On surgical diseases of women / by I. Baker Brown.

  • Isaac Baker Brown
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On surgical diseases of women / by I. Baker Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    381/468 (page 317)
    on, or just within, the orifice of the meatus. It easily bleeds on rough handling. It is exquisitely tender, and its surface is somewhat granulated. It appears to grow, by a loose attach- ment, from the surface of the urethra. Upon turning it a little on one side, its insertion, sometimes into the tubercle above the meatus, sometimes into the lip of the meatus, can generally be observed. Occasionally there are more than one of these excrescences, and they may extend along the urethra towards the bladder. They sometimes produce great constitu- tional disturbance, dyspepsia, and nervousness. Treatment.—Ligatures, though recommended on high autho- rity, are useless, as they cannot be made to include the whole of the diseased mass, nor can they be tied, with any degree of force, so as to strangulate it, without exciting inflammation; as, in order to a effect cure, some portion of the mucous membrane should be included. Excision is speedily followed by a renewed growth, unless it be accompanied by caustic applications. The best practice is to excise the tumour with a pair of scissors, or a small well-pointed knife, taking care to remove not only the excrescence itself but also that small portion of mucous mem- brane from which it grows, a fine pair of forceps being used to take hold of it. To the wound thus made, nitric acid should be applied on a piece of stick pointed like a pencil, the parts around being filled with lint previously soaked in a strong solu- tion of nitrate of potash, or carbonate of soda. Or nitrate of mercury may be applied in the room of nitric acid, and a piece of lint dipped in cold water applied over the part immediately afterwards. In this way I have cured many cases, and one recently in which a plurality of excrescences required three or four excisions of small portions of the mucous membrane at different times; a preferable plan to excising the whole at once. My friend, the late Mr. Brigham, of Lymm, informs me that, during the twenty years he held the appointment of surgeon to the Lock Hospital at Manchester, he had frequent opportunities of seeing these peculiar tumours, and he found, after trying many modes of treatment, that the most certain and quickest plan was just to touch their extremity with the actual cautery,