Observations on corpora lutea. Part 1 [-2] / By Robert Paterson, M.D., physician to the Leith Dispensary.

  • R.H. Paterson
Date:
[1840?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on corpora lutea. Part 1 [-2] / By Robert Paterson, M.D., physician to the Leith Dispensary. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is not always the case, for I think we are safe in alleging that six out of every ten ovaries of patients dying during that period of life, and unconnected with pregnancy existing or recently termi¬ nated, present no appearance whatever of red, pinkish, or yellow- coloured substances, which I shall afterwards show are the co¬ lours that blood assumes in the progress of absorption from the ovary. While the circumstance of effusion of blood occasionally taking place in such cases points out the similarity between the season of heat in the lower animals, and menstruation in woman, it not less clearly shows us, one of the many ways in which these false corpora lutea are formed. Different Varieties of False Corpora Lutea. False corpora lutea, then, in the human female, or yellow bodies which are liable to be mistaken for the true structure, may be of two different kinds, arising from as many causes. The first order of corporalutea arise, as I have before-mention¬ ed, from effusion of blood into a Graafian vesicle. These have been well represented by Dr Montgomery. They have more or less of a regular form, but their internal structure is homogeneous, and with¬ out any appearance of radiation, central puckering, or cavity. The second set also originate in effusion of blood, but they are preceded by a diseased state of the ovary, viz. apoplexy. In this species the blood is effused into the tissue of the ovary, and of course assumes a very irregular appearance. These are to be found of various sizes, from that of a millet-seed to a pea, and once or twice we have seen them of the size of a good large marble. No one can mistake this appearance in its recent state ; it is only as ab¬ sorption goes on, and the colouring matter of the blood begins to be removed, that it assumes a yellow colour. M. Andral, in tak¬ ing notice of this appearance in the ovary, says, sometimes the ef¬ fused blood has a red, and sometimes a brown colour. “ We not ^infrequently observe beside or around such an effusion a fine yellow colour, similar to that which is found on the parietes of certain collections of extravasated blood in the brain.”'* When these coagula have remained still longer in the ovary their interior generally becomes filled with black matter, or assumes the appear¬ ance of a cavity, and we have them then presenting to us, the aspect of an irregular-shaped soft membrane, eitherlinedornot with a layer of black substance. In Figs. 13, 14, and 15, we have delineated these appearances, and where the gradual changes are very well marked. Fig. 13 is the coagulum of blood alone, of an irregular shape ; Fig. 14 has been a similar coagulum, but its edges have ■j * Pathological Anatomy, Vol. i. p. 670. A similar change takes place in coagula of blood found in the cavities of veins from inflammation of their coats, or mechani¬ cal obstruction. B
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