Faecal vomiting and reversed peristalsis in functional nervous (cerebral) disease : a summary of cases and conclusions / by F. Parkes Weber.

  • Weber, Frederick Parkes, 1863-1962.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Faecal vomiting and reversed peristalsis in functional nervous (cerebral) disease : a summary of cases and conclusions / by F. Parkes Weber. 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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    lene blue injected by the rectum took at least some minutes to reach the stomach. To make a long story short, it may be stated at once that during the patient’s residence in the German Hospital two careful exploratory laparotomies were performed. At neither of them, however, was any abnormal condition whatever detected. One of the laparotomies w'as performed below the umbilicus, the other above. At the second operation the stomach itself was opened and explored. On both occasions the wounds healed rapidly and no unsatis- factory results occurred. There may, indeed, have been some temporary improvement in the general condition following the operation. The improvement, however, was certainly not permanent, and the patient’s condition varied consider- ably at different times. During the patient’s residence in the German Hospital her temperature was found every now and then to be above the normal, and this appeared to be especially the case when she was not being closely observed. It was not, however, proved that she simulated the fever by manipulating the thermometer. Before the patient left the hospital (Febru- ary 4, 1897) she looked well, had a fresh colour, and moved about quickly, but was still troubled with vomiting, consti- pation, and distension of the abdomen. On February 5, 1897, she came under the care of Sir F. Treves at the London Hospital. Her symptoms there were much the same as at the German Hospital, and so convinced was he that some local disease might be present that he determined to do a third laparotomy. This was actually performed, and, though the exploratory operation gave a negative result, no evil consequences resulted, but on the contrary, the patient’s condition seemed to be improved after the operation. Treves has alluded to the case in his paper on “Abdominal Section as a Medical Measure,” read at the Medical Society of London on February 28, 1898.1 The portion of his paper relating to the patient’s progress after admission to the London Hospital I will now quote at length, since it amply confirms some of the points alluded to above:— 1 Transactions of the Medical Society, vol. xxi., p. 224.