Observations on the surgical pathology of the larynx and trachea, chiefly with a view to illustrate the affections of those organs which may require the operation of bronchotomy: including remarks on croup, cynanche laryngea, injuries by swallowing acids and boiling water, foreign bodies in the windpipe, asphyxia, wounds, etc / [William Henry Porter].

  • Porter, William Henry, 1790-1861.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the surgical pathology of the larynx and trachea, chiefly with a view to illustrate the affections of those organs which may require the operation of bronchotomy: including remarks on croup, cynanche laryngea, injuries by swallowing acids and boiling water, foreign bodies in the windpipe, asphyxia, wounds, etc / [William Henry Porter]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that will otherwise sooner or later bring the patient to a mise- rable death; and therefore, even supposing it to be attended with tenfold the peril that it really is, it would form no argument against the operation, unless it be decided that it 1s better a patient should certainly die, than run the risk of an attempt which has both reason and experience to recommend it. At the instant that an aperture is made in the larynx or trachea, either by operation or by accident, the patient experi- ences a sensation of uneasiness and distress that cannot be ex- plained. If lying down, he suddenly starts up, or writhes and. tosses himself about, and almost immediately is seized with a paroxysm of cough. The expectoration is streaked and stain- ed with blood, and, if a bloodvessel happens to be injured, the quantity of this fluid poured into the windpipe and subsequent- ly thrown off may be so considerable, as to create great uneasi- ness to the patient, and occasion some alarm to the surgeon. This symptom, combined with the almost convulsive struggles which the patient makes to relieve himself, presents a frightful appearance ; but in general his own efforts are sufficient, and very rarely does any bad consequence ensue from blood being poured into the larynx, unless where some very large vessel is wounded, and the hemorrhage is so profuse as to suffocate the patient almost instantaneously. The air passes through the wound with a peculiar hissing noise, and this will be louder or not according to the proportion the new aperture bears to the natural size of the rima glottidis. Frothy mucus is expelled through the wound with a gurgling sound, and the blood is often expectorated in this way. The patient’s voice is lost, and he can only express himself by signs. After a little time, perhaps in the course of six-and-thirty