Various methods of dealing with the pedicle in ovariotomy / by J. Knowsley Thornton.

  • Thornton, J. Knowsley.
Date:
[1880?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Various methods of dealing with the pedicle in ovariotomy / by J. Knowsley Thornton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    8r VARIOUS METHODS OE DEALING WITH THE PEDICLE IN OVARIOTOMY. By J. KNOWSLEY THORNTON, M.B., C.M., Surgeon to the Samaritan Free Hospital for Women and Children.* [Reprinted from The Medical Times and Gazette, May 22, 1880.) The pedicle of an ovarian tumour is made up of the blood- vessels, lymphatics, nerves, and ligament of the ovary, united by more or less areolar, fibrous, elastic, and unstriped muscular tissue, and covered all round with a layer of peritoneum. Along with this true pedicle we may also have the round ligament of the uterus, and still more commonly the Fallopian tube. This latter does not necessarily always form part of the pedicle; but I believe it is always wise to include it—first, because there is no object in leaving a structure whose function is gone with the removal of its ovary; second, because I have observed several times that when the ovary is ligatured off from the tube, the latter at once becomes intensely congested. I have even seen it bleed from rupture of its distended vessels. It is quite clear that, left in this condition, it must be a source of danger; and as removing it in no way increases the danger, and is, as I have said, indicated, as its function is gone, I think it best always to include it in the pedicle. In considering how we may most advantageously deal with this complex structure, the pedicle, when removing an ovarian tumour by ovariotomy, we shall find that each of the component parts requires some share of our attention. The bloodvessels are of course the most important, and the * A paper read before the Harveian Society, March 18, 1880.