Observations on aneurism of the abdominal aorta / by Alexander Monro.

  • Monro, Alexander, 1773-1859.
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on aneurism of the abdominal aorta / by Alexander Monro. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In short, whenever there exists a greater disposition in the blood to coagulate, than in the artery to expand, a coaguluni will fill up the enlarged artery, and a spontaneous cure some¬ times follows. It may further be observed, that the obliteration of certain arteries and veins takes place, even when there is no reason to suppose the coats of these arteries and veins to be in a morbid state. This happens when it is no longer necessary for the due performance of certain functions in the animal economy, that the blood should follow a particular course. Thus the ductus arteriosus, and umbilical arteries and vein, become obstructed in a short time after birth ; and, in proportion as the ductus ar¬ teriosus is contracted, the branches of the pulmonary artery be¬ come so much enlarged, as to be capable of admitting the whole blood which is sent to them by the contraction of the anterior ventricle of the heart. The arteries within the abdomen, like those of the other parts of the body, are liable to aneurism, and this morbid state is sometimes partial, but on other occasions general. The partial enlargement is most frequent at the division of the aorta into its two great branches, the common iliac arteries, the free course of the blood downwards being, to a certain ex¬ tent, resisted by the angle at which these iliac arteries are sent off from the parent trunk. An aneurismal diathesis sometimes prevails at the same time in the different arteries within the abdomen, of which a remark¬ able instance has been recorded by my uncle Dr Donald Monro. He has observed : 44 As this man died so suddenly, his body was opened the second day after his death, when several aneurisms were found in the cavity of the abdomen. 44 The superior mesenteric artery, just as it arose from the aorta, was dilated for above the length of an inch and a half, and was near an inchhn diameter in the middle of the aneurismal sac, and was filled with a firm coagulum. The left emulgent artery was dilated at its beginning to the size of a filbert nut; and the inferior mesenteric artery was beginning to be dilated just as it arose from the aorta.’’ And, as in the case related by