Observations on fatty heart : comprising remarks on the morbid anatomy, symptoms and diagnosis, prognosis etiology and treatment, an essay / by Henry Kennedy.

  • Kennedy, Henry (Of Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale)
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on fatty heart : comprising remarks on the morbid anatomy, symptoms and diagnosis, prognosis etiology and treatment, an essay / by Henry Kennedy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    95/188 (page 83)
    Now, when the left heart is most affected cerebral symptoms take the lead, and I believe by this knowledge it is quite possible to arrive at a correct diagnosis. The symptoms are more general, it being the systemic heart Avhich is engaged, whereas if the right heart be most involved the symptoms are referable to the lungs and breathing. In Simpson's Hospital I have often found these differences to exist, even whilst admitting that many instances occur where both sets of symptoms are present at the same time—in other words, both sides of the heart are equally diseased. In a practical point of view it is, however, always of consequence to separate the two classes of symptoms, when such is possible. When I come to speak of treatment this part of the subject will again be discussed. If the right heart be the most involved there is a physical sign I have often observed which it is of con- sequence to note—I mean puerile respiration. I am not speaking of a temporary state of this symptom, such as may be heard in the Cheyne-Stokes breathing, but of a permanent state of the sign, and this without any apparent cause to account for it, such as pneumonia or effusion into the pleura. It is right to add it is not always present, even Avhen other circumstances might lead one to expect it, but when present it becomes a very valuable sign, and points, I believe, always to the existence of cardiac mischief, chiefly of the right side It was, if I recollect right, Andral who long since drew attention to this sign as an early symptom of heart disease. It is of its connexion with fatty heart that I would now speak. It always reminds me of a symptom