On polypus in the nose and other affections of the nasal cavity : their successful treatment by the electro-caustic and other new methods / by J.L.W. Thudichum.

  • Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Thudichum
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On polypus in the nose and other affections of the nasal cavity : their successful treatment by the electro-caustic and other new methods / by J.L.W. Thudichum. 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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    with the foot, and after a slight hissing noise indicating the burning off of the pedicle of the polypus, the growth, mostly yet attached to the platinum, can be withdrawn from the nose entire. There is usually no bleeding, and the place where the polypus was attached is marked by a white stripe or spot. The patient has suffered some irritation from the instrument, and perhaps been obliged to sneeze, but after the use of his pocket- handkerchief is quite ready to proceed to the extraction of the next polypus. V. Particular Incidents of the New Operation. As the single polypi are removed, others come into sight which had been displaced upwards or backwards. It is also perceived that sometimes only a portion of a cauliflower-shaped polypus has been removed, and that the removal of two or three other portions is required before the true pedicle can be drawn into the loop and removed radically. In this way, from half a dozen to three dozen polypi have to be removed in some cases before the nasal cavities can be pronounced clear. Various little artifices are requisite to expedite the operation. Thus, polypi which shift at the mere approach of the loop have to be seized by little hooks, made either of steel or of flexible silver, and to be held fast while the loop is passed over them, or to be drawn into the loop. Oscillating polypi, or those which can be seen only during expiratory efforts, can only be extracted in this manner. Thus, in one case I seized with the hook and removed with the loop a polypus which was attached to the posterior edge of the septum, and by expiration only could be seen vibrating before the posterior middle canal of tbe left nostril. It was seized during vibration with a little sliding-forceps made of steel wire and introduced into the loop. Such is the delicacy of the operation that, although the loop-carrier and the forceps were in the nostril and passed for a length of three inches into the cavity, yet a little of the polypus was still visible to guide the rest of the operation. In another case I seized with the hook a polypus which was completely hidden under the posterior concave side of the right lower turbinated bone. After removal it was found to weigh a quarter of an ounce. A frequent accident during the operation is sneezing, imme- diately after the seizure of a polypus. In such a case the patient must allow the spasm to expend itself without moving. The operator holds a cloth or his hand before the nose and mouth of the patient.
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