The old methods of treating cancer compared with the new / by John Pattison.

  • Pattison, John
Date:
[1857]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The old methods of treating cancer compared with the new / by John Pattison. 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.

    19/40 (page 19)
    The plan of freezing cancerous tumours M'as first introduced by Dr. J. Arnott. This gentleman adopts the true Ircczing. pathology of the disease, viz., that cancer consists of an assemblage of hydatids or cysts, possessing an independent vitality. Viewing it in this true light. Dr. James Arnott lias brought forward the idea of congealing or freezing these cysts, so as to destroy their vitality, and by this means, combined with pressure, to effect a cure. I have tried this method of congealing several times, but never with success, as I am afraid tliat suffi- cient cold cannot be produced to destroy the cyst, without also injuring, to a serious extent, the adjoining parts; and if not suc- cessful, it is liable to increase I’ather than retard disease, in proof of which I will now mention one case, and as the freezing was done at a public hospital, it was no doubt properly performed. There came to me, on the 1st of February, 1854, seeking relief, a poor woman named Caroline May, aged 43, Case LXXVIII., the history of 'whose case was as follows ;—“ Has been married fom’ years; last April received a blow on the breast when stooping over a chair. {This toas the exciting cause of the cancer.) Has been in the Westminster Hospital for two months, and the treat- ment pursued there was leeching, in the first instance, and after- wards repeated freezing. Since then it has advanced with great rapidity, and when I saw it, it ivas of enormous size, and of Sltch stony-like consisteney throughout, that I refused to interfere, As the woman'’s circumstances were such that it was not possible for her to obtain those comforts which she recpiired, I urged her to return to the hospital.^^ Prom this and other cases in which I atteni])ted to carry out Objections to freezing, I have come to the conclusion Freezing. degree of cold cannot he applied sufficiently low as to destroy the vitality of the disease, without, at the same time, causing so much injtammatory action in the adjoining parts, that much mischief often must and does ensue. Further, if con- gealation should in some very few cases destroy the disease in one 2)art, it cannot, and does not, alter the diathesis or tendency to