EUCAINE IN ATROPHIC RHINITIS

BY

THOMAS H. SHASTID, A.8., M.D.

Eucaine in AtrophicRhinitis

BYTHOMAS H. SHASTID, A.8., M.D.

GALESBURG, ILL.

Reprint from the Medical Record, April 10. iSgj

NEW YORKTHE PUBLISHERS’ PRINTING COMPANY

132, 134, 136 West Fourteenth Street1897

EUCAINE IN ATROPHIC RHINITIS.THOMAS H. SHASTID, A.8., M.D.,

GALESBURG, ILL.

Eucaine, unlike cocaine, possesses the property ofdilating the vessels of the nasal mucous membrane.This vascular dilatation I have often noted, and Ihave found that it begins promptly, that it is wellmarked, and that it lasts a long time. Reflecting uponthis effect of the drug, and upon the further fact thatin atrophic catarrh the nasal mucous membrane is thin,pale, and poorly supplied with blood, I thought thatpossibly eucaine might be of service as a means oftreatment in this disease. I accordingly tried it in anumber of cases, of which I report only one, seeingthat that one is typical of all.

Woman, aged thirt}r-five. Had had atrophic rhinitissince childhood. Had been treated before, and wasusing, at the time she came to me, a spray of Dobell’ssolution. The nasal mucous membrane was exceed-ingly thin and parchment-like. A five-per-cent, solu-tion of eucaine was applied freely every day for threeweeks. Under this treatment the mucous membranebecame fuller and more vascular. The formation ofcrusts was much diminished, so that the Dobell spraydid not need to be used with anything like the formerfrequency. The use of eucaine was continued threeweeks longer, but no further improvement took place.Massage by means of Freudenthal’s vibrator was thenapplied for two months, and the ultimate result washighly gratifying, crust formation being kept in abey-ance merely by the use of Dobell’s solution everysecond or third day.

In the other cases, improvement was no less markedthan in the case reported. It is worth while to note

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also that in every case such results as could be securedby eucaine were secured in a very short time, afterwhich further good results could indeed be secured,but only by the application of other means of treat-ment. The ultimate results in every case were un-questionably better than in any case I have evertreated in which I did not use eucaine.

At the last meeting of the American LaryngologicalAssociation, Dr. G. A. Leland recommended the useof cocaine in the treatment of the disease under con-sideration. But the hyperaemia caused by cocaine isonly secondary, and, moreover, is not very stronglymarked, while the increase in blood supply followingthe use of eucaine is very decided, and presents itselfboth early and late. Furthermore, in the use of co-caine there is vastly greater liability both to acutepoisoning and to the formation of a disastrous drughabit.