Is appendicitis a surgical disease? / by Carl Beck.

  • Carl Beck
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Is appendicitis a surgical disease? / by Carl Beck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    gree than in simple appendicitis, mecliauifal causes now also being added. But very frequently resolution does not take place at all and the iutlannnatory process proceeds further. This can take place in different ways: The inflaniniation may encroach upon the tissues situated nearest to the serosa, and the exudation, origi- nally having been of a serous charac- ter, becomes purulent. It may safely be assumed, however, that the exuda- tion, which microscopically appears to be of a serous character, contains pyogenic bacteria a priori, the same as in serous pleuritic effusion, which turns over into pyothorax {'peri- appendicular abscess). Or, the inflammation reaches the peritonaeum by way of the lymph ves- sels as a true lymphangeitis. I used to term this variety, in proportion to its propagation, either circumscribed or progressive phlegmonous appendicitis. Or, the secretion of the appendix becomes purulent {pyappendix). Then in the vast majority of cases perforation takes place under suc- cessive distention of the walls and pressure necrosis. The perforated area may at first not be larger than the head of a pin and may enlarge gradually. Accordingly the pus may enter the peritoneal cavity slowly or rapidly. Fig. 4.—Long strictured appendix removed in chronic appendicitis.
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