Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Suspension of the uterus / by Howard A. Kelly. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![treating retroflexion by a small abdominal incision, ] bringing the uterus into anteposition and holding it there by two stitches through the anterior ab- ; dominal wall and the posterior surface of the fundus. I am influenced by four principal reasons in con- continuing this method of treatment, which I orig- inated nine years ago ; these are : a. A natural tendency to continue an investiga- tion in the line already opened up (see Avierican j Journal of Obstetrics, January, 18S7). b. The advantages of a direct inspection of the ovaries and tubes, as shown by the cases of inflam- matory adhesions found at the operation, where it . was not known that any had existed. In one case I was fortunate enough to find a little papilloma, not as big as the end of my finger, starting out of the ovary. When the uterus is adherent no other method can be so good, as this is the most direct way of dealing with the adhesions. c. The mechanical advantages of my suspensory operation acting directly on the posterior surface of the retroflexed fundus, are better than if the organ were held forward by pulling on the round ligaments of both sides. d. Probably the best reason of all is the remarkable statistics of my 200 cases, without a single death, and with but one recurrence of the displacement in a ' patient in whom a tube and ovary were removed at the same time. With this introductory statement I present my ad- dress substantially as given at the Music Hall last May, with the analysis of the first 170 cases. The last thirty are more recent and may, therefore, be left out without disadvantage. I hope the illustrations which accompany my paper will help make clear some points which are difficult to describe away from the actual demonstration on the patient. I have adopted the name “Suspension of the Uterus” as more correct than “Hysterorrhapy,” which is a plas-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22462296_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
