Chapter XV: Front Matter (15)

PROGNOSIS.--Less than twenty years ago the general prognosis to be made upon the discovery of a tumor of the uterus was very grave. The profession knew so little about the clinical history and diagnosis of these {255} tumors that they were invested with many of the bad qualities of other tumors, with which they were so often confounded; and we had so little knowledge of their nature and the measures which would influence their growth that we felt an entire helplessness in the treatment of them. Fortunately, there have been many favorable changes in these respects. We understand their clinical history better, and can make a pretty clear diagnosis. We know that relatively few of them prove fatal even when left wholly to nature. Compared to all other uterine and ovarian growths, they are innocuous. Most of them are self-limited in consequence of the mode of blood-supply. A goodly number not only stop growing, but disappear without the application of any remedial measures. Then, as I shall have occasion to show, they may be often cured by the judicious administration of medicines, and the surgery for their extirpation has become a reliable resort in extreme cases. These considerations render the general prognosis of the true fibrous tumor quite hopeful. The menopause generally starves them out, and thus removes all the bad qualities they may possess.

When they lead to fatal results, they generally do so through three different conditions--viz. hemorrhage, pressure, and complicating inflammations--and probably in the order mentioned. Hemorrhage is by far the most fatal symptom. The kind of fibrous tumor accompanied with severe hemorrhage is usually the submucous variety. The submucous tumor with a broad base is the most mischievous, because it induces great hypertrophy in the vascular system of the mucous membrane especially, and also the vessels of the whole organ. A sessile submucous tumor arising from one nucleus is worse than one in the same situation with several nuclei of origin. The intracorporal polypus or pendulous tumor is almost as bad in this respect as the sessile submucous, especially if it originates at or near the fundus. Fortunately, these forms of the tumor are more amenable to the effects of medicine and more accessible to surgical treatment. The tumors located in the central stratum of fibres are next to these in mischievous qualities. The more remote the tumor is located from the mucous membrane, the less hemorrhage will attend its development.

When the tumor becomes cystic the danger from pressure is very much greater; yet the solid form becomes sometimes so large as to do much mischief from pressure upon the abdominal organs; and any of these, except perhaps the polypoid variety, may be so situated as to cause mischievous if not fatal pressure upon the pelvic organs.

It is rare, however, that the pressure in either of these cavities proves fatal, especially when the case is under intelligent management. The supervention of inflammation in the tumor, even to a moderate degree, is very apt to lead to gangrene and death from peritonitis, shock, or septicæmia. Sometimes subacute inflammation of the peritoneal surface of the tumor gives rise to serous effusion or dropsy in the abdominal cavity that proves fatal; and, as before stated, peritonitis sometimes causes adhesions which result in augmented vascularity and consequent increase of blood-supply. This condition, I believe, often changes a solid to a fibro-cystic growth, a more highly vitalized tumor, and consequently a more mischievous one.

Do these tumors ever become sarcomatous or malignant? I do not {256} believe they have any innate tendency of that kind. Where they are found complicated with malignant growths I believe the malignancy is an independent quality, and is an invasion resulting from some cause extraneous to its organization, and in that respect is analogous to an attack on the cervix or other portions of the uterus.

The prognosis when complicated with pregnancy is of course more grave, but experience has demonstrated the practicability of complete and normal gestation. Conception will not often occur where these growths have attained any great size, but may sometimes. Of the nine cases which I have met and had an opportunity to follow, not one has been attended with abortion or premature labor. In one the pregnancy seems to have been protracted at least four weeks. The foetus was in a state of decomposition, and had probably been dead four or five weeks before labor began. What is not less remarkable also is that labor did not seem to be seriously affected in but one case, and in that the difficulty was easily overcome by turning.

Until lately there were several supposititious sources of danger at the time of confinement--viz. inefficient uterine contractions, and consequent tedious or impracticable labor, and after expulsion or artificial removal of the foetus dangerous hemorrhages from the same cause; also, the possibility of the placental connection being made at the site of the tumor, with the imperfect closure of the sinuses that was supposed to follow.

Reports of cases occurring within the last few years, while they have not completely swept away the grounds for such apprehensions, prove that the accidents so greatly feared do not in fact occur. Chadwick reports a case where the placenta was attached to the mucous membrane over the tumor, yet the placenta was spontaneously expelled and there was no considerable hemorrhage. The efficiency of the expulsive efforts were not materially affected in any of the cases I have attended. And this is what we might expect, because conception and gestation would not be perfect where there is not a sufficiency of healthy mucous membrane, upon which a normal decidua could be formed, and of fibrous structure to permit the hypertrophy of gestation.

The apprehension of obstruction from the tumor lying in such a position as to intercept the expulsion of the foetus is not often realized; for those in the cervix, either pendulous or otherwise, are pressed out of the external parts in advance of the head, while those in the body and fundus are lifted up into the abdominal cavity, where there is plenty of room. It must indeed be rare that the tumor becomes impacted in the pelvis so as to interfere with the passage of the foetus.

Neither does the puerperal condition seem to be rendered materially more dangerous in consequence of the presence of these tumors.

