A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 4

by Unknown

Another very troublesome affection of the urethra which usually results from urethritis is granular erosion, as it is called. The mucous membrane is covered with young, imperfectly-developed epithelium; the papillæ are hypertrophied and extremely sensitive. This gives rise to the most excruciating pain during micturition, and generally keeps up a distressing tenesmus. This disease is rarely seen except among old people. The diagnosis is made from the history and appearance of the urethra. The treatment is cauterization of the whole surface. The milder washes and injections do not accomplish much. Pure carbolic acid may be tried first, brushing it over the surface and repeating it in eight or ten days. This is the least painful application, and generally answers very well. When it fails a solution of nitrate of silver (one drachm to the fluidounce) should be used. In obstinate cases it is desirable, before using strong caustics, to dilate the urethra, and then touch it with a 50 per cent. solution of carbolic acid.

Circumscribed and Subacute Urethritis.

Among the inflammatory affections of the female urethra there are mild forms which fall short of well-marked urethritis. Indeed, some of these attacks amount to little more than congestion or slight catarrh. In others circumscribed patches of the urethra become inflamed, the rest of the canal remaining normal.

The cause of this affection is generally some inflammation of other pelvic organs, such as cellulitis. In one case it occurred in a saleswoman who had been upon her feet many days from early morning until late at night. I found several small ecchymoses on several parts of the mucous membrane with zones of inflammation around them. The long-continued passive congestion had caused some of the small vessels to rupture, and the small blood-clots started the inflammatory process.

These cases tend to recovery if the patient is placed under favorable conditions. If there is much pain, and if the trouble appears to be tending to become chronic, mild injections may be employed.

Dilatation of the Urethra.

Dilatation of the whole urethra is not so common as dilatation of a portion of it. Even when the whole canal is larger than it should be, it is not, as a rule, uniformly so. In general, the urethral walls and the urethro-vaginal septum are usually enlarged, relaxed, and flabby. After a considerable time they may become indurated by infiltration or hyperplasia of the connective tissue. The mucous membrane is usually soft and loosely adherent to the subjacent tissues. Beneath the membrane there are sometimes masses of enlarged veins which give a dark bluish appearance to the parts. If the meatus be distended like the rest of the urethra, the mucous membrane with the large veins beneath it may protrude and form a tumor or tumors, which have quite the appearance of rectal hemorrhoids. This is especially so when the veins are large and numerous and the mucous membrane thin, so that the color of the veins can be seen through it. On the other hand, if the meatus remains normal in size, nothing will be seen by the examiner until the catheter or sound is passed into the urethra, when the distended or distensible condition of the canal will be detected. The dilatation can be easily detected, even when the meatus is normal in size, by observing that the sound can be moved about in the urethra, conveying the same impression obtained when the sound passes into the bladder. By making a digital examination of the vagina the enlarged urethra can be felt, and it is usually elastic and compressible. Through Sims's speculum the abnormal fulness or bulging of the anterior vaginal wall can be plainly seen and distinguished from displacement of the urethra. The points of difference between dilatation and displacement will be brought out more in detail farther on.

When the dilatation has existed for any length of time, the mucous membrane is usually hyperæmic, and sometimes catarrhal, secreting a muco-purulent material, which may be seen escaping from the meatus or lodged in the folds of the membrane, where it can be seen through the endoscope. When the mucous membrane is prolapsed and forms a tumor outside of the meatus, it soon becomes fissured and ulcerated, and consequently very tender and painful. This condition is produced by the retarded circulation, chafing, and the irritation from exposure to the air and the urine passing over it.

Dilatation of the anterior or lower third is the rarest of all forms of urethral dilatation, and occurs usually as a consequence of some enlargement or swelling of the mucous membrane, neoplasm of the urethra, or mechanical dilatation. The dilatation may or may not include the meatus. In rare cases it does not at first, but in time the enlarged mucous membrane slowly, sometimes rapidly, dilates the orifice. The general appearances of the parts are the same as those of which I have spoken under the head of dilatation of the whole urethra. When the dilatation is due to any new growth in the urethra, the tumor can be seen on inspecting the parts.