Abscess, a clinical study : being an investigation into the histories of 100 cases of abscess occurring in private family practice / by J. Stuart Nairne.

  • Nairne, John Stuart.
Date:
1883
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Abscess, a clinical study : being an investigation into the histories of 100 cases of abscess occurring in private family practice / by J. Stuart Nairne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the indications point to malignant disease of the thyroid, with ultimate softening and necrosis of the whole gland. I would be very chary of asserting that the iodine injected was the cause of the gangrene. But neither would I expect to have a cure if it had been a bona fide abscess, actually pus, and not the debris of a malignant tumour. If the abscess be first emptied and the cavity syringed or wiped over with tincture of iodine, we might reasonably look for some benefit. But we could not expect benefit in a morbid tissue which had already so far lost its vitality as to be breaking down. 100. This patient was a healthy old man, troubled with few complaints for his time of life. When I saw him first, one of the cervical glands at the root of the neck was in an acute state of suppuration. I incised it and dressed it with zinc and chloral lotion. The wound did not heal, and a neighbouring gland, which was already enlarged, began to inflame, be painful, and then suppurated. This w'as poulticed, and discharged of itself. The wound did not heal up. Gradually the glands under the arm, under the clavicle, on the breast, and on the back of the neck, enlarged, inflamed, and suppurated. Carbolic acid lotion had no effect. Ointments were applied at his own request. An operation was proposed to thoroughly open all the abscesses and treat them anti- septically, but declined. His general health was very much broken down ; in fact, so ill was he that it was suggested that it was malignant disease of the glands. Quinine and iron were given, and one by one the glands slowly healed up. It was evidently degeneration of the glands and their disappear- ance by suppuration. At this stage he got an ointment from an unqualified man, who gained all the credit of the cure. The ointment was a resinous ointment. At present I might say he is quite recovered. There are the scars of the abscesses, but there is no discharge whatever. Analytical Tables and Remarks. The percentages of Table I. indicate that abscesses occur mostly in early life, 54 per cent of them being before 21 years of age, 21 per cent occur up till and including the age of 7, 23 per cent from 7 till 14, and 10 per cent from 14 till 21, 13 per cent from 21 till 28, 13 per cent from 28 till 35, 12 per- cent from 35 till 42, 6 per cent from 42 till 63. The period from 7 till 14 years of age may thus be regarded as that during which abscess is the most likely to occur, and this may
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