What effect does pregnancy have upon the growth of these tumors? It might be supposed, from the plentiful supply of blood afforded them by the growth of the vascular system of the uterus, and from the fact of their being situated in and surrounded by tissues in a state of active hypertrophy, that the tumors would grow in a corresponding degree with the uterus itself; but this is not generally, if it is ever, the case. I have not witnessed a decided increase in the size of the tumor in any of my cases. Pregnancy usually produces the opposite effect; and this can be easily understood when we remember that the tumor is subjected to great {257} and uniform pressure, which prevents its own circulation from becoming as great as it otherwise would be; and I think this pressure often inaugurates a retromorphosis that results in the final disappearance of the tumor. Whether degeneration begins during pregnancy or not, the tumor is very apt to disappear after pregnancy and labor. In six of my own cases the tumor disappeared by a slow process of some kind after labor. Speculating as to what might be, another apprehension of danger arises out of the tumultuous excitement and terrible pressure to which it is subjected during the throes of parturition. But this apprehension is rarely if ever realized.

TREATMENT.--The treatment of fibrous tumors of the uterus consists largely of the means calculated to relieve such symptoms as endanger the life of the patient or materially affect her general health. When these are unavailing resort is had to measures calculated to get rid of the tumor. Some remedies necessary to the relief of symptoms act as very powerful curative agents; hence, while it is convenient to speak of the treatment of symptoms under one division of the subject, and the methods employed for radical cure under another, we cannot, in fact, completely separate these two branches.

Hemorrhage is by far the most important of the symptoms connected with these growths, because it is at the same time the most frequent and hazardous. It is also the symptom that leads to most suffering in consequence of depriving important organs of the blood necessary to support them in their functions. Every reasonable means should be made use of, not only to prevent fatal losses, but also to prevent moderate hemorrhage. In the outset, therefore, I would insist upon watching with great vigilance to prevent any unusual loss of blood. It is not advisable to temporize by adopting the milder and less efficient measures as being sufficient for cases not likely to prove fatal, but we should treat all hemorrhages arising from this cause with promptitude and energy. Fortunately, in many cases we can anticipate the attacks of hemorrhage, because we know when they will occur, and we are generally able to judge of their probable severity. To discharge our duty in this respect effectually, our patient should be properly provided with remedies and fully instructed how to use them. She should be made to understand that unusual hemorrhage at the menstrual period may be checked without endangering her general health. Among the remedies are--dorsal recumbency with the hips elevated, cold to the hypogastric region and cold to the dorsal spine and sacrum, ergot, and some form of tampon. The best fluid extract of ergot in drachm doses, if the stomach will bear it, is probably the most efficacious, but the fresh drug in the form of infusion is also very efficient. Full doses should be given every half hour when there is much loss, until some effect is produced upon the hemorrhage, and then continued every four hours as long as necessary. Compressed sponges saturated with the solution of sulphate of alum make the best tampons for the patient to make use of. These may be made and kept in readiness, so that they can be introduced as soon as they are found necessary. The patient or nurse can make them by taking a fine sponge, large enough to fill the vagina, passing a piece of string through the centre to aid in its removal, and then, after dipping it in the solution, winding it with twine from one end to the other, compressing it into as small {258} a space as possible. The twine should so compress the sponge as to make it assume an elongated form. It should then be laid aside and permitted to dry. Several sponges should be thus prepared. When necessary the twine may be unwound and the sponge introduced. Its size when in the dry condition will allow of an easy passage into the vagina, where the moisture will cause it to expand, and fill up and seal the vagina so as to absolutely check the discharges. If the attending physician is present, he may tampon the vagina with pellets of cotton secured by thread and moistened with a solution of alum. The inconvenience experienced from this plug will be more than counterbalanced by the saving of blood. This form of tampon has the additional advantage of being antiseptic. I have allowed it to remain for three days, and upon removing it satisfied myself that there was no decomposition of the blood or the vaginal secretions. When the tampon is removed it will not be found difficult to wash out all the granular clots caused by its presence. It may be repeated as often as necessary, but usually, if allowed to remain forty-eight hours, the hemorrhage will not return. It may be said that for small losses this is unnecessary, but it is convenient and harmless, and will answer the purpose. In dangerous cases no one will question the propriety of its employment.

Another very important means of arresting hemorrhage which can be used by the physician when necessary is the introduction of a compressed sponge into the cervix uteri. This will temporarily act as a tampon and stimulate the uterine fibres to contraction. The free incision of the cervix, as directed by I. Baker Brown, may be tried between the times of the paroxysms of hemorrhage.

The pressure of the tumor upon the pelvic viscera is another inconvenience which calls for attention. This takes place usually at a time when the tumor has acquired a size sufficient to fill the pelvic cavity. Consequently, the elevation of the tumor above the pelvis is the remedy. This may be done sometimes by placing the patient in the knee-elbow position and pressing the growth upward. The powerful influence of atmospheric pressure called to our aid by the position and opening of the vagina is a very material auxiliary in the process of elevation. If this is not sufficient, we may pass the fingers into the rectum and elevate the tumor. I once succeeded in this operation by using an ivory-headed cane in the rectum when the fingers failed to reach high enough. If we cannot elevate the tumor by any of these means, we may introduce into the vagina or rectum a gum-elastic bag, and by means of a powerful syringe fill it with water to as great distension as the patient will bear, permit it to remain, and thus do the work more gradually.

