The details of the operation set forth in this account refer to a simple
or uncomplicated hysterectomy, and under these conditions it cannot be
described as a difficult operation to any surgeon accustomed to
abdominal operations, but the complications not infrequently met with in
connexion with uterine fibroids are occasionally very formidable, and
tax the skill and resource of the boldest; _e.g._ fibroids which are
inflamed and adherent to the colon, rectum, or small intestines;
fibroids associated with unilateral or bilateral pyosalpinx, or a
suppurating ovarian cyst incarcerated in the pelvis by the enlarged
uterus; fibroids complicated by cancer in the neck of the uterus; or a
cervix fibroid firmly incarcerated in the pelvis by a big fibroid in the
fundus of the uterus, and pushing the bladder upwards in front of the
tumour.
=Cervix fibroids.= The operative treatment of this variety needs
separate consideration because these tumours do not lend themselves to
any routine method.
When the uterus with the tumour in its cervix can be raised out of the
pelvis far enough to allow the necessary manipulations, then total
hysterectomy can be performed easily and quickly. Occasionally the
tumour is wide and so fixed in the pelvis that it will be necessary to
split the uterus longitudinally and to enucleate the fibroid from its
bed; then an ordinary subtotal or total hysterectomy can be carried out.
The enucleation of a large impacted cervix fibroid requires to be
conducted carefully, without undue display of force, or so much shock is
produced that the patient’s life will be placed in the gravest peril.
[Illustration: FIG. 14. A BICORNATE UTERUS SHORTLY AFTER DELIVERY. The
pregnancy occurred in the left half. The vesico-rectal ligament is well
shown.]
=On hysterectomy when the uterus is double.= Fibroids and cancer arise
in malformed uteri, as well as in those of normal shape (Fig. 13). When
the body of the uterus is double (bicornate) and the surgeon stumbles
upon it in the course of a pelvic operation he may be puzzled if he is
not familiar with the anatomical conditions associated with this
malformation.
When the body of the uterus is bicornate the rectum lies in the middle
line of the pelvis, and a median vertical fold of peritoneum, the
_ligamentum vesico-rectale_ passes, from its anterior aspect through the
gap between the uterine cornua to become continuous with the peritoneum
covering the posterior surface of the bladder (Fig. 14). That portion of
the vesico-rectal ligament which lies between the rectum and the neck of
the uterus divides the recto-vaginal fossa into a right and a left
half. This peritoneal ligament requires careful treatment, or the
surgeon may accidentally open the rectum or the bladder. In closing the
peritoneum over the cervical stump it is sometimes necessary to bring
the edges of the abnormal fold into apposition vertically by a
continuous suture.
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