A contribution to the study of some forms of albuminuria (nephritis) associated with kidney tension and their treatment / by Reginald Harrison.

  • Harrison, Reginald, 1837-1908.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A contribution to the study of some forms of albuminuria (nephritis) associated with kidney tension and their treatment / by Reginald Harrison. 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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    ney, the division of a disordered nerve, or the moral effects of an operation. Further, I have frequently drawn atten- tion at the time of exploration to the varying states as to tension the kidney presented in different individuals. In one case it would resemble that of a ripe plum, whilst in another the organ was flaccid and unresisting on pressure with the finger. Yet these differences were not always explainable. In the early days of renal surgery I cut down on the kidney from the loin in a youth, aged 18, expecting to find a suppuration either within or around the organ. The patient was suspected to have had scarlet fever three weeks before this was done and had since suffered from intense lumbar pain. He had had a slight rash, some desquama- tion, a sore throat, and albuminous urine with casts. I undertook the operation with some hesitation and limited my incision so as just to enable me to put my finger on the kidney. It felt so tense that I extended my incision and opened it with confidence, expecting to find matter. This was not the case, and I closed the wound with the feeling that I had made an error in diagnosis. There was a full discharge of blood and urine from the wound for some days. The latter was lightly plugged with lint and in the course of ten days or so healed soundly. After the incision was made the excretion of urine became far more abun- dant, and the albumin gradually and completely dis- appeared. In 1887 I operated upon a man, aged 50 years, who by nature of his occupation spent a large amount of his time underground. Occasionally he suffered from haematuria in conjunction with colicky pains about the groins, and I came to the conclusion that he was suffering from renal calculus. As, however, the symptoms were neither urgent nor confined to one kidney the consideration of operation was postponed. In the course of a few months after I first saw him, and whilst he was continuing his work under- ground, the urine became largely and constantly albu- minous, and there was some pain referred to the right loin. I took him into the Royal Infirmary at Liverpool, where I was then residing, and explored the right kidney. The organ was found to be enlarged and tense. An incision of an inch in length was made through the cortex, and the pelvis was explored with the finger, but after careful ex- amination no stone could be found. There was a consider-