Dysmenorrhoea is another symptom of fibrous tumors, and sometimes a very distressing one. It depends, no doubt, on the imprisonment of blood in the uterine cavity in consequence of the tortuosity of the canal causing the closure of some part of it. The remedy consists in dilating these narrow places. I know of nothing so well calculated to effect this object as the slippery-elm tent. One or more of these tents, long enough to reach the fundus uteri and of sufficient size, moistened so as to render them very flexible, may be passed up through the tortuous places with great facility. If introduced as soon as the symptom begins to manifest itself, and allowed to remain an hour or two, the relief will be pretty {259} certain. If used once a day for four or five days before the attack, and three or four hours at a time, dysmenorrhoea may be generally avoided.

Curative Treatment.--When we broach the question of the permanent cure of these affections, we find that great difference of opinion exists among the members of the profession as to the value of medicines. One party, perhaps a majority of the profession, believe that no medicine has any direct effect upon them, and these ignore any means of permanent relief but surgical. There is, however, a respectable number of medical men who place great reliance upon the administration of certain medicines, and, if I am not greatly mistaken, recent observation has added greatly to their number. They do not, however, wholly agree as to the therapeutic processes that should be instituted, and consequently do not employ the same kind of medicines. Some gentlemen have more confidence in what I will term the sorbefacient medicines and processes of treatment. They endeavor to institute measures that will cause the absorbents to attack and remove the neoplasm in the same way that tumefactions caused by effusions are removed. This they do by friction, pressure, and the administration of the old-fashioned sorbefacient medicines. The most popular among these are the iodides, chlorides, and bromides of mercury, potassium, sodium, calcium, and ammonium. Reports may be found in books and periodical medical literature of cures by several if not all of these articles and their combinations. The late W. L. Atlee, whose experience was very extensive, had great confidence in the action of hydrochlorate of ammonia. He administered it internally, applied it externally, and used it as vaginal injections. The iodide of potassium has long enjoyed a great reputation in causing the absorption of these and other forms of tumors. There is no professional fairness in assuming that the faith in these remedies derived from the observation of their effects or the promulgation of cures from the use of sorbefacient measures are fallacious. Some of the men arrayed in favor of the opinion that cures may be effected by a patient and long-continued administration of some one of the articles I have mentioned stand high as men of honesty, accuracy of observation, and faithfulness in their records; and therefore I give full confidence to their statements. Yet I must also say that I have not witnessed the good results which I unhesitatingly believe others have seen from the sorbefacient treatment alone.

Others who expect much from medicinal treatment look to that class of medicines which cause contraction of the unstriped muscular fibres as the most promising. With these medicines they expect to diminish the supply of blood to the tumor by causing contraction of the arterioles traversing their substance, and thus disturbing their nutrition to such a degree as to stop their growth, lessen or destroy their vitality, and so render them subject to the influence of the absorbents, whereby they may be removed. Some of the more energetic of these medicines--as ergot and belladonna, for instance--often affect these growths very promptly. Ergot not only lessens the calibre of the small blood-vessels, and thus causes a diminution of their nutrition and disappearance, but it causes strong contractions in the muscular fibres of the uterine walls, which lessen more decidedly their supply of blood. It sometimes squeezes and chafes the tumor until it is disintegrated and rendered a foreign substance. {260} The capsule finally becomes ruptured, and the tumor is expelled either piecemeal or en masse.

When properly administered, ergot frequently greatly ameliorates some of the troublesome and even dangerous symptoms of fibrous tumors of the uterus--_e.g._ hemorrhage and copious leucorrhoea; it often arrests their growth; in many instances it causes the absorption of the tumor, occasionally without giving the patient any inconvenience: at other times the removal of the tumor by absorption is attended by painful contractions and tenderness of the uterus; by inducing uterine contraction it causes the expulsion of the polypoid variety of the submucous tumor; in the same way it causes the disruption and discharge of the intramural tumor. There are many cases on record to substantiate every one of these propositions.

From what I consider well-authenticated sources, including the cases under my own observation and in the practice of my friends and neighbors, I have collected 136 cases of fibrous tumors treated by ergot. Of these, 25 cases were cured without giving the patients any inconvenience from painful contractions. In 46 cases the tumors were diminished in size and the hemorrhage was cured. In 27 others the hemorrhagic symptom was relieved, while the size of the tumor was not affected. In 8 other instances the tumors were broken to pieces and expelled piecemeal.

For examples of cases in which the first conditions obtained, I would refer to those cured by Hildebrandt; of the other examples, 4 were reported to me by the late J. P. White of Buffalo, N. Y., 1 each by the late Hodder of Canada and Jukes, and 11 that occurred among my immediate acquaintance and in my own practice.

