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TWO CASES OF FOREIGN BODY IN THE ŒSOPHAGUS REQUIRING ŒSOPHAGOTOMY IN CHILDREN.
MR. L. COLLEDGE & MR. G. A. EWART : FOREIGN BODY IN (ESOPHAGUS.
734 ’
42 per cent., but it care bo, taken not t) injure the ceophagM in unsuccessful attempts at removal by endoscopy, and correct technique be employed in the operation, the mortahty should fall much below this figure. There is no doubt also that in these two instances the skill and constant care of Sister Webley in the subsequent management of the cases were important factors in their recovery. Account of Cases. In the first case (L. Colledge) a female child, aged 2 years, had swallowed an open safety-pin, which the X rays revealed lying point upwards and to the left in the oesophagus at the level of the thoracic aperture, the ring of the pin being just below the top of the sternum. The accident had happened eight hours previous to admission. No difficulty was encountered in finding the pin, but to have pulled it upwards would only have caused the point to perforate the wall of the oesophagus and impact it still more firmly, and it was found impossible to push it downwards, as the point was securely caught in the mucous membrane. The method of Chevalier Jacksoni consists in seizing the safetypin by its ring with forceps whose jaws come in contact only at their tips, so that the pin can turn freely in the forceps but it cannot escape. The pin is then pushed gently down into the stomach. There is now room for the pin to turn over, and on withdrawing it the ring comes up first into the oesophagosoope. This method could not be employed as the safety-pin could not be pushed downwards. An incision was therefore made on the left side of the neck along the anterior border of the sterno-mastoid. An unusually large
A.D., driver R.F.A., admitted Feb. 7th. He had been ill week, but felt himself improving. His temperature was normal, and except for some pharyngitis and bronchitis he showed few signs of active influenza. However, exophthalmos was present, von Graefe’s sign marked, tremor present, slight wrinkling of forehead on looking upward. Pulse-rate 88. After three days the signs became less marked, although von Graefe’s sign was still perceptible, and on any exertion the pulse-rate increased unduly. At this stage he 4. for
a
evacuated. 5. T. D., rifleman R. Brigade. Admitted March 3rd, after four days of illness. He had the usual symptoms, except that he had become short of breath one day before admission. He had had pleurisy with effusion two years previously. One brother had died of phthisis six years ago. On examination bronchitisand signs of a small collection of fluid on the right side of the chest were noted. This was explored and noted as sterile, the cell count showing was
________________________
chiefly polymorph
cells. On the 14th there was evidence of increase of fluid, and 40 oz. were aspirated. There was no further accumulation. On the 20th signs of hyperthyroidism appeared. He was pale, forehead remained unwrinkled on looking
I
tnternai
jugular
aside, and
possible in
vein causen
some
troucie,
OUu was arawn
longitudinal incision was made as far down as the oesophagus. The ring of the pin lay below the
a
top of the sternum,
so
that it
was
necessary to draw the
oesophagus up out of the chest. The pin was then seized by the ring at the lower end, and was removed by rotating it outwards round the point as an axis. It was then found that upward, exophthal-the tip of the pin had been bent out into a semicircle, mos present, von in the Case 5. Graefe’s sign which accounted for its being so firmly engaged mucous membrane. The opening in the cosomarked, Mcebiuss oesophageal not present, tremor marked, and pulse-rate now 96 per minute. phagus was closed with stitches of fine catgut, and the There was no appreciable tumour of the thyroid. These outer part of the wound packed lightly with gauze. There was some leakage from the wound afterwards, but it was signs disappeared slowly, and by the end of the month he was firmly healed, and the child swallowed normally at the end evacuated to the base as convalescent. In this case the of five weeks. The patient remains in good health and has following points favour the diagnosis of influenza in opposi- no stenosis of the oesophagus five years later. tion to tuberculosis; there was an epidemic of influenza in this man’s unit; sputum examinations were repeatedly 2 In the second case (G. A. Ewart) the child, a male, aged years, had swallowed on the day previous to admission negative for tuberculosis, until no more sputum was brought part of a toy puzzle, consisting of a piece of iron with six with cell effusions similar counts were numerous fairly up ; blunt spikes, all at right angles, so that a cross projecting amongst the other cases of influenza who gave no tuberculous was formed in all three dimensions; consequently, in