge, and before the end of the seventh month it had attained the size it usually acquires at the full period of i pregnancy. An enormous cyst, which contained a dark- '< coloured gelatinous fluid, was found on dissection adhering