Transactions of the Eclectic Medical Society of the State of New York, for the year 1867 : transmitted to the legislature January 17, 1868.

  • Eclectic Medical Society of the State of New York
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Transactions of the Eclectic Medical Society of the State of New York, for the year 1867 : transmitted to the legislature January 17, 1868. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    159/406 (page 145)
    the wound was all firmly healed. The cavity of the wound was daily syringed and the dressings reapplied, and it gradually con- tracted, filled up by granulation of the surface, and its walls soon became firm and hard like the hard palate of the mouth. The case is now under Prof. Hadley’s care, who will make such further applications as will seem necessary, as there is some indi- cations of a reappearance of the disease. The lady is strong, goes out daily to take the air, and seems well pleased with the result so far. In making the first incision, I intended, if the case would admit of it, to exsect merely the anterior portion of the superior maxilla in the manner described by Prof. V. Mott, in the American Jour- nal of Medical Sciences, Philadelphia, 1843, new series, vol. V., pages 87-91, and remove the tumor; thus saving as much of the bone as possible. Further progress in the operation convinced me that the entire bone must be extirpated. With regard to the policy of performing such an operation for a malignant tumor, Dupuytren advocated the extirpation of a fibro- vascular tumor of the jaw, for its rapidity of growth would soon destroy life. Mr. Liston condemns it in all encephaloid diseases. Prof. Gross operated for exsection of the upper jaw iu seven cases, two of which entirely recovered, and one of those possessed all the physical properties of encephaloid. Of the others, one died from pneumonia, one from dysentery, and two from a recurrence of the disease ; making four fatal cases in the seven. Mr. Henry Smith, in his work on operative surgery, makes the ratio of mortality, one in four cases. Prof. Gross estimates the ultimate result in eleven cases operated on by Lizars, Syme, Robert, Scott, Earle, Guthrie and Hetling; only one was completely successful. With even this ratio of mortality, if the patient has naturally a good constitution, I think an operation would be warrantable. The entire superior maxillary and palate bones were first suc- cessfully removed by Gensoul, of Lyons, on the 26th of May, 1827; Mr. Syme, of Edinburgh, also operated on the 15th of Maj^, 1829; and Mr. Lizars, of Edinburgh, operated successfully on the 1st of August, 1829. Various partial exsections of the bone had been made previous to that time. There is no danger of the patient strangling from blood trick- ling into the larynx, partially insensible to its presence from the effects of chloroform, if the patient’s head is placed on a small pil- low as low as the body ; while anaesthesia destroys half the horrors [Assem. No. 25.] 10