Some points in the symptomatology, pathology, and treatment of diseases of the sinuses adjacent and secondary to the orbit / by Charles Stedman Bull.

  • Bull, Charles Stedman, 1844-1912.
Date:
[1899]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some points in the symptomatology, pathology, and treatment of diseases of the sinuses adjacent and secondary to the orbit / by Charles Stedman Bull. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    9/24 (page 9)
    The usual antiseptic dressings are then applied, and suppuration rarely occurs. The Maxillary Antrum.—Diseases of the antrum are by no means so rare as has been supposed, and this is probably due to the fact that the antrum has not always been carefully examined. The inflammatory diseases most frequently met with here are mucocele and empyema, the latter being by far the more com- mon. The subjective symptoms are practically the same in both. Empyema of the Antrum.—Pus may collect in the antrum as a consequence of inflammation extending from the nose, or of empyema in the sphenoidal an- trum, ethmoid cells, or frontal sinus, or it may origi- nate in the antrum itself. If the collection of pus be considerable, it may flow into the nasal meatus through the ostium maxillare, and out through the nostril or back into the pharynx. The most common source of purulent inflammation in the antrum is disease of the teeth or caries of the alveolar arch, especially of the posterior molars, forming first subperiosteal abscess,, and then abscess of the antrum. Symptoms: Pain is the most constant symptom, though, if drainage be free, it may be slight or entirely absent. It is located in the cheek, is frequently peri- odic in character, and is often accompanied by an un- pleasant odor from the decomposition of retained se- cretions. The escape of pus from the antrum is positive evidence of disease. The orbital symptoms are more or less displacement or protrusion of the eye, orbital cellulitis and chemosis, loss of vision from neuro-re- tinitis or atrophy, due to pressure on the optic nerve and obstruction to the return circulation, and panoph- thalmitis from strangulation of the tissues. Many cases of empyema are so slow and insidious in their progress and so slight in their symptoms, that their existence is ignored by the patient, until some violent retro-ocular or orbital inflammation or some grave