The object of this paper is to advocate a rational discrimination in the treatment of fibroid tumors of the uterus.
Uterine fibroids differ greatly in size, situation, structure and character of the symptoms to which they give rise. The treatment demanded by these differences likewise varies.
In structure, fibroid tumors are homologous with the tissue of the organ in which they are found. They are composed of muscular and fibrous tissue in varying proportions usually encapsulated by a connective-tissue capsule, in which large vessels ramify. In some cases, the growth is made up principally of muscular tissue, in others almost exclusively of white fibrous tissue. In the majority of cases, however, the growths are composed of varying proportions of these two tissues, sometimes the muscular, at another the fibrous predominating.
Most fibroid tumors, especially if of moderate size, are firm and solid, but the larger growths frequently have cysts or