A case of renal abscess treated by free incision / by Theodore A. M'Graw.

  • McGraw, Theodore Andrews, -1921.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of renal abscess treated by free incision / by Theodore A. M'Graw. 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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    of the cyst was closely adherent to the sur- rounding structures, and I therefore aban- doned my original intention of extirpating the diseased organ and contented myself with the insertion of a rubber drainage tube and thorough antiseptic dressing. The wound was dressed without changing the patient’s position on the table, and she was then put to bed. She did well from the beginning, and I may say here that there was at no time any bad odor from the wound and that her temperature never rose above 100° F. The discharge being, however, very profuse. I was obliged for 'a time to dress the wound daily. On the very first dressing, I was chagrined to find that there was still a fluctuating mass on the inner side of the kidney sac. Before the operation the fluctuation had seemed to be uniform from one end of the tumor to the other. The discharge of pus had been so profuse that I had supposed it to- flow from the whole tumor, and although I pressed my hand upon the abdomen, the po- sition of the patient had permitted the re- maining peri-nephritic sac to escape obser- vation. As it was, I felt obliged, at the end of a week, ‘ in which this newly discovered tumefaction had not diminished at all in size, to make a passage into it, rupturing the inner kidney wall with a sound. I had then the gratification of seeing the swelling dis- appear as pus flowed profusely through the