history. whatever position it lay the spikes engaged the mucous Remarks. membrane, and removal through the endoscope was found The time of onset of the thyroid symptoms and signs were to be impossible. The foreign body lay in the oesophagus very variable ; in one it was noted on the sixth day of just below the level of the cricoid cartilage, and measured illness, the other extreme was the twenty-first day. In 5/8ths of an inch across. The following day an incision was all but the one fatal case it developed during convalescence, made along the anterior border of the left sterno-mastoid, md on exposing the oesophagus the foreign body was seen and the onset was sudden in all cases. the wall. It was easily removed through a short The importance of the condition rests with the recognition bulging incision in the long axis of the oesophagus, which was closed of the minor grades ; the more severe cases are obvious. The with four interrupted fine catgut sutures. The outer part lack of a more prolonged convalescence in these cases would )f the wound was packed with gauze and partially sutured lead to one type of so-called irritable heart. with fishing-gut. The following day the child was fed with sterilised water and Brand’s essence, about three-quarters of ibe fluid coming out through the wound and one-quarter passing into the stomach. By the end of three weeks the TWO CASES OF ffound had
FOREIGN BODY IN THE ŒSOPHAGUS REQUIRING ŒSOPHAGOTOMY IN CHILDREN. BY LIONEL
COLLEDGE, M.B., F.R.C.S. ENG.,
SURGEON TO THE THROAT AND EAR DEPARTMENT, ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL, AND TO THE THROAT HOSPITAL, GOLDEN-SQUARE ;
AND
G. A. EWART, F.R.C.S. ENG., ASSISTANT SURGEON TO ST.
GEORGE’S
HOSPITAL.
healed. The child was able to completely and had no stiffness of the neck. He
Iwallow normally emains well four years later.
6’CMMCM. Attention may be drawn to the following points in connexion with these cases. 1. An attempt at removal by the oesophagoscope should always be undertaken first, since it is nearly always successful. Even if unsuccessful it reveals the true level of the foreign body, on which point the X rays may be
misleading.
As almost every foreign body lodged in the oesophagus can 2. In the rare cases in which the mechanical problem of be removed by endoscopic manipulation, two cases in small removal is found to present apparently insuperendoscopic children in which the mechanical conditions rendered an able difficulties it is much safer to make a clean incision in external cesophagotomy necessary are worthy of record. It the oesophagus than to risk its laceration or perforation of may be pointed out that this operation should never be the carotid sheath by persistent manipulations in the effort undertaken until an attempt at removal by means of the to remove the foreign body by the endoscope. aesophag0scope has failed, or until it has been found that 3. The oe-ophagus, when exposed thus in the living child, removal by this method must involve laceration or perfora- is cylindrical and not a flattened band as usually seen at a tion of the oesophageal wall. In both the cases here recorded necropsy. it was found impossible, owing to the configuration of the 4. By suturing the wound in the oesophagus and lightly foreign bodies, to move them either upwards or downwards packing the outer part the risk of spreading cellulitis of the by endoscopic methods. Chevalier Jackson states that the 1 Chevalier Jackson : Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery. mortality of external oesophagotomy in children is as high as
’
,
ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE: OBSTETRICS AND t3YNCULO(IY. neck and mediastinitis is nduced to the minimum. Wounds in the oesophagus do not heal readily, and it is futile to aim at primary union, but the tissues are thus given time to As there is certain to be recover before leakage begins. some leakage, however carefully the birching is done, the child should be fed on steriti’.ed liquids, avoiding milk. 5. A clean vertical inci,ion in the oesophagus does not The first child is in good lead to subsequent steno8ió<. health and swallows normally five years after the operation, and the second remains perfectly well four years later.
ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE. SECTION OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY. 9th, Mr. J. D.
A MEETING of this section was held on Oct. MALCOLM, the President, being in the chair.
Rupture of t7te Uterus dlllring Pregnancy. Mr. GORDON LEY read a paper on a case of indirect traumatic rupture of the uterus during pregnancy, a very rare condition of which he could only find nine previously recorded cases.
HYPERTONIC SALT SOLUTION IN THE TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOUS ABSCESS.
DURANTE,
FELLOW OF THE MAYO’S CLINIC ; ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SURGICAL
PATHOLOGY,
Medical Societies.
