The indications for surgical treatment in the diseases of the stomach / by J. Crawford Renton.
- Renton, J. Crawford (James Crawford)
- Date:
- [1898]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The indications for surgical treatment in the diseases of the stomach / by J. Crawford Renton. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![[Reprint from The British Medical Journal, Octo/>er 2g, i^gS.] THE INDICATIONS FOR SURGICAL TREATMENT IN DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. BY J. CRAWFORD RENTON, M.D. Edin., Surgeon and Lecturer on Clinical Surgery, Western Infirmary, Glasgow ; Ejcaminer in Surgery at the University of Edinburgh. 1. In all cases of doubt as to tumours or hardness suspected to be in or near the stomach, or in any case where from tension of the recti muscles a satisfactory examination cannot be obtained, let the patient get chloroform or ether, and the condition be thoroughly investigated. It will be a satisfaction in some cases to find no tumour, and in others points will be determined with a view to operative procedure or not. 2. Where improvement under dietetic and medicinal treatment is delayed and doubt remains in the mind of the physician or physician and surgeon after an examination under chloroform, the surgeon should be asked to make an exploratory incision to determine, if possible, the nature of the growth and the operation required, being prepared to do whatever operation is necessary at the same time. Exploratory incision is a serious operation, and, although it is most exceptional for anything to go wrong, still it should not be undertaken as if it were nothing ; while I object to unnecessary explorations, I cordially agree with Mr. Treves's remarks in a recent most able paper on the value of such. In many cases, apart from anything tuberculous, the value of a simple exploratory incision into the abdomen is very great. To illustrate what I say, I may refer to the case of Mrs. A., aged 57, published in TAe British Medical Journal several years ago. She suffered from the symtoms of pyloric obstruction with gradually increasing tumour in the epigastrium, loss of weight, and no improvement from any dietetic or medicinal treatment, and in these circumstances Dr. Sinclair asked me to see her with a view to doing some operation for her relief. I explored the abdomen by vertical incision, and found a tumour so extensive, so irregular, so hard, and so adherent that I decided that nothing farther could be done, and we were all agreed that we had a malignant tumour to deal with. The patient never vomited again, the tumour entirely disappeared, and she is now, five years since the operation, continuing quite Well,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21455624_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
