Clinical and critical contributions to obstetric science and practice / by Robert barnes, M.D.

  • Barnes, Robert, M.D.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical and critical contributions to obstetric science and practice / by Robert barnes, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    34/52 (page 28)
    ON THE DIAGNOSIS, ESPECIALLY THE EARLY DETECTION OF POLYPUS. In the remarks I have to offer relating to the diagnosis of polypus, I shall pass over altogether the consideration of the means of distinguishing polypi which have cleared the os uteri from other abnormal conditions. At this stage of growth, the recognition of the true nature of the tumour is seldom attended with any practical difficulty. But the case is far different when the tumour still lies concealed in the cavity of the uterus or of the cervix. It is quite certain that a polypus of inconsider- able size, retained in the womb, and giving no physical sign of its presence, may yet be the cause of the most dangerous, and even fatal, flooding. The indication to remove a polypus, however small, although situated in the cavity of the uterus or of the cervix, if it be the occasion of exhausting haemorrhages, is as manifest as that for the removal of the largest poljrpus lying forth in the vagina. The detection and treatment of polypi which have not emerged from the uterus, is a subject that has as yet attracted far too little attention from the profession. With the exception of the masterly and practical essay of Professor Simpson,* I am not acquainted with any successful attempt to grapple with the difficulties of the subject. The means of determining whether a polypus exist in the uterus may be divided into two classes :— I. The general symptoms. II. Physical exploration. 1. The general symptoms, although seldom, perhaps in no case, so characteristic as to justify an absolute conclusion, positive or negative, are yet deserving of the most careful analysis. The symptoms considered by Dr. Simpson are hiBmorrhage, either in the form of flooding, irregular and occasional discharges of blood, or of hsemorrhagic menstruation; in leucorrhoea, mucus, purulent, or serous; in increased size of * Monthly Journal of Medical Science, January, 1850.