Indireot Tra16matio
A TECHNICAL NOTE ON
BY CAPTAIN LUIGI
735
GENOA UNIVERSITY.
FROM March to October, 1919, I received in my surgical section 245 soldiers, for the most part prisoners returned from Au"tria and affected by surgical tuberculous lesions. Counting lesions in different bones and joints of the same patient, I have had the care of over 500 tuberculous abscesses. By the use of intrafocal injections of hypertonic salt solution I have been able to accelerate the slow natural cicatricial process so as to reduce to a few months the healing period which, with common iodic injections, would normally extend To illustrate the exact value of the treatment over a year. used by me, I think it might prove useful to refer briefly to the fundamental biological and physical properties of salt
8olutions. It is well known, by Arrhenius’s laws, that two salt solutions of different molecular concentrations separated by a semi-permeable membrane-as we roughly imagine the structure of living tissue-will not be in equilibrium until the two solutions contain in the same volume of water the same number of molecules. The changes that take place before the solutions become isotonic are twofold-that is to say, a part of the solution diffuses itself from the point where the molecular concentration is greatest towards the part where it is least, and at the same time there is established a reverse passage from the point where the concentration is least to where it is greatest. These physical phenomena take place in biology each time a saline hypertonic solution is injected into an abscess cavity. Wright has demonstrated that the drainage of lymph taking place every time we inject hypertonic salt solutions into an abscess cavity acs in different ways at different times-that is, in the first two hours there is a lymphagogic action and later a lymphocytagogic action. Thus these two elements, undoubtedly the most active that we know in the antitoxic and antibacterial fight, are both brought into action. To obtain a lymphatic current in the abscess cavity from the circumfocal area I now use, after careful research, a sterilised hypertonic salt solution composed of2 g. Magnesium chloride Distilled water ......... 100 c.cm. Commercial formalin ...... !" The reason for choosing magnesium chloride is that this salt has a stimulating action in the process of reconstruction of the tissues, as has been demonstrated by Rosenblith and ......
Delbet. In practice the treatment of tuberculous abscess with hypertonic salt solutions is carried out in the same way and
the same indications as treatment with iodic solutions ; but the abscess cavity should be emptied, washed out, and filled with salt solutions every four days. This frequency of treatment is called for by the fact that the quantity of lymph collected in the abscess cavity by osmotic pressure is great and produces a slight distension of the tissues, and thrt this distension, united with active hyperaamia, causes a feeling of pain. The quantity of liquid that I leave in the cavity varies from 10 to 40 c.cm., according to (1) the capacity of the cavity, and (2) the greater or lesser degree of vascular action, which varies with the individual. Rpferences.-Delbet, P.: Action Cytophylaetlqiie nn Chlorure de Magnesium, Jonrnal de Chirurgie, 1915, No. 6, 652, 653. }(osenb1ith: Therapeutic Effect of Magnesium Chloride, THE LANCET, 1915. ii., 941. Wright, A. t!.: Physical and Phyintogica.l ActlOn of Hypertonic Salt Solutions, THE LANCET, t915, it., 957, 1016. on
--"
The patient, aged 22, was a primigravida 21 weeks pregnant, and had been in excellent health. When standing on a railway platform she suddenly felt faint and, staggering forwards, fell off the platform on to the metals. She fell doubled up in a crouching attitude. She was picked up, and after regaining consciousness was carried to a cab and taken home, where, having walked upstairs, she was put to bed. When Dr. R. Thorne Thorne saw her at noon, one hour after the accident, the temperature was
97’6° F. and the pulse 76. She was pale and suffering from nervous shock. She complained of pain in the hypogastrium ; the lower lip was cut and the right shoulder bruised. An abdominal examination revealed an apparently normal 20 weeks pregnancy. There was no rigidity. A catheter was passed and clear urine was drawn off. She was reassured and became more composed. At 6 P.M. Dr. Thorne Thorne again saw the patient. She had, since 5. P.M., noticed a slight watery show, the hypogastric pain had increased and was of a stretching character. 110. There was no alteration in the Temp. 97’60, pulse physical signs. She was given tinct. opii, m. v. From this time there was no further vaginal loss. At 9 P.M. she was seen again by her doctor. He then noticed that she had become extremely pale. The pulse was 120 and soft; the pain was still severe. The abdominal physical signs had not altered. A diagnosis of concealed accidental haemorrhage was suggested, and he made an unsuccessful attempt to rupture the
membranes by passing a sound, which appeared to come in contact with the foetal head. The patient found the left lateral position much more comfortable, and was accordingly left in this attitude. At 9.30 P.M. she was much worse; pulse 140, feeble and soft. Mr. Ley saw the patient about 1.30 A.M. on the next morning. She was lying on her left side and complained of continual agonising abdominal pain, made much worse by moving her. She was extremely ansamic. The pulse was feeble and uncountable, and the respirations rapid. There were air-hunger and restlessness. The abdomen was distended, rigid, and extremely tender all over. In the left lumbar region there was an undefined swelling about the sizA of an ostrich’s egg. The uterus could not be palpated. On vaginal examination the cervix was closed and Douglas’s pouch bulged slightly. He came to the conclusion that there was hsemoperitoneum, probably from rupture of the uterus, the mass in the left lumbar region being the unruptured ovum, but suggested as a second diagnosis a ruptured left kidney, with perinephric heamatoma perforating the
peritoneum.