Among those in which the hemorrhage was cured and a diminution of the tumor took place, 11 occurred to Hildebrandt, 2 to Chrobak, 5 to White of Buffalo, and the remainder to gentlemen upon whose veracity I have implicit reliance. The most remarkable case of which I have any knowledge was reported to me by the late G. C. Goodrich of Minneapolis, in which absorption of a large tumor took place under the administration of ergot and belladonna. I subjoin his description: "The treatment was commenced in 1870, and continued two years. The uterus filled the whole space between the ilia, and measured in the transverse diameter twelve inches and in the vertical nineteen inches--extended up under the ensiform cartilage and close up to the margin of the cartilages of the ribs. The treatment was followed by cramps in the uterus, which produced a wild enthusiasm in the mind of the patient and inspired her with strong hopes of recovery. Without consulting me she doubled the dose of medicine, which was administered internally, and as a consequence she was attacked with very strong uterine contractions and symptoms of metritis. This caused me to abandon treatment for about one month, and had it not been for the urgent determination of the patient I would not have resumed it. She insisted that as this was the first medicine which had ever affected the enlarged organ, she believed it would cure her, and promised to obey my directions if I would proceed. She so promptly and rapidly improved that I doubted if it were not a coincidence with, rather than a consequence of, the treatment. Prompted by this doubt, I abandoned the use of the ergot and belladonna and continued alterative {261} treatment. The patient soon assured me that she no longer felt the griping pains caused by the remedy, and that the tumor was softer and larger than when she took the ergot prescription. The ergot and belladonna were again resumed, and in four months she was able to make a trip to Boston alone. While absent she continued to take the medicine. From this time she continued rapidly convalescing, and is now in the enjoyment of fine health."[1]

[Footnote 1: The author's address before the American Medical Association at its meeting in 1875.]

I subjoin two cases in which the tumors were expelled piecemeal under the administration of ergot, which came under my own observation:

A woman of Sterling, Illinois, called on me December 13, 1875. She was thirty-five years old, married, and had never been pregnant. On the first of the preceding June she noticed a circumscribed hard lump two inches below and to the left of the umbilicus. She was the subject of serious uterine and sympathetic symptoms, for which she had at different times had treatment. She had profuse menorrhagia, leucorrhoea, and great sense of weight in the pelvis. Upon examination I found a hard, round, movable tumor extending up to within two inches of the umbilicus, filling up the whole of the right iliac, the hypogastric, lower half of the umbilical, and more than half of the left iliac regions. The contour of the tumor was somewhat uneven, though not distinctly nodular. The cervix was long, pointed, and thrown backward and to the left. The sound entered the small uterine mouth and passed upward, backward, and to the left five and a half inches. The diagnosis was a fibrous tumor of the right anterior wall of the uterus. I prescribed thirty drops of Squibb's fluid extract of ergot, to be taken three times a day. She went home, but did not commence taking the medicine until the 20th of December. On the 26th of December J. B. Crandall was called to see her, and describes her condition as follows: "The patient was in a state of great nervous prostration and worn out by severe pain and loss of sleep. The pains commenced soon after taking the second dose of ergot, and were excruciatingly severe for about three hours, after which they continued less severely for two days and nights. She had more or less hemorrhage from the uterus after taking the ergot. Her pulse was feeble, 110 to 120 to the minute. The skin was hot and dry, and she complained of great pain and tenderness over the uterus and lower bowels. The feet were drawn up, and the face wore a pinched and peculiar expression." Under these circumstances the doctor administered anodynes, tonics, and nourishment, to the great relief of the patient. On January 11, 1876, the patient began to pass from the vagina small masses of fibrous substance, from the size of a chestnut to that of an English walnut. The substances thus discharged were firm and gray in color, and were exceedingly fetid. This discharge continued up to the 21st of January, when the uterus was very much diminished in size, the tenderness had subsided, and the patient appeared comparatively comfortable. Up to that time she had taken but three doses of ergot--on the 20th of the preceding month--and the doctor ordered it to be resumed again. This time the ergot produced no pain, and after three or four days was discontinued. From the 21st of January there were no more pieces discharged, but up to February 1st a yellowish, thin, offensive fluid passed from the vagina in considerable {262} quantities. On the first day of February the ergot was again ordered and continued two weeks, when, as no results ensued, it was finally dropped. Crandall states that on the 14th of February the uterus was reduced to its normal size, and on the 26th the patient was up and about her work, completely cured. He remarked, in this connection, that the first three doses of ergot taken by the patient was the cause of her recovery.[2]

[Footnote 2: This case is published in the August (1875) number of the _Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner_, as reported by Crandall.]

