Colotomy, inguinal, lumbar, and transverse, for cancer or stricture with ulceration of the large intestine / by Herbert W. Allingham.
- Allingham, Herbert William.
- Date:
- 1892
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Colotomy, inguinal, lumbar, and transverse, for cancer or stricture with ulceration of the large intestine / by Herbert W. Allingham. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![It is easy enough to o])en the gut as above described when it has been drawn out to make a good spur, or when the supplementary operation has been performed. But when there has been no attempt at a spur, or there has been no possi- bility of obtaining one, it may be somewhat difficult to find the bowel, which is smothered in lymph and does not protrude beyond the level of the skin. I myself have never experienced any trouble in this respect. I usually open this kind of case by inserting a sharp knife down- wards in the centre of the wound into the gut; and as soon as wind escapes, I know that the bowel is opened. The enlarging of the puncture is best made with scissors. Those who have found any difficulty in oj)ening the gut should put in one guide-stitch at the operation, leaving the ends free ; this will afterwards enable them to tell where the gut is to be incised. The day after the gut has been opened, I begin to make the bowels act, usually giving half an ounce of castor-oil or a good dose of com- pound liquorice powder. If, as is sometimes the case, this fails to open the bowels, I examine the colotomy orifice with the finger, to discover whether there is any impaction or hard piece of f^ces that blocks the way. If there is, I break it up with the finger, and administer](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20389292_0188.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
