History, Modern -- 19th century; Nineteenth century
Even in cancer of the bowel, we can prolong life, if we cannot save
it. Cancer of the bowel sooner or later produces “obstruction” and
so destroys life, but in such cases we can either make a permanent
opening in the bowel above the cancer, and so relieve the constant pain
and distress which is caused by the obstruction, or, in a great many
cases, we make an opening in the bowel above the cancer, and another
below it, and, by uniting the two openings, if I may so express it,
“side-track” the contents of the bowel. If the cancer has no adhesions
and the patient’s condition allows of it, we can cut out the entire
portion of the bowel containing the cancer, unite the two ends, and
thus re-establish the continuity of the intestinal canal. As much as
eight feet, nearly one-third of the entire length of the bowel, have
been removed by Shepherd, of Montreal, and yet the patient recovered
and lived a healthy life.
Similarly in gun-shot wounds, stab wounds, etc., involving the
intestine, the modern surgeon does not simply stand by with folded
hands and give opium and morphine to make the patient’s last few hours
or days relatively comfortable, but he opens the abdomen, finds the
various perforations, closes them, and recovery has followed even in
cases in which as many as seventeen wounds of the intestine have been
produced by a gun-shot wound.
The kidney, until thirty years ago, was deemed almost beyond our
reach, but now entire volumes have been written on the surgery of the
kidney, and it is, one might say, a frequent occurrence to see the
kidney exposed, sewed fast if it is loose, opened to remove a stone in
its interior, drained if there be an abscess, or, if it be hopelessly
diseased, it is removed in its entirety. The other kidney, if not
diseased, becomes equal to the work of both.
Of the pelvic organs, it would not be becoming to speak in detail,
but one operation I can scarcely omit: namely, ovariotomy. One of my
old teachers was Washington L. Atlee, who, with his brother, was among
the first ovariotomists in this country who placed the operation on
a firm foundation. I heard a very distinguished physician in 1862,
in a lecture to his medical class, denounce such men as “murderers”;
but to-day how differently does the entire profession look upon the
operation! Instead of condemning the surgeon because he did remove such
a tumor, the profession would condemn him because he did not remove it.
The operation had its rise in America. Ephraim McDowell, of Kentucky,
in 1809, first did the operation which now reflects so much credit upon
modern surgery. The mortality of the Atlees was about one in three.
Now, owing to the immense improvement introduced by the antiseptic
methods, the deaths, in competent hands, are not over five per cent.,
or even three per cent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account