Lectures to practitioners. On the diseases classified by the Registrar-General as tabes mesenterica / by W.T. Gairdner. On the pathology of phthisis pulmonalis / by Joseph Coats.

  • Gairdner, W. T. (William Tennant), Sir, 1824-1907.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures to practitioners. On the diseases classified by the Registrar-General as tabes mesenterica / by W.T. Gairdner. On the pathology of phthisis pulmonalis / by Joseph Coats. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the artery which lies in the cavity will to some extent lose its natural support and this will apply especially to the aspect of it next to the cavity. This was well seen in the specimen of which the figure is a representation. In it a probe introduced into the artery and passed beyond the aneurism, was so little removed from the interior of the cavity that its colour was visible through the wall of the cavity, and it produced a longitudinal ridge in the course of the latter. Under such circumstances, the unsupported wall of the artery may readily yield and dilatation occur. It will be observed that in this form the wall of the aneurism is not likely to be softened in the same way as in the caseous form. The wall will be thinned, as in all aneurisms, and correspondingly weakened, but it will be composed of sound tissue. In the case referred to the aneurism which resulted is not much less in size than the cavity itself, and it has been torn open so as to present a wide gaping aperture. There was severe haemorrhage lasting for some days, but ceasing after a time, to be again renewed with fatal results. Looking at the gap in the wall of the aneurism it seems difficult to understand how a haemorrhage from it could have been stilled before the death of the patient, but examination gave a sufficient explanation. The pulmonary cavity, having resulted from the dilatation of a comparatively small bronchus, had a narrow neck. The blood had coagulated in the confined space of the cavity and had formed a kind of plug or cap over the aneurism. This cap formed of condensed blood, obviously of some duration, was found in the cavity at the post-mortem examination.