The prostate gland and its enlargement in old age / by Decimus Hodgson.

  • Hodgson, Decimus.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The prostate gland and its enlargement in old age / by Decimus Hodgson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    found to communicate with the arteries of the bulb derived from the internal pudic. Mr. Spence* has observed several cases in which the prostatic artery passed to the apex of the gland \yithout dividing into minute branches; I have seen one case of this kind in which the artery was of comparatively large size; unfortun- ately, it did not come under my notice until the subject had been too far dissected to trace its ultimate distribution. Mr. Quaint mentions an instance in which extensive hoemorrhage after litho- tomy arose from the smaller arteries of the prostate, the larger branches being untouched and the veins not enlarged; this occurrence was probably due to peculiar diathesis in the patient. Rare cases have been observed, in which the artery of the corpus cavernosum, of the bulb, or even all those ordinarily supplied by the internal pudic to the penis have been furnished by an enlarged branch of the vesico-prostatic; fortunately, such a branch most commonly lies on the upper surface of the gland, otherwise, it might be injured in the lateral operation of lithotomy. Other branches supplying the prostate or anastomosing with its arteries, arise from the internal pudic and middle hoemorrhoidal. The terminal branches which supply the gland, pass through the capsule and divide into twigs which ramify among the glandular vesicles and tubes, supported by the interglandular tissue. The prostate is covered on its upper surface and sides by a plexus of veins, consisting of several large and a few smaller vessels. The dorsal vein of the penis, after passing beneath the pubic arch, divides at the apex of the prostate into two branches, which again subdivide and form the chief part of the plexus; other smaller veins from the substance of the prostate, and from the coats of the bladder, empty themselves into it. These veins are covered by the anterior true ligaments of the bladder and upper layer of the recto-vesical fascia, which send processes between them to the deeper layer of the capsule, and enclose them in fibrous sheaths From the prostate these vessels pass backwards and form the vesical plexus at the side of the bladder, and ultimately empty themselves into the internal iliac trunk. Those veins, which ramify in the prostate itself around the glandular vesicles, unite to form a smaller number of vessels which join the hoemorrhoidal veins and prostatic plexus. On account of the peculiar arrangement of the internal and common iliac yems, which lie for the most part below their corresponding arteries, have an ascending direction, and are devoid of valves, the prostatic plexus is very liable to congestion in common with 1841^° Sources of Hoemorrhage after Lithotomy. I. VoL Edin. Med. Journal, t Anatomy of the Arteries. Lond. 1814. t
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