Practical observations on some congestive, inflammatory, and ulcerative affections of the uterus / by Evory Kennedy.

Date:
[1847]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on some congestive, inflammatory, and ulcerative affections of the uterus / by Evory Kennedy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    principles, based upon a knowledge of the real nature of her case. The uterus, like the rectum, is liable to retardation of blood in the venous vessels and capillaries, giving rise to con- gestion, engorgement, and even varix. The neck and body are more prone to this than the fundus, a circumstance which, we imagine, may be accounted for by the anatomical distri- bution of its vessels, the blood in the fundus principally flowing to and fro in the spermatic vessels : whilst that in the neck and body returning by the hypogastric and iliacs into the cava, is more exposed to pressure from a variety of circumstances, but principally from distension of the rectum and csecum, the enlarged uterus, in pregnancy, and pelvic growths, &c. Congestion of the uterus is a large subject, and one that demands much the attention of the profession; we shall now merely deal with it in connexion with some of those lesions of that organ which it is our present intention to notice. It is generally more or less combined with infiltration into the cellu- lar tissue of the neck and parenchyma, and sometimes with dis- ease of the lining membrane, partial or complete. It contrasts with chronic inflammation by its darker colour, as seen through the speculum, and by the occasional development of varicose veins, as shewn in Fig. I. of the accompanying illustration. It is less sensible, both generally and to the touch, and though its principal inconvenience perceptible by the patient is the sense of weight or dragging, and in some more decided cases, of throbbing in the pelvic or sacral region, the latter symptom is more observable when the whole uterus is congested. In the cases where it is confined to the neck and lining membrane, the patient may experience little of these inconveniences, some- times merely complaining of a slight feeling of prolapsus. The vaginal examination indicates, in complete congestion, a ful- ness and enlargement of the uterus, much resembling early
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