Aids to obstetrics : double part / by Samuel Nall.

  • Nall, Samuel.
Date:
[1885?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Aids to obstetrics : double part / by Samuel Nall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    132/150 (page 128)
    Any or all the above local lesions may be present, and in addition to these, owing to the poison being taken up by the lymphatics and veins, certain general lesions may occur. B. General lesions. (a) The Septic Matter may be Arrested at the nearest Lymphatic Glands, and simply cause inflammation of the glands without spreading further. (b) Septicaemia may occur. The poison, after passing the lymphatics, eventually reaches the veins, and the disease becomes general. If the poison is very virulent, death may occur before any secondary local inflammatory processes have had time to develop ; so that after death no signs are found except the dark fluid state of the blood, and ecchymoses on the surface of various viscera. In less severe cases one or more of the following signs may be found after death : Congestion and inflammation (serous or purulent) of the pleurae, pericardium, peritoneum and joints ; congestion, ecchymoses and ulcerative inflammation of the mucous membrane of the intestine and of other organs. (c) Pyaemia, with the formation of abscesses in various organs (lungs, liver, kidneys, etc.). The abscesses are dependent on the presence of septic matter in the different parts, or are due to the lodgment of infected emboli which have been detached from the clots in the uterine veins. Symptoms and Course.—The symptoms generally commence within five days of labour, and vary with the intensity of the poison and the organ implicated. A chill or rigor usually ushers in the disease, the pulse increasing to 120 or more, and the tem- perature rising to 102°—104°. In the worst cases of septicaemia the course is very rapid ; the pulse 120—140, and very weak ; the temperature 103°—104° ; the respirations are quick, and the breath has often a peculiar sweet odour ; the tongue is a first furred, afterwards covered with sordes; there may be a little tenderness over the uterus, otherwise there is often no pain; the abdomen is distended and tympanitic ; diarrhoea and vomit- ing are frequent; the milk is usually arrested and the lochia become foetid. Some complication may occur, such as peritonitis