A case of sclerodactylia with subcutaneous calcareous concretions / by R.E. Scholefield and F. Parkes Weber.

  • Scholefield, R.E.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A case of sclerodactylia with subcutaneous calcareous concretions / by R.E. Scholefield and F. Parkes Weber. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    and then tlie calcareous material is discharged in tlic form of a chalky fluid, gritty material, or a definite calculus. The ulcers are very indolent, taking a long time to heal. No microbes have been found in the disclmgc, excepting those due to secondary infection. This process of ulceration, which occurs from time to time at the affected parts, is decidedly painful, so that there is no resemblance to the “ painless whitlows ” of so-called “ Morvan’s disease,” and the finger- changes met with in the so-called “ Morvan type” of syringomyelia. The fingers or toes become thickened, stiffened, deformed and shiny. Sensation is blunted over the diseased portions, and the normally soft pulpy cushions of the tips of the fingers or toes may gradually become almost as hard as stone. The metabolism has, as far as we know, not yet been specially investigated in order to throw light on the tendency towards calcareous deposition. These cases are sharply distinguished from all the following kinds of subcutaneous or cutaneous calcification : (1) Calcification in sebaceous cysts, sebaceous adenomata, and so-called “benign epitheliomata” (A. Malherbe, W. von Noorden, etc.), and in cystic adenomata connected with the sweat apparatus (LI. D. Kolleston). (2) Calcification in lipomata, fibromata, carcinomata, and other tumours. (3) Calcification in tuberculous caseous nodules or in other subcutaneous chronic inflammatory nodules or scars. (4) Calcified subcutaneous cysticerei. (5) Calcification in subcutaneous veins (subcutaneous phleboliths) and subcutaneous arteries. (0) Calcareous metastases in the skin (J. Jadassohn). (7) Calcification of minute subcutaneous fat-lobules (“Fettgewobs- steine ”) iu front of the tibiae of elderly persons.* (8) True bone-formation in subcutaneous tissue or in scars. # 0. M. Cliiari (“ Ueber die herdweise Verkalkung and Yerknoclierung des subcutanen Fettgewebes,” Zeitschrift fur Heilkundu, l'JU7, vol. xxviii, Supple- mentheft, p. 1) agrees with E. H. Bennett (“ On Calcification of Adipose Tissue,” Dublin Journ. Med. Sci, 1878, vol. lxv, p. lfi), that the small, freely movable calcareous nodules not rarely met with in front of the tibia? in elderly persons, especially women, are due to calcification of fat-lobules, and not to calcification in veins, arteries or lymphatics. Cliiari thinks that the cause of this calcifica- tion is interference with the local blood-supply caused by chronic deforming endarteritis.