Mrs. L. D. M., aged forty-seven years, had a fibroid tumor in the anterior wall of the uterus, which, with the enlarged uterus, arose to within two inches of the umbilicus. She commenced taking thirty drops of the fluid extract of ergot on the 22d of September, 1876, and was to increase gradually the dose with the object in view of causing the disruption and expulsion of the tumor. The ergot at first produced no perceptible effect until she had taken it ten days, when she began to experience the pain of contraction. The pain became so severe and continuous that it was necessary to omit it for two or three days at a time. The patient was intelligent and understood the object and mode of action of the ergot, and when the pain entirely subsided she courageously resumed it in the smaller doses, and increased again until the pains became intolerable. On the 13th of January, 1877, small pieces of the tumor showed themselves in the vaginal discharges, and by the 26th of the same month the whole of it had been discharged piecemeal. She wrote me on the 30th of January, saying, "I think I wrote one week ago to-day. At that time the tumor was passing. It continued to pass until the 26th, when, I think, the last was expelled. To-day I send you by express a portion of the last that came. I think the whole of it, including the portion I send you, would have weighed one and a half pounds. I do not believe a quart can would hold it if the whole had been preserved. It commenced to come on Saturday, and from Saturday evening to Sunday morning there was a pint or more. After that the stench was so disagreeable that we could not cleanse it; consequently we threw it away. Wednesday and Thursday it seemed to be in one continuous mass. I cannot better describe it than to say that it came like sausage-meat from a stuffer. I would cut off about four inches a day--that is, on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday morning the last of it came away." During and for some days after the expulsion she suffered slight symptoms of septicæmia, but recovered from them, and in the course of a month afterward she visited me, when I found the uterus measured two inches and a half in depth. She then had some leucorrhoea, but was fast regaining her health. She is now perfectly well, and has passed in safety the menopause.[3]

[Footnote 3: This case--the abstract of which I have here given--was in the May (1877) number of the _Archives of Clinical Surgery, N. Y._]

I have known 9 cases in which the tumors were expelled piecemeal by ergot, with but 1 death. The death occurred in a patient who rode one hundred and fifty miles on a railroad train to see me with pieces of the tumor hanging from the vagina, which she would not allow her physician to remove. When she arrived I passed my fingers up into the contracted capsule and scooped out the remaining portion of the tumor. She was so exhausted, however, by the journey and the sepsis that she died three {263} days afterward. I cannot help believing that if she had remained at home and submitted to the treatment of her physician, her life need not have been sacrificed.

The influence of ergot over the uterus has been a familiar fact to the profession for a long time. It is not long, however, since we were aware of its effects upon the muscular fibres entering into the formation of other organs. We now know that this medicine acts upon the unstriped muscular fibre wherever found, whether in the viscera or in the vessels of the body.

The fibres of the uterine walls, and the arteries supplying them with blood, both belong to this class; this fact in the formation of the uterus renders it particularly susceptible to the action of ergot. The drug acts upon the uterus[4] in a threefold manner, and causes a diminished flow of blood to the morbid as well as healthy tissues in the uterine structure.

[Footnote 4: From the author's address before the American Medical Association, 1875.]

First: the calibre of the arterial tubes is diminished by the contraction of the muscular fibres which enter into their composition. Second: the arterioles are diminished in size by compression from the contraction of the uterine muscular fibres which surround them. Third: these vessels are distorted and drawn in diverse directions by both the contraction and compression, and hence are rendered less fit for sanguineous conduits.

Another consideration of prime importance is that, under the influence of these medicines, the nutrition of fibrous tumors is interfered with, not only from diminution of blood in their tissues, but also from compression of their substance by the proper fibres of the uterus, and are therefore made more susceptible in the process of disintegration and absorption.

The great influence exerted by ergot over the circulation of the uterus is rendered more efficacious in the removal of fibrous tumors of that organ, because of the peculiar organization of the growths. It is now pretty well understood that this neoplasm is not very generously supplied with arterial blood, and that its supply is derived from numerous minute vessels instead of one or two of large calibre. From these circumstances it results that its vitality is very low, its circulation easily disturbed, and consequently its nutrition impaired.

I think we are justified from observation in assuming that the action of ergot may be graded from an almost imperceptible to a very intense degree. Probably the first degree affects the vascular supply; the second, in addition to this, causes so much contraction as to merely render the fibres tense without causing pain; and the third prompts the uterine fibres to vigorous and painful contraction.

This inference is plainly deducible, I think, from the several modes by which tumors are made to disappear under its action, as well as from direct observation of the uterine fibres.

I will now venture to call attention especially to the manner of expulsion of the polypoid and submucous intramural varieties. It will be seen that when the uterus contracts all the fibres unite in pressing the polypus through the cervical canal, which is usually already shortened, and rendered dilatable in consequence of its increased vascularity. The cervical canal dilates, and after more or less painful efforts the polypus is expelled entire, covered by the mucous membrane. This membrane is often in a {264} state of gangrene, but so far as I have observed these cases the tumor is not broken to pieces.

A submucous intramural tumor has a thin layer of fibres separating it from the mucous membrane, and a thick and heavy layer spread over its external hemisphere. A greater part of the muscular wall is therefore applied to the outer side of the tumor. If in this position all the fibres of the uterus vigorously contract, the fibres near the mucous membrane must be overcome by the heavy layer outside. But the opposite wall plays an important part by supporting the weaker layer at the fundus of the tumor, and adding its own force in overcoming the capsule, where it usually gives way. The position of the tumor makes its escape from the concentric action of all the fibres of the uterus impossible, and every one knows that when the resistance is partially overcome the uterus is stimulated to more vigorous action, and the pains will not abate until the mass is expelled. If not too large, it is driven out without undergoing great laceration, but if its size and attachments are such as to make this impracticable, it will be broken into fragments and expelled piecemeal.

