Absorption of Uterine Tumors.

M. Gueniot, in a recent paper (Gazette Med., Paris,) contributed to the Academie de Medicine (Paris), considers that so many cases have now been reported as to establish, beyond question, the fact that certain fibroid tumors of the uterus are absorbed and thus disappear. While the absorption of tumors is, as a rule, a slow process, yet, occasionally, they take on a rapid dissolution, some cases having been reported where very large myomata have disappeared within a few months. In cases where absorption does not take place, uterine myomata may disappear either by spontaneous expulsion or by gangrenous suppuration. The method of absorption is the only one which is free from danger, and the efforts of the attending physician should therefore be directed towards bringing about this termination of the disease. Reasoning from analogy, these tumors, before they can be absorbed, must undergo a fatty degeneration. The remedies to be advised therefore are such as are known to favor a fatty metamorphosis of tissue. Such agents are Arsenic, Phosphorus, Lead, etc. The puerperal state of the patient exercises only rarely any influence on the absorption of these tumors.—The Medical Brief.

The Eclectic Medical Journal, Vol. XXXIV, 1874, was edited by John M. Scudder, M.D.