54 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



Needles, pins, and small pieces of wood may not be detected even 

 with the probang. 



The object, if it goes into the stomach, passes through the intes- 

 tines and is passed through the rectum, and causes no further 

 trouble. Some authors have observed needles passed per rectum 

 (Friedberger, Kohlhepp). It may, however, lodge in the stomach 

 and cause great irritation and finally convulsions and death. If 

 it is a sharp body, it may perforate the stomach and even find its 

 way out again by perforating the abdominal wall. If it is in the 

 thoracic portion of the tube, it may penetrate the wall and set up 

 septic mediastinitis. 



Siedamgrotzky relates a very curious case in a dog in which a 

 piece of bacon-rind, 6 centimetres long and 3 wide, lacerated the 

 oesophagus in the thorax so much as to cause fatal pleurltis. The 

 author has seen the same thing from a splinter of bone. It is also 

 probable that death may occur from the foreign bodies if they are 

 sharp, by penetrating either the heart or one of the large blood- 

 vessels in the vicinity and causing a hemorrhage, or it may also 

 occur from septic inflammation of the oesophagus. 



Therapeutics. If the foreign body is in the pharynx or at 

 the entrance of the oesophagus, it must be removed immediately 

 either with the finger or a pair of forceps. If the obstruction is 

 located in the lower portion of the tube, and it cannot be pushed 

 down into the stomach with the probang, it is advisable to attempt 

 to get it up by an emetic — a subcutaneous injection of apomorphia 

 muriate, as per page 34. If that is not successful, then perform 

 oesophagotomy as soon as possible, before the intense swelling inter- 

 feres with the operation. If this operation cannot be performed 

 on account of the foreign body being located too deeply in the 

 thorax, it is best to give the animal large quantities of lubricating 

 substances, such as olive or any fatty oil. It is better to do this 

 than to use any great force to push the object into the stomach. 



(EsoPHAGOTOMY. This is not very difficult to perform in the dog ; the 

 point of operation is directly over the location of the foreign body ; the 

 hair is shaved over the part and the first incision is made behind the jugu- 

 lar, making the opening no larger than is necessary to get out the obstruc- 

 tion ; the wound in the oesophagus is first sewed up with a continuous suture 

 of catgut ligature, being careful to include the mucous membrane (HofiF- 

 mann does not sew the muscular tissue), or the wound can be left open. Our 

 experience has been that we never get union by first intention, even if it 