In subperitoneal tumors there is, next the uterine cavity, a thick and strong stratum of fibres, while immediately under the peritoneum the layer is very thin and comparatively weak. When the uterus is acting with vigor the former contract forcibly, and the mass becomes pedunculated; but that is all, for the tumor lies outside the field of concentric action and escapes the crushing influence to which the submucous variety is subjected. The amount of force exerted upon it is that exercised by the weaker layer of fibres in a state of conquered antagonism, and the rupture of the capsule is impossible.

In the case of a fibroid tumor situated in the central stratum of fibres the antagonism is equal at all points, and it is evident that there is no tendency to rupture of the capsule, and much less crushing influence exerted upon it than if it were situated slightly nearer the mucous membrane. This variety of the tumor, therefore, yields to ergot only as it may be starved out by diminution of its blood-supply and as the effect of pressure, which we all know are the two conditions most favorable to absorption.

Now I think we have arrived at a point in this investigation where we can draw inferences as to the forms of tumors likely to be effected by ergot in different ways, as well as those that will not be effected by it. We do not expect ergot to cause painful and efficient contractions in the healthy unimpregnated uterus; its fibres are not capable of such contraction, and it is not until the fibres have become greatly developed that they are susceptible to the impressions of ergot. In cases of early abortion its action is very unreliable, but after the fourth month of pregnancy it acts quite efficiently.

In tumors of the uterus the development of the fibrous structure is sometimes so slight that it is incapable of contraction; there may be so many nuclei of degeneration that there are not enough sound fibres left for efficient contraction. Then, where there are many small tumors developed in the uterine walls, the circulation is cut off to such a degree that they degenerate into a cartilaginoid substance, and sometimes they are infiltrated with calcareous material. In none of these cases will ergot cause any appreciable results. When, however, there are {265} but one, two, or three nuclei of morbid growths, as they increase in size the fibres undergo the development necessary to enable them to contract with great efficiency and render them susceptible to the influence of ergot.

Another condition which influences the hypertrophic growth of the fibres is the situation of the tumor. Subperitoneal tumors do not cause as great growth in the fibres of their neighborhood as the intramural or submucous varieties. A single intramural tumor causes great development of the whole uterine tissues, but the development of the wall in which it is situated decidedly predominates. The submucous neoplasm so soon gains the uterine cavity that the development is nearly the same in the whole organ. When, therefore, we administer ergot for the cure of fibrous tumors of the uterus, the beneficial action of the drug will depend upon the degree of development of the fibres of the uterus and the position of the tumor with reference to the serous or mucous surface. The nearer the mucous surface, the better the effects. If the tumor is very near the lining membrane, we may hope for its expulsion en masse or by disintegration.

We can often select the cases in which good results may be expected. There are four conditions which are usually reliable for this purpose: they are--smoothness of contour, hemorrhage, lengthened uterine cavity, and elasticity. A smooth, round tumor denotes, for the most part, uniform textural development, hemorrhage, a certain proximity to the mucous membrane, a lengthened cavity, great increase in the length and strength of the fibres; and elasticity assures us of the fact that cartilaginoid or calcareous degeneration has not begun in the tumor.

An even, nodulated tumor may be composed of many separate solid masses. These displace and prevent the growth of the fibres to such an extent as to render contractions inefficient. When hemorrhage is not present the tumor is probably near the serous surface, and consequently not surrounded by fibres. A short cavity denotes short, undeveloped fibres, while hardness is indicative of unimpressible induration.

Although I have no experience in the use of ergot in such cases, I should expect large fibro-cystic tumors to resist the action of ergot.

From this view of the subject it will be seen that I freely admit that there is a large number of cases in which ergot cannot produce any good results, in consequence of the nature of the cases; but there is another reason of equal moment why ergot may fail to act upon such cases as would seem to be favorable--by the worthlessness of the drug and its preparations. Squibb of New York, a high authority, says in reference to this subject: "The molecular constitution of the active portion of the drug seems, however, in its natural condition to be loose, and, like a slow fermentation, to be undergoing slow molecular changes, so that by age its peculiar activity is slowly diminished until finally lost." And again: "The ergot in the grain, however well kept, is known to become inactive without any known change in appearance, though the sensible properties, such as odor and taste, may and probably do not change. Ergot in powder is known to diminish in activity much more rapidly than when in grain, and probably soon becomes inert. The tincture and wine of ergot are believed to change, though more slowly than the ergot in substance, whilst the extracts and so-called ergotins are all supposed to change more rapidly."

When all these causes of failure are considered, the variety of {266} experience met with in the reports upon its trial in the treatment of these tumors is not surprising. It should not, however, be discouraging, but should prompt us to more care in selecting the cases and securing reliable preparations of ergot. I have implicit faith in the action of ergot when all the conditions I have pointed out are present. I do not believe it to be uncertain in its action.

In addition to the above conditions, I believe perseverance an indispensable condition to success, as it often requires several months to get the best results.

The mode of administration should be governed by the objects to be attained. If we desire to cause the painless absorption of the tumor, the doses ought to be moderate in size and not too frequently administered. Hildebrandt administered by hypodermic injection a preparation containing from fifteen to twenty grains of the crude drug to the dose once daily or once every other day; and once a week will often be sufficient, as proven by cases cited in my address, quoted above. If we desire to have the tumor expelled, we should administer full and increasing doses often repeated, and continued until the object is attained. It will sometimes be necessary to vary the quantity and times of giving it to suit the susceptibility of the patient--less or more according to the amount of pain caused by it.