On laparotomy he found three pints of blood in the peritoneal cavity. The ovum, unruptured, was lying free in the left kidney pouch. The uterus was contracted and showed on its anterior wall a laceration three inches long, running from the right cornu obliquely downwards and to the left, and judging by the vascularity of the wall the rupture was through the placental site. The uterus was sutured and the abdomen closed. The placenta and membranes appeared normal and the urine contained no albumin. She was given a rectal saline, and except for some pyrexia, due largely to the absorption of blood-clot, made an uninterrupted recovery. Mr. Ley suggested that the sequence of events was
(1) Trauma; (2) incomplete rupture of the involving the peritoneum and the outer muscular coats ; (3) complete rupture of the uterus with bleeding as
follows:
uterus
into the peritoneum; (4) extrusion of the ovum at about 9 P.M. The Pre-Oanee’l’0168 Ute’l’U8. In the absence through illness of Dr. F. J. MCCANN, his paper on the Pre-cancerous Uterus was read by Dr. J. S. FAIRBAIRN. Dr. McCann deplored the growing tendency to relegate the clinician to the background and to look to the
734 ’
42 per cent., but it care bo, taken not t) injure the ceophagM in unsuccessful attempts at removal by endoscopy, and correct technique be employed in the operation, the mortahty should fall much below this figure. There is no doubt also that in these two instances the skill and constant care of Sister Webley in the subsequent management of the cases were important factors in their recovery. Account of Cases. In the first case (L. Colledge) a female child, aged 2 years, had swallowed an open safety-pin, which the X rays revealed lying point upwards and to the left in the oesophagus at the level of the thoracic aperture, the ring of the pin being just below the top of the sternum. The accident had happened eight hours previous to admission. No difficulty was encountered in finding the pin, but to have pulled it upwards would only have caused the point to perforate the wall of the oesophagus and impact it still more firmly, and it was found impossible to push it downwards, as the point was securely caught in the mucous membrane. The method of Chevalier Jacksoni consists in seizing the safetypin by its ring with forceps whose jaws come in contact only at their tips, so that the pin can turn freely in the forceps but it cannot escape. The pin is then pushed gently down into the stomach. There is now room for the pin to turn over, and on withdrawing it the ring comes up first into the oesophagosoope. This method could not be employed as the safety-pin could not be pushed downwards. An incision was therefore made on the left side of the neck along the anterior border of the sterno-mastoid. An unusually large
A.D., driver R.F.A., admitted Feb. 7th. He had been ill week, but felt himself improving. His temperature was normal, and except for some pharyngitis and bronchitis he showed few signs of active influenza. However, exophthalmos was present, von Graefe’s sign marked, tremor present, slight wrinkling of forehead on looking upward. Pulse-rate 88. After three days the signs became less marked, although von Graefe’s sign was still perceptible, and on any exertion the pulse-rate increased unduly. At this stage he 4. for
a
evacuated. 5. T. D., rifleman R. Brigade. Admitted March 3rd, after four days of illness. He had the usual symptoms, except that he had become short of breath one day before admission. He had had pleurisy with effusion two years previously. One brother had died of phthisis six years ago. On examination bronchitisand signs of a small collection of fluid on the right side of the chest were noted. This was explored and noted as sterile, the cell count showing was
________________________
chiefly polymorph
cells. On the 14th there was evidence of increase of fluid, and 40 oz. were aspirated. There was no further accumulation. On the 20th signs of hyperthyroidism appeared. He was pale, forehead remained unwrinkled on looking
