A Text-book of Diseases of WomenPenrose, Charles B. (Charles Bingham)
Science
A Text-book of Diseases of Women
Penrose, Charles B. (Charles Bingham)
Women -- Diseases
After a woman has worn a pessary for three or four months, and it is
found that the uterus remains in the normal position, the instrument
should be removed and the result carefully watched.
If the uterus continues in its normal position of anteversion, a
cure has been accomplished and the pessary may be discarded. If the
retroversion returns, as it very often does, the pessary should be
introduced again, and an unfavorable prognosis of cure by this means
should be made. The patient must then choose between the use of the
pessary for an indefinite period, under medical supervision, and cure
by means of an operation.
The Smith pessary is better adapted to the shape of the vagina, which
normally narrows from above downward, than is the Hodge instrument.
The Thomas pessary, in which the upper bar is made very broad, is
applicable to cases of sharp retroflexion with retroversion, in which
the upper bar may become fixed in the angle of flexion in case the
retroversion returns. The upper bar is made so broad that the angle of
flexion would be spanned by it in case of such an accident.
The action of the pessary depends upon the integrity of the vagina and
the pelvic floor. The retroversion pessary, therefore, cannot be used
when there is a laceration of the perineum. In such a case the perineum
must always be closed as a preliminary step.
The pessary should not be used when there is a laceration of the cervix
uteri, for traction upon the posterior lip of the cervix increases the
eversion.
The pessary is contraindicated in all cases in which there are pelvic
adhesions restraining the uterus, in those cases in which there is
inflammatory disease of the Fallopian tubes, and in cases where there
is prolapse of the ovary, which may be pressed upon by the upper bar of
the pessary.
Before making any attempt to replace a displaced uterus the physician
should always make a careful bimanual examination to determine the
existence of any acute or chronic inflammation of the Fallopian tubes
or the ovaries. Such inflammation is a contraindication to the use of
the pessary and to any of the manipulations for replacement of the
uterus that have already been described.
If the uterus is adherent, the pessary should not be used. Cure of the
retroversion by it is practically impossible, and operative treatment
is safer and more certain.
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