For the almost universal success in the painless removal of mucous sacs, the operator should be in possession of all of his normal wits and senses, so that his judgment will be at its best when the following points present themselves:
What to treat.
When to treat it.
Where to treat it.
How much to treat of it.
The quantity of remedy to be injected—all of which require discretion and good technique.
By the hypodermic method of treating mucous sacs some escharotic is employed with the object of causing the absorption of the sacculated mucosa. The object to be accomplished ought to determine the proper strength of any escharotic used. Whatever will absorb the mucous membrane involved in the sac in the slowest and mildest manner is the best remedy or the best way to employ any of the tissue absorbers you might select. And another fact: the lower the per cent. employed the larger the quantity that may be used at a time, and this is desirable if the area of a sac be large and you wish to absorb the greater portion of it. A skillful operator will make sure to have the escharotic used cover just the amount of the mucous sac desired, and no more. Physicians that are not aware of the channeled and sacculated character of the mucosa in the case of “piles” or “hemorrhoids” are liable to introduce the escharotic into the base or the center of the mucous sac with the hypodermic needle; and in such an event the remedy often enters a cavity or a channel, or both, and naturally it finds its way along the channel to the integument at the anus, whence, as a consequence, a deep, ugly fissure-in-ano is in a short time to be reckoned with by the patient and the physician, because of the destruction of the epithelial wall of the channel. The patient thereupon is far from being in a good humor, and the physician wonders how the thing happened, and he feels like quitting practice altogether, and doubtless many have done so; and certainly every one should do so if such an error were to occur a second time.
The object we wish to accomplish is to absorb the wall of the sacculated mucosa. Therefore the remedy should be injected at the apex of the sac, in the epithelial layer, or slightly deeper, if the occasion demands it. The area of the sac and the thickness of its walls must be taken into consideration, and will suggest the amount of the escharotic to be used.
A proper speculum is very essential to the successful treatment of sacculated mucosa, and I know of none equal to that devised some thirty years ago by Dr. A. W. Brinkerhoff. The speculum is easy to introduce, and by drawing a slide the tissue is properly exposed or shut out to a nicety, exhibiting just the amount you wish to treat. In some cases there is a rather lengthy sacculated mucosa on the side, or on the anterior wall of the anorectal tube, and it is advisable to treat only the upper third or half, and at a subsequent visit or visits to treat the remainder, thus avoiding annoyance to the patient.