I
tnternai
jugular
aside, and
possible in
vein causen
some
troucie,
OUu was arawn
longitudinal incision was made as far down as the oesophagus. The ring of the pin lay below the
a
top of the sternum,
so
that it
was
necessary to draw the
oesophagus up out of the chest. The pin was then seized by the ring at the lower end, and was removed by rotating it outwards round the point as an axis. It was then found that upward, exophthal-the tip of the pin had been bent out into a semicircle, mos present, von in the Case 5. Graefe’s sign which accounted for its being so firmly engaged mucous membrane. The opening in the cosomarked, Mcebiuss oesophageal not present, tremor marked, and pulse-rate now 96 per minute. phagus was closed with stitches of fine catgut, and the There was no appreciable tumour of the thyroid. These outer part of the wound packed lightly with gauze. There was some leakage from the wound afterwards, but it was signs disappeared slowly, and by the end of the month he was firmly healed, and the child swallowed normally at the end evacuated to the base as convalescent. In this case the of five weeks. The patient remains in good health and has following points favour the diagnosis of influenza in opposi- no stenosis of the oesophagus five years later. tion to tuberculosis; there was an epidemic of influenza in this man’s unit; sputum examinations were repeatedly 2 In the second case (G. A. Ewart) the child, a male, aged years, had swallowed on the day previous to admission negative for tuberculosis, until no more sputum was brought part of a toy puzzle, consisting of a piece of iron with six with cell effusions similar counts were numerous fairly up ; blunt spikes, all at right angles, so that a cross projecting amongst the other cases of influenza who gave no tuberculous was formed in all three dimensions; consequently, in history. whatever position it lay the spikes engaged the mucous Remarks. membrane, and removal through the endoscope was found The time of onset of the thyroid symptoms and signs were to be impossible. The foreign body lay in the oesophagus very variable ; in one it was noted on the sixth day of just below the level of the cricoid cartilage, and measured illness, the other extreme was the twenty-first day. In 5/8ths of an inch across. The following day an incision was all but the one fatal case it developed during convalescence, made along the anterior border of the left sterno-mastoid, md on exposing the oesophagus the foreign body was seen and the onset was sudden in all cases. the wall. It was easily removed through a short The importance of the condition rests with the recognition bulging incision in the long axis of the oesophagus, which was closed of the minor grades ; the more severe cases are obvious. The with four interrupted fine catgut sutures. The outer part lack of a more prolonged convalescence in these cases would )f the wound was packed with gauze and partially sutured lead to one type of so-called irritable heart. with fishing-gut. The following day the child was fed with sterilised water and Brand’s essence, about three-quarters of ibe fluid coming out through the wound and one-quarter passing into the stomach. By the end of three weeks the TWO CASES OF ffound had
FOREIGN BODY IN THE ŒSOPHAGUS REQUIRING ŒSOPHAGOTOMY IN CHILDREN. BY LIONEL
COLLEDGE, M.B., F.R.C.S. ENG.,
SURGEON TO THE THROAT AND EAR DEPARTMENT, ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL, AND TO THE THROAT HOSPITAL, GOLDEN-SQUARE ;
AND
G. A. EWART, F.R.C.S. ENG., ASSISTANT SURGEON TO ST.
GEORGE’S
HOSPITAL.
healed. The child was able to completely and had no stiffness of the neck. He
Iwallow normally emains well four years later.
6’CMMCM. Attention may be drawn to the following points in connexion with these cases. 1. An attempt at removal by the oesophagoscope should always be undertaken first, since it is nearly always successful. Even if unsuccessful it reveals the true level of the foreign body, on which point the X rays may be
misleading.
