Contributions to the surgical treatment of tumours of the abdomen. Pt. 1, Hysterectomy for fibrous tumours of the uterus / by Thomas Keith.

  • Thomas Keith
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Contributions to the surgical treatment of tumours of the abdomen. Pt. 1, Hysterectomy for fibrous tumours of the uterus / by Thomas Keith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    HYSTERECTOMY FOR FIBROUS TUMOURS OF THE UTERUS. The natural history of the ordinary uterine fibroid is different from that of other tumours. As a rule, it has only a limited life. Other growths go on, and vex or kill according to their nature or place in the body. A stone in the bladder, if it be not taken away, is there for ever, and as it grows, it torments the more ; but, to the woman with a fibroid uterus, who has passed the best of her years in weariness and pain, middle age brings relief, and old age may be spent in peace. Hence the difficulty in knowing how far we are justified in advising interference for a disease that troubles for a time, though it rarely kills. It is often said that the operation for the removal of uterine fibroids is in much the same position now that ovariotomy was five and twenty years ago. It is not so. It never will be so. The history of these two diseases is entirely different. As a rule, ovarian disease is a merciless one : it goes on and kills. As a rule, the active existence of an uterine fibroid is limited : it rarely interferes directly with life. When menstruation ceases, the troubles of the patient soon begin to pass away, while the tumour itself, after a time, becomes smaller, and in a few years little or no trace of it may be found. The patient gets along, lives more or less comfortably, generally not even aware of its existence, and dies of something else. Indeed, a large proportion of fibrous tumours interfere little with a woman's
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