The radiographic diagnosis and classification of early pulmonary tuberculosis / by Lewis Gregory Cole.

  • Cole, Lewis Gregory, 1874-1954.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The radiographic diagnosis and classification of early pulmonary tuberculosis / by Lewis Gregory Cole. 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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    tubercles show; I do not claim to show the microscopic ones. But it is the intermediate tubercles, the smallest ones that are clearly discernible by the naked eye on the cross section, those that give the “shotty” feeling to the cut surface of the lung, that show distinctly in a radiogram having sufficient detail. It is on these tubercles that the positive diagnosis of incipient pulmonary tuber- culosis by the x-rays depends. Sputum Examination. The diagnosis is absolutely positive if the tubercle bacilli are found in the sputum, but they are usually not found until physical signs have developed and the disease has passed Fig, 4.—The symptoms and physical signs were classical in this case, and there were tuber- cle bacilli in the sputum. The plate is shown only to illustrate a typical exudative process in the stage of consolidation. There was diminished aeration of both lungs. The heart was normal in size, shape and position. D, diaphragm retracted on the right side (Williams* sign); G, infiltration of the left lung; //, three small areas of complete consolidation of the right lung; X, isolated tubercles in the left lung. out of the stage of incipiency. One is certainly not justified in waiting until they are found before making a diagnosis. Tuberculin Tests. The tuberculin tests are the greatest aid in determining the presence of a tuberculous process somewhere in the body. It is manifestly not within the scope of this paper to discuss the dangers and value of these tests except as compared with radiography. Von Pirquet states that during a year and a half he made a cutaneous test on all the children who were admitted to the chil- dren’s clinic of Professor Escherich in Vienna, and that 93 percent, of the children, fourteen years of age, reacted to the tests, and in only