Una herida de bala vesical en la novela “la regenta” de leopoldo alas “clarín”

Abstract

AbstractSome great literature works show medical pictures of high historical value. In “La Regenta", by Leopoldo Alas Clarín (1852-1901), considered the best XIX-century Spanish novel and one of the most important of the whole Spanish literature, there is a faithful account of a bullet wound of the bladder: the possibility of making the diagnosis, the complications and inevitable poor prognosis are depicted, since in the story the wound is followed by peritonitis and death of the wounded character, with the attending doctors rejecting a transfer to the hospital or a surgical intervention. This episode reminds us of an important chapter in the History of Surgery and Urology: the diagnosis of trauma wounds of the urinary tract, based over a long time on the data provided by urethral catheterisation; and the treatment of penetrating abdominal wounds in general, a matter of discussion between partisans and detractors of surgical exploration, that had a high mortality until well into the XX-century, when modern means of vital support, anaesthesia and antiseptics were on hand.