Dr. Ephraim McDowell, 'father of ovariotomy' : his life and his work / by August Schachner.
- August Schachner
- Date:
- [1913]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Dr. Ephraim McDowell, 'father of ovariotomy' : his life and his work / by August Schachner. 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.
10/26 page 8
![[156] 1817). The original report, which, we feel, in view of its im- portance and interest should be reproduced in full as far at least as it deals with the first case, is as follows: In December, 1809, I was called to see a Mrs. Crawford, who had for several months thought herself pregnant. She was affected with pains similar to labor pains, from which she could find no relief. So strong was the presumption of her being in the last stage of pregnancy that two physicians, who were consulted on her case, requested my aid in delivering her. The abdomen was considerably enlarged and had the appearance of pregnancy, though the inclination of the tumor was to one side, admitting of an easy removal to the other. Upon examination, per vaginam, I found nothing in the uterus, which induced the conclusion that it must be an enlarged ovarium. Having never seen so large a substance extracted, nor heard of an attempt or success attending any operation such as this required, I gave to the unhappy woman information of her dangerous situation. She appeared willing to undergo an experiment, which I promised to perform if she would come to Danville (the town where I live), a distance of sixty miles from her place of residence. This appeared almost im- practicable by any, even the most favorable conveyance, though she performed the journey in a few days on horseback. With the assistance of my nephew and colleague, James McDowell, M. D., I commenced the operation, which was concluded as follows: Having placed her on a table of the ordinary height, on her back, and removed all her dressing which might in any way impede the operation, I made an incision about three inches from the musculus rectus abdominis, on the left side, continuing the same nine inches in length, parallel with the fibers of the above-named muscle, extending into the cavity of the abdomen, the parietes of which were a good deal contused, which we ascribed to the resting of the tumor on the horn of the saddle during her journey. The tumor then appeared full in view, but was so large that we could not take it away entire. We put a strong ligature around the Fallopian tube near the uterus, and then cut open the tumor, which was the ovarium and fimbrious part of the Fallopian tube very much enlarged. We took out fifteen pounds of a dirty, gelatinous- looking substance, after which we cut through the Fallopian tube and extracted the sack, which weighed seven and one-half pounds. As soon as the external opening was made the intestines rushed out upon the table, and so completely wras the abdomen filled by the tumor that they could not be replaced during the operation, which was terminated in about twenty-five minutes. We then turned her upon her left side, so as to permit the blood to escape, after which we closed the external opening with the interrupted suture, leaving out, at the lower end of the incision, the ligature](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22440951_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
