Lawson Tait's Perineal Operations; And an Essay on Curettage of the Uterus (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1897 edition. Excerpt: ...may be true stenosis; secondly, if the uterus is an infantile one, we may have cervical catarrh, and with this the cervical canal frequently becomes dilated. On introducing the dilator, we push the point into the sides of the dilated canal, and thus fail to strike the internal os, which may not be at all stenosed. In dilating with Hegar's sounds, if too much force is applied we may tear the cervix with the volsellae, or we may perforate the uterus. After abortion, Tarnier dilates the cervical canal by means of a bag working something on the principle of the Barnes' bag. Vulliet's method is much used in America. It consists in packing the uterus every twenty-four hours with iodoform gauze. It is useful in exploration, painless, and devoid of risk, but takes much time. The Operation of Curettage. We shall in the first place give a description of a curettage in an ordinary case of chronic endometritis. The patient, having been anaesthetized, is placed at the end of the table. The crutch is placed on the legs, the hair about the labia removed, the external parts, together with the vagina, are well soaped and washed with antiseptic fluid. A bimanual examination is then made, to be sure that tubal disease, pregnancy, and other conditions contraindicating the operation, are not present. This preliminary examination should never be neglected, and it will save us from such a disaster as has been mentioned above, where a case of ruptured ectopic pregnancy was curetted, and death speedily followed. Simon's speculum is now introduced, and the posterior wall is held back by the assistant or operator pulling on it. The vagina is again douched, and the side-retractors introduced, if we are accustomed to use them. The cervix is now seized by a volsella, ...