Transactions of the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association (Volume 1) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889. Excerpt: ... ELECTROLYSIS IN MORBID ALTERATIONS THAT ARE PRODUCED IN THE PROSTATE BY GONORRHOEA OF THE URETHRA. By John D. S. Davis, M. D., Birmingham, Ala. The structure of the prostate gland consists in greater part of muscular substance, tubular glands and glandular tissue. Like the follicles of the fossa navicularis, the excretory ducts of the prostate gland are ever liable to become diseased through the propagation of a gonorrhoeal discharge to the deeper parts of the urethra, giving rise to a sero-mucopurulent catarrh. The prostate often is enlarged and often suppurates, the pus tunneling its way into the rectum, urethra or perineum. The muscular structure of the prostate suffers no pathological alteration; it is in a constant state of contraction, expelling the secretion, and causing tenesmus of the neck of the bladder and anus. Owing to the capillary engorgement which takes place in the prostate and urethra, the patient is troubled with dripping of the urine at the end of each act of micturition. Patients suffering with gonorrhoeal serous or mucous catarrh of the prostate, are generally troubled on the one hand with difficulty in defecation, and, on the other, from a constant desire to urinate. So long as the oedematous swelling of the prostate is not very intense, the pus corpuscles, originating in the cryptce, become mixed with the normal secretion of the gland, and form with it a gluey, yellowish-green fluid to be thrown off through the urethra, electricity, properly applied, will restore the organ to health, and relieve it of a disease that never goes away of itself. By mild, negative galvanic currents, we have a practical, painless, harmless and convenient means of treating this form of disease. In cases where the oedematous swelling of the prostate is ve...