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CASES: (1) Ovarian tumor, upon which operation was advised, cured by two months treatment. (2) Uterine fibroid tumor, the patient having for sixteen years suffered intensely at period. Surgeons were about to operate upon the case, when it was decided to try osteopathy. After four treatments the period was passed without any discomfort. After three months treatment the tumor had disappeared. (3) Intestinal fibroid tumor. There was a history of constipation, and colicky pains for a number of weeks, constantly increasing in severity and frequency, and leading finally to spasms. The abdomen was much distended with feces and gas; the 10th, 11th and 12th ribs were displaced downward. The tumor could be deeply palpated in the left side of the abdomen, at the level of the crest of the ilium. The colon was cleared with repeated enemas of water and oil. As the tumor still remained an operation was decided upon. But, before the day set, the tumor loosened under osteopathic treatment, and was passed from the rectum. It was in size 1¾ by 1¼ inches. It was examined by leading physicians who pronounced it fibroid tumor. (4) A tumor upon the back of the neck, due to a much enlarged sebaceous gland, had been growing for ten years. Treatment was directed to softening the contents of the gland until able to pass it through the duct, the passage being facilitated by removal of the hair into the follicle of which the gland emptied. Under the treatment the tumor bad been much reduced at the time of report. (5) A tumor of the brain, so-called, was a condition found to be due to a displacement of the atlas and a great contraction of the cervical muscles. The head was drawn backward, the giddiness, insomnia, and ocular disturbances were present. The condition seemed likely to lead to insanity and attending physicians diagnosed it as a tumor upon the brain. Correction of the lesion cured the case, and the diagnosis of cerebral tumor was shown to be wrong. (6) An abdominal tumor in a lady, the waist measuring 46 inches, and increasing at the rate of one inch per week. Lesion was found at the 5th dorsal, also at the 11th, and the left ribs were luxated. The tumor a appeared to be as large as a cocoa nut. At the end of one months treatment the growth had been stopped and the waist measurement was reduced one inch; at the end of 2 months, the waist was 31 ½ inches, and had reached nearly normal size. The treatment was continued for three months longer, and the case was discharged cured. (7) A tumor of the breast, about the size of a walnut, very hard and involving the center and deep portion of the gland. Sharp pains radiated in all directions from the tumor, but mostly toward the axillary region. The condition was found to be an engorgement due to obstructed vessels, with which the gland is richly supplied. The lesion was a twist of a clavicle, narrowing the space between the clavicle and first rib, and caused by using a crutch for a lame leg upon the same side as the lesion. Thus was caused an obstruction to the lymphatic drainage of the breast, and the growth resulted. As a preliminary measure the limb was cured and the use of the crutch was dispensed with. The clavicle was righted and the growth began to be absorbed. The case was cured in seven weeks. (8) A tumor just external to the vaginal orifice, of four months standing. There was a fluid contained in the tumor, and it varied in size, becoming smaller after the patient had remained in a recumbent position for a few days. There was prolapsus of the uterus and lesion among the lumbar vertebrae. The case was cured in two months. (9) An ovarian tumor in a patient, from whom two years previously, the left ovary and a tumor weighing twenty-five pounds had been removed. A few months later a tumor appeared upon the right ovary, and operation was advised. After a month and a half of treatment the tumor had disappeared. (10) Fibroid tumors of the uterus in a patient who had four years previously, been injured in the left side by a vicious cow. The patient was suffering from heart and bowel troubles, and female diseases. Various spinal lesions were found. By four treatments the tumors were loosened and passed, there being several of them, varying in size from that of a hen's egg to that of a walnut. The PROGNOSIS, generally speaking, to benefit or cure various tumors by osteopathic treatment is good. Numerous cases have been saved by this means from the surgeon's knife. While many tumors cannot be cured, the treatment merits a trial in every case before operation be submitted to. The LESIONS are various bony, muscular, and other obstructions to blood and lymph flow, or to nerve supply. Some lesions cause tumorous growths by direct irritation of the tissues. A frequent cause of tumors is found in lesion to the lymphatic drainage of a part, through direct pressure upon its lymphatic vessels or by constrictor effect upon them by lesion to the vaso-motor and sympathetic nerve supply. Tumors of the breast are very often due to such a cause. The common lesions in tumor of the breast are found at the clavicle, first rib, among the upper five or six ribs, or among the corresponding vertebrae. Abdominal tumors are commonly caused by lower rib and lower vertebral lesions, uterine tumors by sacral or lumbar lesions, etc. The simple TREATMENT is to remove lesion, correct lymphatic and blood drainage, or remove any source of direct irritation upon the tissues. Correcting anatomical relation is the main point, and commonly no manipulation directly upon the tumor is required, yet such a measure is sometimes employed to soften a fatty tumor and aid in its absorption, or to loosen a fibroid growth, several such having thus been loosened and discharged per rectum or per vaginam. One instance is recorded in which external treatment upon the nose loosened and caused the discharge of a cancer in the upper nasal passage. It is a point worthy of note that, in many instances fibroids, according to all evidences, have been absorbed by the renewed blood currents. It indicates that new fibrous tissues, once formed, may be absorbed under the treatment. |