The diseases of the breast, and their treatment / by John Birkett.

  • Birkett, John, 1815-1904.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diseases of the breast, and their treatment / by John Birkett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    227/340 (page 199)
    in size, for many months, and without inflammation being excited. Axillary glands.—Slight enlargement and swelling may be noticed in the axillary glands. Treatment. — An opening may be made with a lancet, and the milk allowed to escape, or it may be removed with a trocar and canula. Progress.—The discharge continues for a few days, and then ceases. This happy termination does not, however, always ensue, for acute inflammation, suppu- 'ration, and even gangrene, supervene, and sinuses some- times form which are very difficult to heal. Result.—In all cases a cure has been effected ; and in some the patients have subsequently suckled with the affected breast. The contents of the cyst.—In one case ten pints of pure milk were evacuated, in other cases a less quantity. The contents of one were a white curd and a little yellow serum. Class II. M. Velpeau describes a tumor of the breast which was very sensitive for a few days. The organ was transformed into a spongy mass. A puncture was made into it, and milky fluid flowed away from, as he states, the meshes of the cellular tissue.* Class III. Age.—This variety may occur at any age after lacta- tion has been once performed. * M. Berarcl, p. 54.