Fig. 13. A Bicornate Uterus. This uterus is shown in coronal section; each cornu contains a fibroid. Removed from a spinster aged 32 on account of acute pain probably caused by the axial rotation of one cornu. Two-fifths size.
The details of the operation set forth in this account refer to a simple or uncomplicated hysterectomy, and under these conditions it cannot be described as a difficult operation to any surgeon accustomed to abdominal operations, but the complications not infrequently met with in connexion with uterine fibroids are occasionally very formidable, and tax the skill and resource of the boldest; e.g. fibroids which are inflamed and adherent to the colon, rectum, or small intestines; fibroids associated with unilateral or bilateral pyosalpinx, or a suppurating ovarian cyst incarcerated in the pelvis by the enlarged uterus; fibroids complicated by cancer in the neck of the uterus; or a cervix fibroid firmly incarcerated in the pelvis by a big fibroid in the fundus of the uterus, and pushing the bladder upwards in front of the tumour.
Cervix fibroids. The operative treatment of this variety needs separate consideration because these tumours do not lend themselves to any routine method.
When the uterus with the tumour in its cervix can be raised out of the pelvis far enough to allow the necessary manipulations, then total hysterectomy can be performed easily and quickly. Occasionally the tumour is wide and so fixed in the pelvis that it will be necessary to split the uterus longitudinally and to enucleate the fibroid from its bed; then an ordinary subtotal or total hysterectomy can be carried out. The enucleation of a large impacted cervix fibroid requires to be conducted carefully, without undue display of force, or so much shock is produced that the patient’s life will be placed in the gravest peril.
Fig. 14. A Bicornate Uterus shortly after Delivery. The pregnancy occurred in the left half. The vesico-rectal ligament is well shown.
On hysterectomy when the uterus is double. Fibroids and cancer arise in malformed uteri, as well as in those of normal shape ([Fig. 13]). When the body of the uterus is double (bicornate) and the surgeon stumbles upon it in the course of a pelvic operation he may be puzzled if he is not familiar with the anatomical conditions associated with this malformation.
When the body of the uterus is bicornate the rectum lies in the middle line of the pelvis, and a median vertical fold of peritoneum, the ligamentum vesico-rectale passes, from its anterior aspect through the gap between the uterine cornua to become continuous with the peritoneum covering the posterior surface of the bladder (Fig. 14). That portion of the vesico-rectal ligament which lies between the rectum and the neck of the uterus divides the recto-vaginal fossa into a right and a left half. This peritoneal ligament requires careful treatment, or the surgeon may accidentally open the rectum or the bladder. In closing the peritoneum over the cervical stump it is sometimes necessary to bring the edges of the abnormal fold into apposition vertically by a continuous suture.
In a case of this kind in which I performed total hysterectomy for cancer of the neck of the uterus the extensive peritoneal connexions were somewhat troublesome, and when the uterus was removed it seemed as if the floor of the pelvis had been stripped of its serous covering. The bifid nature of the uterus had been anticipated before the operation, as an imperfect vertical septum was known to exist on the posterior vaginal wall. The patient made an excellent recovery.
Experience teaches that bicornate uteri cause more difficulties in diagnosis than in technique, but the presence of the vesico-rectal ligament would probably bar the removal of the uterus by the vaginal route. The existence also of a median longitudinal septum, partial or complete, in the vagina would be another difficulty.