As almost every foreign body lodged in the oesophagus can 2. In the rare cases in which the mechanical problem of be removed by endoscopic manipulation, two cases in small removal is found to present apparently insuperendoscopic children in which the mechanical conditions rendered an able difficulties it is much safer to make a clean incision in external cesophagotomy necessary are worthy of record. It the oesophagus than to risk its laceration or perforation of may be pointed out that this operation should never be the carotid sheath by persistent manipulations in the effort undertaken until an attempt at removal by means of the to remove the foreign body by the endoscope. aesophag0scope has failed, or until it has been found that 3. The oe-ophagus, when exposed thus in the living child, removal by this method must involve laceration or perfora- is cylindrical and not a flattened band as usually seen at a tion of the oesophageal wall. In both the cases here recorded necropsy. it was found impossible, owing to the configuration of the 4. By suturing the wound in the oesophagus and lightly foreign bodies, to move them either upwards or downwards packing the outer part the risk of spreading cellulitis of the by endoscopic methods. Chevalier Jackson states that the 1 Chevalier Jackson : Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery. mortality of external oesophagotomy in children is as high as
’
,
ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE: OBSTETRICS AND t3YNCULO(IY. neck and mediastinitis is nduced to the minimum. Wounds in the oesophagus do not heal readily, and it is futile to aim at primary union, but the tissues are thus given time to As there is certain to be recover before leakage begins. some leakage, however carefully the birching is done, the child should be fed on steriti’.ed liquids, avoiding milk. 5. A clean vertical inci,ion in the oesophagus does not The first child is in good lead to subsequent steno8ió<. health and swallows normally five years after the operation, and the second remains perfectly well four years later.
ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE. SECTION OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY. 9th, Mr. J. D.
A MEETING of this section was held on Oct. MALCOLM, the President, being in the chair.
Rupture of t7te Uterus dlllring Pregnancy. Mr. GORDON LEY read a paper on a case of indirect traumatic rupture of the uterus during pregnancy, a very rare condition of which he could only find nine previously recorded cases.
HYPERTONIC SALT SOLUTION IN THE TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOUS ABSCESS.
DURANTE,
FELLOW OF THE MAYO’S CLINIC ; ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SURGICAL
PATHOLOGY,
Medical Societies.
Indireot Tra16matio
A TECHNICAL NOTE ON
BY CAPTAIN LUIGI
735
GENOA UNIVERSITY.
FROM March to October, 1919, I received in my surgical section 245 soldiers, for the most part prisoners returned from Au"tria and affected by surgical tuberculous lesions. Counting lesions in different bones and joints of the same patient, I have had the care of over 500 tuberculous abscesses. By the use of intrafocal injections of hypertonic salt solution I have been able to accelerate the slow natural cicatricial process so as to reduce to a few months the healing period which, with common iodic injections, would normally extend To illustrate the exact value of the treatment over a year. used by me, I think it might prove useful to refer briefly to the fundamental biological and physical properties of salt
8olutions. It is well known, by Arrhenius’s laws, that two salt solutions of different molecular concentrations separated by a semi-permeable membrane-as we roughly imagine the structure of living tissue-will not be in equilibrium until the two solutions contain in the same volume of water the same number of molecules. The changes that take place before the solutions become isotonic are twofold-that is to say, a part of the solution diffuses itself from the point where the molecular concentration is greatest towards the part where it is least, and at the same time there is established a reverse passage from the point where the concentration is least to where it is greatest. These physical phenomena take place in biology each time a saline hypertonic solution is injected into an abscess cavity. Wright has demonstrated that the drainage of lymph taking place every time we inject hypertonic salt solutions into an abscess cavity acs in different ways at different times-that is, in the first two hours there is a lymphagogic action and later a lymphocytagogic action. Thus these two elements, undoubtedly the most active that we know in the antitoxic and antibacterial fight, are both brought into action. To obtain a lymphatic current in the abscess cavity from the circumfocal area I now use, after careful research, a sterilised hypertonic salt solution composed of2 g. Magnesium chloride Distilled water ......... 100 c.cm. Commercial formalin ...... !" The reason for choosing magnesium chloride is that this salt has a stimulating action in the process of reconstruction of the tissues, as has been demonstrated by Rosenblith and ......
