Working-women are unable to obtain the proper medical treatment, especially when the prospect of cure is doubtful, and therefore, if their suffering incapacitates them, must be subjected to the operation of oöphorectomy.
In any case oöphorectomy should be advised if the suffering persists after carefully tried medical treatment.
APOPLEXY OF THE OVARY.
Hemorrhage may take place either into an ovarian follicle, in which case it is called follicular hemorrhage; or it may take place into the ovarian stroma; to this condition the term ovarian apoplexy is applied.
Hemorrhage into the follicles is usually small in amount, the distended follicle rarely exceeding the size of a hickory-nut. In case of cystic degeneration of the ovary small blood-filled cysts may be present, formed by the fusion of several follicular cysts. Occasionally the amount of blood in the follicle is enough to cause its rupture. If the follicle should rupture into the peritoneum, a small hematocele would result. If the follicle ruptures into the ovarian stroma, ovarian apoplexy occurs.
Follicular hemorrhage and ovarian apoplexy are most liable to occur during the congestion of a menstrual period.
Such hemorrhages are not infrequent in the acute fevers and in scurvy. The symptoms of the condition are in no way characteristic. If the exact state of the ovary were known from previous examination, follicular hemorrhage or apoplexy might be suspected from the detection of a sudden ovarian enlargement and pain unaccompanied by symptoms of inflammation.
The blood is usually absorbed, and unless some accompanying disease of the ovary is present, spontaneous recovery will result.
OVARIAN HYDROCELE.
Ovarian hydrocele is a rare disease, the true nature of which has been explained by Bland Sutton. Most of the cases that have been reported have been mistaken for tubo-ovarian cysts. The tubo-ovarian cyst has already been described. It is a cyst that results from inflammatory disease of the tube, and is formed by the union of the cavities of a closed Fallopian tube and a follicular cyst in the ovary.