On diseases of the rectum and anus : including the third edition of the Jacksonian prize essay on cancer / by Harrison Cripps.
- William Harrison Cripps
- Date:
- 1890
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On diseases of the rectum and anus : including the third edition of the Jacksonian prize essay on cancer / by Harrison Cripps. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![will often close of itself. If, however, it fails so, the edges may be pared, and brought er by sutures. subsequent treatment of cases of imperfora- is of the utmost importance, great care and —irouble being required to maintain the opening when There can be no doubt that, in a large mber of cases, the difficulty results from in- sufficiency of the original opening, or, if any con- siderable extent of tissue intervene between the skin and the bowel, the tendency of this portion of the canal to contract may cause an opening which was at one time sufficiently large to become too small for the passage of faecal material. It is not necessary again to discuss whether the tendency to contract can be prevented by stitching the margin of the bowel to the skin at the time of the operation. No better means is known of overcoming this tendency to contract than by the frequent use of a bougie. This should be made of vulcanite, tapering slight]y, and of about the size of a No. 18 English catheter. For the first few months it should be passed daily; its use may be then gradually reduced to once a week, or even less, but this should be continued so long as there is any tendency to contraction. In the event of the bougie having been neglected, or the outlet having become too small for evacuation, the strictured part should be divided by free poste- rior incision. The constant attention necessary to. maintain the patency of the opening is exceedingly trying to the mother or attendant of the child, but this perse- verance may be well repaid, for it would seem that even in bad cases, as the child grows, the tendency](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21047868_0122.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
