Case of tumour originated in the soft palate, and protruding into the isthmus of the fauces, removed by operation / by Kelburne King, M.D.

  • King, Murdoch Kelburne, 1823-1886.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of tumour originated in the soft palate, and protruding into the isthmus of the fauces, removed by operation / by Kelburne King, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    12/14 (page 10)
    the 21st, while there was but little if any exten- sion of the erysipelas, his general condition was more depressed, his pulse was weaker, and he seemed to take less notice of what was going on about him. In the afternoon and evening the symptoms of sinking became more marked, his extremities getting cold and the tendency to rest- lessness increasing, and he died at 9.20 p.m. In considering this result, it must, I think, be admitted that death arose not from any necessary consequence of the operation, but from an acci- dent. There were one or two cases of erysipelas in the House at the time. I was myself unfortu- nately in attendance on a very disastrous case, which, commencing on October 13th, terminated fatally on the 17th. This man had survived the immediate results of the operation; the power of swallowing was restored; the wound in the face had all but healed; the division of the inferior maxilla could not be looked upon as hazardous; no secondary haemorrhage had taken place ; from leaving the operating table till his death he did not lose one drop of blood. All the legitimate dangers except those in connection with the separation of the ligature on the common carotid had been surmounted; and where so many and so great difficulties had been overcome, it seems all the more to be regretted that death should have arisen from a cause which a better acquaint- ance with physical laws will some day enable us to avoid, and which was foreign to the peculiar risks entailed by this very formidable operation.