Sciatica : a record of clinical observations on the causes, nature, and treatment of sixty-eight cases / by A. Symons Eccles.

  • Eccles, A. Symons.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sciatica : a record of clinical observations on the causes, nature, and treatment of sixty-eight cases / by A. Symons Eccles. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

    15/104 (page 3)
    Of sixty-five cases characterized by sciatic or gluteal pain, which have come under the observa- tion of the writer up to the time of sending these pages to the printer, fourteen were associated with obstinate constipation of long standing. In three of these there was sacculation of the upper part of the rectum, in two there was prolapse of the lower part of the sigmoid flexure into the rectum, with impaction of fsces, and in the remaining nine cases there was more or less ballooning of the rectum with retention of a hard, globular, fascal mass, the removal of which was attended by some alleviation of the more severe sciatic symptoms within a few hours in each case. In one case, in which there was great pain over the right sciatic notch, and radiating all over the gluteal region, with frequent violent exacerbations, and tenderness midway between the trochanter femoris and tuber ischii, examination per rectum revealed the existence of a scirrhous growth en- croaching very considerably on the pelvic limits, especially on the right side, and constricting the lumen of the rectum, so that the finger could only just pass the stricture ; yet this patient had attri- buted the pain and constipation to ' the chill caught some months previously,' which he thought had caused the sciatica. Of other intrapelvic conditions involving pres-