Part 64

In performing the operation, a large round trocar is introduced at the usual place, and after the fluid has been thoroughly evacuated, the instrument is again conveyed along the canula to the upper and fore part of the scrotum, for the purpose of effecting a counter-opening, which should be from an inch and a half to two inches from the first. The trocar is now withdrawn, when an eyed-probe, armed with a skein of silk or piece of tape, is passed along the tube, upon removing which the operation is completed. The seton need seldom be retained longer than four or five days; during which period, as well as for some time subsequently, the recumbent posture should be enjoined, along with suspension of the scrotum, and the usual antiphlogistic means. When the inflammation, tenderness, and swelling have considerably abated, the reduction of the tumour may be promoted by the daily inunction of equal parts of iodine and camphorated mercurial ointment.—ED.

In upwards of one hundred cases examined by Mons. Breschet of Paris, only one occurred on the right side. With this result, the experience of nearly every practitioner must coincide. Cirsocele may take place at any period of life, in the young as well as in the old; but it is most common, by far, within the first ten years after puberty, or during the period of the greatest excitement of the genital system. In twenty-seven cases observed by Mons. Landouzy, in which this subject was particularly noticed, seven occurred between the ages of nine and fifteen; seventeen between fifteen and twenty-five; three between twenty-five and thirty-five.

Cirsocele appears to be occasionally hereditary. Professor Blandin of Paris, in an able article on this disease, in the “Dict. de Medicine et Chirurgie Pratiques,” refers to three brothers with whom he was personally acquainted, who were all exempted from military duty on account of the existence of this malady: the father was similarly affected. An analogous case is mentioned in an inaugural dissertation published a few years ago at Paris.

The causes of cirsocele are, venereal excesses, masturbation, protracted exercise on foot or horseback, contusions of the scrotum, inflammation of the testicle, and mechanical obstacles to the return of the blood to the spermatic veins, whether produced by the presence of a tumour, fatty accumulations of the omentum or mesentery, or the wearing of tight and ill-constructed trusses. Of these the first two are probably the most frequent and influential. Indeed, I am persuaded, from considerable experience, that this is the case. How these causes act in developing this affection admits of ready explanation. Their tendency is not only to determine an abundant afflux of blood to, and consequent congestion in, the genital organs, but to produce more or less fatigue in the muscles of those parts, especially in the cremaster and dartos, together with a loss of nervous innervation, which diminish their power and contractile energy. The testicle being thus insufficiently sustained sinks down, by its own weight, into the scrotum, which, with the spermatic vessels, is thereby kept in a state of constant relaxation. Heat acts in a similar manner, and produces similar results. Hence cirsocele is more frequent in hot than in temperate climates, and worse in summer than in winter.—ED.

The progress of this disease is usually tardy, years elapsing before it causes much suffering or inconvenience. In some instances, however, it increases with great rapidity, and gives rise to severe local disorder, with more or less constitutional derangement. One of the most serious and unpleasant effects of this disease is atrophy of the testicle and epididymis, produced by the pressure of the enlarged veins; it may exist in various degrees, from the slightest softness and diminution of volume to almost entire wasting of the organ, and occasionally, though rarely, affects both sides simultaneously. A gloomy and melancholy state of mind, sometimes bordering upon alienation, frequently attends this condition of the testicle.—ED.]

I am induced to subjoin the following account of a novel but harsh operation for the cure of cirsocele, lately devised by Mons. Breschet of Paris, not from any belief or hope that it will be generally adopted, but because it has made some noise in the surgical world. It is founded upon the anatomical arrangement of the part, or the facility with which the varicose vessels can be isolated from the spermatic artery and vas deferens, and afterwards compressed so as to obliterate their calibre. This is effected by means of a forceps with flattened plates, which are worked by a screw. The pressure is applied in a gradual manner, but with sufficient force to destroy the vitality of the scrotum and of the affected vessels. The instrument is usually removed in from six to eight days, during which the patient is left on his back, cold lotions are applied to the scrotum, and the case treated on general principles. When the sloughs are detached, the edges of the sore are approximated by adhesive strips, and the person is permitted to walk about. In this way Mons. Breschet is said to have operated successfully in more than a hundred cases; the average period required for a complete cure being twenty-three days. I have never performed this operation, the severity of which is such as to induce the belief that very few persons in this republican country would submit to it. An American surgeon, Dr. F. Hamilton, of New-York, has recently recommended castration for the relief of this affection, and has published several cases in which he performed the operation in illustration of its efficacy. This is certainly a radical mode of doing business, but in my opinion a very objectionable one.—ED.]

Children are more subject to this affection in certain districts than in others; and the same is true in regard to adults. The greater proportion of calculous cases in Wirtemberg, in the mountains of Switzerland, the Neapolitan States, and some of the provinces of England, occur in young persons, from causes which have not hitherto been explained. In the United States a larger number of children are afflicted with this disorder in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, than perhaps in any other sections. In very warm or cold latitudes, on the contrary, adults, and, above all, old people appear to be most liable to it.

