The Pathology And Treatment Of Diseases Of The Ovaries

Excerpt from book: of these veins by Dr. J. H. Brinton, of Philadelphia. His deductions from a carefully made series of inquiries result in the following : 1. That the causes hitherto assigned are insufficient to account for the rare occurrence of varicocele on the right side. 2. That the cause of this non-occurrence is to be referred to the existence of a very perfect valve, hitherto unnoticed, at the termination of the right spermatic vein in the vena cava. 3. That no such valve exists upon the left side, at the junction of the spermatic with the renal vein. Fig. 3.?Dissection of the vena t-avn. emulpent and ovarian veins, showing the right ovarian valve: a, right ovarian vein; /, left ovarian vein, without valve ; t, valve ; i, ainug in front of ralve. 4. That a similar valve exists in the analogous vein of the female?the right ovarian vein?but that there is none on the left side. (See Fig. 3.) In this I think there is only one error to be noted : that is, that Dr. Brinton believes these valves have not before been noticed. This is not correct, for in the third edition of Gray's " Anatomy " (1864), now before me, it is distinctly stated that the spermatic veins have valves. Dr. Brinton's merit consists rather in showing that the left vein has not a valve, whilst the right vein is provided with one. The physiological fact we have further to bear in mind concerning these veins is that during pregnancy they increase enormously in size. These facts explain those distressing cases of chronic ovaritis and ovarian hypereemia which often start after a first confinement, and which are most frequently characterized by the greatest suffering being in the left ovary, which is always enlarged, and often dislocated down behind the uterus. These cases are often so intractable as to demand t...