Delbet. In practice the treatment of tuberculous abscess with hypertonic salt solutions is carried out in the same way and
the same indications as treatment with iodic solutions ; but the abscess cavity should be emptied, washed out, and filled with salt solutions every four days. This frequency of treatment is called for by the fact that the quantity of lymph collected in the abscess cavity by osmotic pressure is great and produces a slight distension of the tissues, and thrt this distension, united with active hyperaamia, causes a feeling of pain. The quantity of liquid that I leave in the cavity varies from 10 to 40 c.cm., according to (1) the capacity of the cavity, and (2) the greater or lesser degree of vascular action, which varies with the individual. Rpferences.-Delbet, P.: Action Cytophylaetlqiie nn Chlorure de Magnesium, Jonrnal de Chirurgie, 1915, No. 6, 652, 653. }(osenb1ith: Therapeutic Effect of Magnesium Chloride, THE LANCET, 1915. ii., 941. Wright, A. t!.: Physical and Phyintogica.l ActlOn of Hypertonic Salt Solutions, THE LANCET, t915, it., 957, 1016. on
--"
The patient, aged 22, was a primigravida 21 weeks pregnant, and had been in excellent health. When standing on a railway platform she suddenly felt faint and, staggering forwards, fell off the platform on to the metals. She fell doubled up in a crouching attitude. She was picked up, and after regaining consciousness was carried to a cab and taken home, where, having walked upstairs, she was put to bed. When Dr. R. Thorne Thorne saw her at noon, one hour after the accident, the temperature was
97’6° F. and the pulse 76. She was pale and suffering from nervous shock. She complained of pain in the hypogastrium ; the lower lip was cut and the right shoulder bruised. An abdominal examination revealed an apparently normal 20 weeks pregnancy. There was no rigidity. A catheter was passed and clear urine was drawn off. She was reassured and became more composed. At 6 P.M. Dr. Thorne Thorne again saw the patient. She had, since 5. P.M., noticed a slight watery show, the hypogastric pain had increased and was of a stretching character. 110. There was no alteration in the Temp. 97’60, pulse physical signs. She was given tinct. opii, m. v. From this time there was no further vaginal loss. At 9 P.M. she was seen again by her doctor. He then noticed that she had become extremely pale. The pulse was 120 and soft; the pain was still severe. The abdominal physical signs had not altered. A diagnosis of concealed accidental haemorrhage was suggested, and he made an unsuccessful attempt to rupture the
membranes by passing a sound, which appeared to come in contact with the foetal head. The patient found the left lateral position much more comfortable, and was accordingly left in this attitude. At 9.30 P.M. she was much worse; pulse 140, feeble and soft. Mr. Ley saw the patient about 1.30 A.M. on the next morning. She was lying on her left side and complained of continual agonising abdominal pain, made much worse by moving her. She was extremely ansamic. The pulse was feeble and uncountable, and the respirations rapid. There were air-hunger and restlessness. The abdomen was distended, rigid, and extremely tender all over. In the left lumbar region there was an undefined swelling about the sizA of an ostrich’s egg. The uterus could not be palpated. On vaginal examination the cervix was closed and Douglas’s pouch bulged slightly. He came to the conclusion that there was hsemoperitoneum, probably from rupture of the uterus, the mass in the left lumbar region being the unruptured ovum, but suggested as a second diagnosis a ruptured left kidney, with perinephric heamatoma perforating the
peritoneum.
On laparotomy he found three pints of blood in the peritoneal cavity. The ovum, unruptured, was lying free in the left kidney pouch. The uterus was contracted and showed on its anterior wall a laceration three inches long, running from the right cornu obliquely downwards and to the left, and judging by the vascularity of the wall the rupture was through the placental site. The uterus was sutured and the abdomen closed. The placenta and membranes appeared normal and the urine contained no albumin. She was given a rectal saline, and except for some pyrexia, due largely to the absorption of blood-clot, made an uninterrupted recovery. Mr. Ley suggested that the sequence of events was
(1) Trauma; (2) incomplete rupture of the involving the peritoneum and the outer muscular coats ; (3) complete rupture of the uterus with bleeding as
follows:
uterus
into the peritoneum; (4) extrusion of the ovum at about 9 P.M. The Pre-Oanee’l’0168 Ute’l’U8. In the absence through illness of Dr. F. J. MCCANN, his paper on the Pre-cancerous Uterus was read by Dr. J. S. FAIRBAIRN. Dr. McCann deplored the growing tendency to relegate the clinician to the background and to look to the