Whether this affection is actually hereditary or not is not yet fully decided. Facts certainly warrant the inference that it is. Thus, Civiale relates the case of a man on whom he practised lithotrity, whose mother had had the stone, and one of whose children died of it. He also performed the operation on two brothers, whose grandfather and two uncles had laboured under the disorder. Prout speaks of a family of which the grandfather and father were affected with uric acid calculi, and who had a son, aged thirteen years, that was very much predisposed to the same disease.—ED.]

Treatise on Calculous Affections: MS. translation by Dr. Colescott.

Simple bending is most common in the radius and ulna, though it is by no means confined to them. For obvious reasons it happens only in children, before the completion of the ossific process, or in whom there still exists a predominance of animal matter. In older persons the bones more readily break than bend. The diagnostic signs of the accident are, pain and deformity at the seat of the injury, loss of power in the limb, want of displacement of fragments, and absence of crepitation. The deformity consists in an unnatural curvature, which can be made to disappear under pressure and extension, but recurs, to a certain extent, when the limb is liberated. When attended with partial fracture, the symptoms are the same, excepting that, instead of a curvature, there is angular deformity opposite the seat of the accident. When the injury occurs in the forearm, and only one bone is implicated, extension generally produces no change in the appearance of the limb. The treatment, in both cases, is to be conducted upon the same principles as that of fractures. The attempts to remove the curvature by extension should neither be too violent nor long continued, otherwise they must prove injurious. Mr. Mantel of England, distinguished alike as an able surgeon and an accomplished geologist, thinks that the application of leeches and the usual antiphlogistic means should alone be trusted to when there is much pain and swelling, alleging that the action of the muscles will ultimately restore the limb to its natural form.—ED.]

13 for the femur, of which 9 were cured. 10 ” leg, ” 10 ” 16 ” humerus, ” 10 ” 6 ” forearm, ” 6 ” 1 ” jaw, ” 1 ”

The average period of the existence of the fracture in the above cases was nearly twelve months and a half, the longest ten years, the shortest six weeks. The mean period of the retention of the seton was seven weeks and three days. In one instance—that of a fractured humerus—it was left in thirteen months, notwithstanding which it finally failed. The average time required for the cure was nearly three months, the longest eight months, the shortest three weeks. Arterial hemorrhage occurred in two of the cases; in ten, severe fever, erysipelas, or profuse suppuration.

Of thirty-eight cases in which resection was performed, twenty-four were cured, one improved, seven failed, and six died. The seat of the injury was as follows:—

12 were in the femur, of which 7 were cured. 6 ” leg, ” 5 ” 12 ” humerus, ” 6 ” 7 ” forearm, ” 5 ” and 1 improved. 1 ” jaw, ” 1 ”

The longest period of the existence of the fracture in these cases was five years, the shortest ten weeks, the average thirteen months and nineteen days. The average time required for effecting a cure was four months, the shortest one month, the longest thirteen months. In seventeen of the cases other methods of treatment had been ineffectually tried: in six the resection was followed by erysipelas, in one by phlegmasia dolens, and in two by profuse suppuration and abscesses.

Of thirty-six cases healed by pressure and rest, twenty-nine were cured, one improved, and six failed. The seat of fracture was:—

In 13 cases in the femur, of which 9 were cured. ” 7 ” leg, ” 7 ” ” 12 ” humerus, ” 9 ” ” 4 ” forearm, ” 4 ”

The average duration of the fracture in the above cases was five months and twelve days, the longest twenty-two months, the shortest four weeks. The mean period required for a cure was nine weeks, the longest nine months, the shortest eighteen days. In one of the cases the treatment was productive of excoriations, in three of severe pain and inflammation.

Cauterization of the ends of the fragments, after free exposure of them by the knife, was successfully employed in six cases; in two others it completely failed. The article most frequently used was the caustic potash. Frictions succeeded in eleven cases.

From a careful analysis of all the circumstances connected with the preceding cases, one hundred and thirty-nine in number, and of which the above is an abstract, Dr. Norris has deduced the following conclusions:—1. That non-union after fracture is most common in the thigh and arm. 2. That the mortality after operations for its cure follows the same laws as after amputations and other great operations on the extremities, the danger being in proportion to the size of the limb and the proximity of the injury to the trunk. 3. That failures after operations are more frequent in the humerus than in other bones, and in middle-aged and elderly persons than in young ones. 4. That the seton, variously modified, is safer, speedier, and more successful than resection or caustic. 5. That incising the soft parts previously to introducing the seton augments the danger, but renders the cure more certain and expeditious. 6. That allowing the seton to remain in for a long time exposes to accidents, and does not facilitate the cure. 7. That the seton is least successful in the femur and humerus.—ED.]

INDEX.

Abdomen, affections of, 412 injuries, 438, 440

Abscess, 31 lumbar, 441

Adhesion, 25

Albugo, 264

Amaurosis, 275

Amputation, 612 arm, 624 fingers, 619 foot, 628 forearm, 622 hip-joint, 631 leg, 628 shoulder-joint, 625 thigh, 630

Anchylosis, 73