Foreign Bodies in the Rectum, Part 4

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
by George M. Gould, M.D., Walter L. Pyle, M.D.

(Page 32 of 42)

After the discharge of the ball the intolerable symptoms improved, and in two or three weeks there was complete recovery. Hoag mentions a man who was wounded by a round musket-ball weighing 400 grains. It had evidently passed through the lung and diaphragm and entered the alimentary canal; it was voided by the rectum five days after the injury. Lenox mentions the fact of a bullet entering the abdominal wall and subsequently being passed from the rectum. Day and Judkins report similar cases. Rundle speaks of the lodgment of a bullet, and its escape, after a period of seven and one-half years, into the alimentary canal, causing internal strangulation and death.

Wounds of the liver often end very happily, and there are many cases on record in which such injuries have been followed by recovery, even when associated with considerable loss of liver-substance. In the older records, Glandorp and Scultetus mention cures after large wounds of the liver. Fabricius Hildanus reports a case that ended happily, in which a piece of liver was found in the wound, having been separated by a sword-thrust. There is a remarkable example of recovery after multiple visceral wounds, self-inflicted by a lunatic.

This man had 18 wounds, 14 having penetrated the abdomen, the liver, colon, and the jejunum being injured; by frequent bleeding, strict regimen, dressing, etc., he recovered his health and senses, but relapsing a year and a half later, he again attempted suicide, which gave the opportunity for a postmortem to learn the extent of the original injuries. Plater, Schenck, Cabrolius, the Ephemerides, and Nolleson mention recovery after wounds of the liver. Salmuth and the Ephemerides report questionable instances in which portions of the liver were ejected in violent vomiting. Macpherson describes a wound of the liver occurring in a Hindoo of sixty who had been struck by a spear. A portion of the liver was protruding, and a piece weighing 1 1/4 ounces was removed, complete recovery following.

Postempski mentions a case of suture of the liver after a stab-wound. Six sutures of chromicized cat-gut were carefully tightened and fastened with a single loop. The patient left his bed on the sixth day and completely recovered. Gann reports a case of harpoon-wound of the liver. While in a dory spearing fish in the Rio Nuevo, after a sudden lurch of the boat, a young man of twenty-eight fell on the sharp point of a harpoon, which penetrated his abdomen. About one inch of the harpoon was seen protruding from below the tip of the ensiform cartilage; the harpoon was seven inches long. It was found that the instrument had penetrated the right lobe of the liver; on passing the hand backward along the inferior surface of the liver, the point could be felt projecting through its posterior border. On account of two sharp barbs on the spear-point, it was necessary to push the harpoon further in to disengage the barbs, after which it was easily removed. Recovery followed, and the patient was discharged in twenty-one days.

Romme discusses the subject of punctured wounds of the liver, as a special text using the case of the late President Carnot. He says that in 543 cases of traumatism of the liver collected by Elder, 65 were caused by cutting or sharp-pointed instruments. Of this group, 23 recovered and 42 died. The chief causes of death were hemorrhage and peritonitis. The principal symptoms of wounds of the liver, such as traumatic shock, collapse, local and radiating pains, nausea, vomiting, and respiratory disturbances were all present in the case of President Carnot. From an experience gained in the case of the President, Romme strongly recommends exploratory celiotomy in all penetrating wounds of the liver. Zeidler reports three cases of wound of the liver in which recovery ensued. The hemorrhage in one case was arrested by the tampon, and in the other by the Pacquelin cautery.

McMillan describes a man of twenty who was kicked by a horse over the liver and rupturing that organ. A large quantity of offensive fluid was drawn off from the liver, and the man recovered. Frazer reports a case of rupture of liver and kidney in a boy of thirteen who was squeezed between the tire and driving chain of a mill, but who recovered despite his serious symptoms. Allen mentions recovery after an extensive incised wound of the abdomen, liver, and lung. Massie cites an instance of gunshot wound of the right hypochondrium, with penetration and protrusion of the liver. The patient, a boy of seven, recovered after excision of a small part of the protruding liver. Lawson Tait has incised the liver to the extent of three inches, evacuated two gallons of hydatids, and obtained successful recovery in ten weeks.

There are several cases of wound of the liver followed by recovery reported by surgeons of the United States Army. Whitehead mentions a man of twenty-two who on June 3, 1867, was shot in the liver by a slug from a pistol. At the time of the injury he bled freely from the wound of entrance continuing to lose blood and bile until daylight the next morning, when the hemorrhage ceased, but the flow of bile kept on. By June 10th there was considerable improvement, but the wound discharged blood-clots, bile, and serum. When the patient left the hospital on July 15th the wound was healthy, discharging less than 1 1/2 ounces during the twenty-four hours, of a mixture of free bile, and bile mixed with thick material.

When last heard from - July 27, 1867 - the patient was improving finely in flesh and strength. McKee mentions a commissary-sergeant stationed at Santa Fe, New Mexico, who recovered after a gunshot wound of the liver. Hassig reports the case of a private of twenty-six who was wounded in a fray near Paducah, Kentucky, by a conoid ball, which passed through the liver. The ball was cut out the same day. The patient recovered and was returned to duty in May, 1868. Patzki mentioned a private in the Sixth Cavalry, aged twenty-five, who recovered from a gunshot wound of the abdomen, penetrating the right lobe of the liver and the gall-bladder.