It is not essential to give it hypodermically, although when it does not produce much inconvenience this is a very efficacious method; it may be given by the mouth, in suppositories, per rectum, etc.

In conclusion, I desire to disclaim any expectation that ergot will supplant other modes of treatment. The expert surgeon will, as he always has done, use his instruments to the neglect of remedies less summary in their effects, and in his hands the maximum of safety will obtain; but there are very few general practitioners who ought or would be willing to undertake enucleation of fibrous tumors of the uterus.

Surgical Treatment.--The surgical processes resorted to for the cure of fibrous tumors of the uterus vary in their nature and gravity with the relations of the growth to the different strata of the uterine fibres. The nearer the mucous membrane, the simpler, safer, and more successful the operation for their removal; the more remote from it, the greater the difficulty and danger. Proximity to the cervix is another element of facility and safety. The removal of the cervical polypus is scarcely ever followed by serious consequences. While a polypus situated at the fundus requires greater complexity in the operation for its removal, and must be regarded as a serious one, the difficulty of removing the submucous tumor more remote from the mucous membrane is increased the higher up in the organ it is situated.

Polypi may be removed by torsion, excision, and écrassement; any one of these operations may be successfully and safely employed. No preparation of the patient is usually necessary for the removal of the cervical polypus, because it is accessible under ordinary circumstances. In very rare instances in the virgin or senile condition the vagina may require dilatation. The polypus attached at the body or fundus is not accessible to any of these operations until the mouth of the uterus is sufficiently dilated to permit the introduction of the instruments in the uterine cavity, or until the tumor is in part or wholly expelled.

{267} It will therefore generally be necessary to completely dilate the cervix with sponge, tupelo, or laminaria tents or the fingers. The fingers, when the object can be accomplished by them, are much the better instruments for dilatation. I have several times accomplished the dilatation of the cervical cavity and removed an intra-uterine polypus in the course of half an hour by the fingers.

I prefer torsion, and believe that when properly performed it is the most simple, expeditious, and safe plan of removing a polypus. The tissues entering into the formation of the neck of a polypus are an extremely thin layer of fibres and mucous membrane. We cannot always be sure of placing the écrasseur or applying the knife or scissors exactly at the point of junction between the substance of the polypus and uterine wall; but, as that is the weakest point, it invariably yields to the force applied in the operation of torsion. The tumor is thus completely removed, and without protracted manipulation. No hemorrhage results, for two reasons: (1) there are no large vessels entering the tumor, and the small ones are torn instead of being cut, as in amputations; (2) septicæmia does not occur, for no portion of the tumor is left to slough. In performing this operation the operator must guide a vulsellum with his fingers high enough on the tumor to enable him to fasten the instrument upon or near the central part of the polypus. In two instances, when the tumor was too large to be firmly held by any forceps at my command, I introduced the hand inside the uterus and detached the tumors by rotating them, afterward making traction with the forceps. I brought them into the vagina and delivered them with the obstetrical forceps. One of these weighed forty-six ounces.

To perform torsion for the removal of a polypus, the surgeon, after fixing the instrument firmly in the desired position, should be careful to twist it enough to be sure of its detachment before commencing traction. Not less than from four to six complete revolutions should be effected. This procedure will prevent the danger of lacerating the tissues of the uterus.

The greatest objection urged against the operation of torsion is the likelihood of lacerating the wall of the uterus at the point of attachment. If we call to mind what was said about the relative thickness of the muscular strata upon each side of the different kinds of fibrous tumors, we will at once perceive the groundlessness of this objection. In the pendulous variety the whole wall of the uterus is outside the point of attachment, and is strong enough to resist the very few fibres that are carried down with it. Indeed, the polypus has almost no substantial attachment except that formed by the investing mucous membrane. If, therefore, the torsion is performed with sufficient thoroughness before traction is begun, laceration of more than the superficial tissues surrounding the neck of the tumor is next to impossible; consequently the operation is perfectly safe.

Hemorrhage is not so likely to occur after torsion as when the tumor is amputated by the knife or scissors, or even by the écrasseur. The danger of hemorrhage, then, is an objection that cannot with any show of reason be urged against torsion. I have never seen hemorrhage succeed torsion. The contractions of the uterus which take place after removing the polypoid growth from the cavity of the uterus in the great {268} majority of cases is as effective in the prevention of hemorrhage as it is when its contents are expelled at the time of labor. I trust that it is not necessary to dilate further upon this part of the subject. However, hemorrhage, although improbable, is yet possible, and we should therefore be prepared for it. After what has been said under palliative treatment about the management of this complication, it will not be necessary to enlarge upon that point. I would therefore refer the reader to the remarks there made.

After an operation of this kind the only treatment necessary is perfect quietude for a few days, cleanliness by injections if needful, and the administration of anodynes to quiet pain. When a tumor has been removed from high up in the uterus, the patient of course should be carefully watched, and if symptoms of inflammation or septicæmia arise they should be treated by suitable remedies.

