Observations on strictures of the rectum and other affections which diminish the capacity of that intestine : including spasmodic constriction of the anus, the haemorrhoidal tumours (called piles) excrescences, and the prolapsus ani and the mode of treatment ... / by W. White.

  • White, William.
Date:
1820
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on strictures of the rectum and other affections which diminish the capacity of that intestine : including spasmodic constriction of the anus, the haemorrhoidal tumours (called piles) excrescences, and the prolapsus ani and the mode of treatment ... / by W. White. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    very small portion in the circumference of the gut; and on passing the bougie slowly through the stricture, the muscular action may be distinctly discerned, which is not the case when the rectum is become thickened and indurated to any great extent, as commonly happens in a scirrhous state of the intestine. It may be further observed with regard to the form¬ ation of simple stricture in the rectum, that the co¬ arctation does not appear to depend on a morbid change in the inner membrane, which seems incapable of con¬ traction of itself; but that a diminution in the capacity of the canal is primarily owing to a contraction and gradual thickening of the muscular coat; for, with res¬ pect to the little processes which sometimes grow from the internal membrane, and form a sort of circle round the gut, (as noticed by Dr. Baillie) they are not, in my opinion, to be considered as the origin or immediate cause of contraction, but merely as the consequence of the contracted state of the muscular coat. This condi¬ tion of the muscular coat being induced, the inner mem¬ brane from the laxity of its texture becomes prominent in the passage, and to the repeated irritation to which it is naturally exposed, the process-like appearance is pro¬ bably owing. It may be observed here, that simple c