Cases of athetosis / by Francis Warner.

  • Warner, Francis, 1847-1926.
Date:
[1880?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases of athetosis / by Francis Warner. 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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    CASES OF ATHETOSIS. BY FRANCIS WARNER, M.D., BOND., M.R.C.P. Assistant Physician to the London Hospital, and to the East London Hospital for Children. These cases came under notice at the East London Hospital for Children. Athetosis with Epilepsy. Case I.—Alice T., aged 13 years, was brought under my observation in January, 1880, complaining of a swelling in the axilla. This proved to be glandular, and soon subsided. The mother also complained that the left arm had been useless since she was six months old, that she was liable to fits, and rather stupid. The girl was of fair stature, rather pale and thin, and of weak intellectual power. She could walk, assist her mother in the house, and answer questions, but was very dull and apathetic. When seen, the following description was taken: The left upper extremity is almost useless for most voluntary purposes on account of the condition of the hand. If told to put her hand to her mouth, or to the back of her head, the hand gets there, being moved slowly and awkwardly by the action of the muscles moving the shoulder and elbow, but though flexion and extension of the elbow be sufficiently voluntary to perform such acts, involuntary movements of pronation occur, while the hand is being moved up to the mouth. All through the time of the general movement of this limb, it is obvious that there is much perfectly involuntary movement of the wrist, often causing marked flexion, or affecting independent digits. As to the condition of the hand, the description was taken while the forearm was gently supported by the mother, tire wrist being left perfectly free. It was then noted: The wrist droops, the metacarpus hanging straight down, but frequently supernated rather quickly, but not in a jerky manner, the hand then passes slowly back to its former position, the series of movements being repeated. Flexion and extension of the wrist through a few degrees are nearly constant movements.