I will commence what I have to say on extirpation of deeper tumors by assuring the inexperienced that the formidable operations required for their removal are very seldom necessary, and should not be resorted to until all other and less hazardous efforts have been made.

The operation of enucleation is applicable only to cases of sessile submucous tumors, such growths as are nearer the mucous than the serous membrane. If enucleation is practicable in tumors which have their origin in the central stratum of the wall of the uterus, the operation must be regarded as equally hazardous, if not more so, than laparo-hysterectomy. I am aware that such operations have been recorded, but it is so easy to be at fault with reference to the exact point of origin that I must be permitted to doubt--not the honesty of the operators, but the accuracy of their observations. In many cases of submucous tumors the cervix is dilated so much that immediate dilatation with the fingers or hard-rubber olive-shaped dilators will be practicable. When that is not the case, the cervix must be thoroughly opened by sponge, sea-tangle, or tupelo tents or bilateral incision: the more patent the mouth of the uterus can be made the better. The operation is so serious in its nature that the competent surgeon will study his preparations so carefully as to avail himself of every means that will enable him to perform it in the most expeditious and complete manner. Expedition, rendered possible by thorough preparation, is a most important item; for it must be understood that every superfluous moment spent in enucleation increases the peril of the patient. I would not counsel haste, but the earnest and careful despatch acquired by reflection and experience. When the patency of the mouth of the uterus is secured, the uterus should be drawn to or near the vulva by a strong vulsellum and firmly held by an assistant. The operator may then make an incision with scissors entirely across the most dependent part of the tumor, completely through the capsule. After this is done, another incision is to be made from the centre of this cross-cut upward upon the most prominent part of the tumor, as high as the instrument can be guarded by the fingers. The fingers should then be inserted between the tumor and the capsule, and the latter separated as extensively as possible from the former. In some cases a large part of the tumor may be thus detached from its envelope. When the whole of it cannot be detached by the fingers, Sims's enucleator may be made to finish that task. It can be passed up and around the upper and less {269} accessible portion. The detachment should, when possible, be complete before traction is begun. The traction is affected by a strong vulsellum. By that instrument the tumor, after being firmly seized, can often be rotated upon its longitudinal axis to assure the operator that it is loosened at every point. Simple, firm, but slow traction, aided by pressure of the hand on the upper part, will assist the uterus in expelling the growth. Should the tumor be too large to pass the mouth of the uterus and vagina, it may be divided by well-directed efforts with the scissors or knife and removed in pieces. When the tumor is semi-pedunculated the capsule may be separated by Thomas's serrated spoon in a much more expeditious manner. As the tumor is drawn out of its cavity the uterus usually contracts, and thus prevents the hemorrhage that might otherwise occur. The surgeon, however, must always be prepared with plenty of cotton saturated with the subsulphate of iron with which to plug the uterine cavity. It will very seldom be necessary to use the ironized cotton, and it should not be employed until its necessity is apparent. The after-treatment consists locally in detergent and disinfectant injections, and in such general measures as will aid in reaction where there are symptoms of shock and counteract the tendency to inflammation. For both these purposes a liberal amount of opium will be very useful.

When the symptoms in connection with a tumor situated in or slightly outside the centre of the wall of the uterus are so urgent as to demand surgical interference, the choice of operations lies between laparo-hysterectomy and öophorectomy. In the light of recent observation I have no hesitancy in recommending the former for large tumors and the latter for small ones. As before stated, I regard enucleation in such cases as hardly practicable, and when successful I believe it is attended with as much danger as the entire extirpation of the uterus.

Without entering into details of this operation, I will state that it is so like ovariotomy as to be governed by the same principles and require to a great extent the same methods. The incision should be sufficiently free to permit the removal of uterus and tumor without the necessity of cutting away the tumor in pieces, as thus mutilating it gives rise to great and dangerous hemorrhages and of necessity soils the abdominal cavity. I have always used silk ligatures with which to secure the pedicle. In most instances we will be obliged to ligate the uterus near its junction with the vagina. Extra-peritoneal treatment is probably safer.

Where a small intramural tumor is attended with exhausting hemorrhage, menacing the patient with a probable fatal loss, and other remedies have been found inadequate, öophorectomy may with great propriety be resorted to.

I would refer the reader to the description of this operation as given elsewhere. There is no other surgical operation by which a large fibro-cystic tumor can be gotten rid of than laparotomy or laparo-hysterectomy. Recently I have removed a large fibro-cystic tumor that grew from the anterior surface of the fundus and body of that organ without removing the uterus. The tumor was detached by a sort of enucleation, and the detachment left a large bleeding surface. Hemorrhage from that surface was profuse, and seemed to issue from numerous cavernous openings instead of veins and arteries. The hemorrhage was checked by {270} passing silk ligatures one-eighth of an inch beneath the surface from one side to the other of the bleeding surface in several places. When these ligatures were tightened the tissues were so condensed as to entirely control the bleeding.

This was my fourth laparotomy for fibro-cystic tumor of the uterus, and the only one that recovered. In all the other three I ligated the uterus and removed it at the internal os.