Persistent hereditary oedema of the legs with acute exacerbations : Milroy's disease / by W.B. Hope and Herbert French.

  • Hope, Walter Bayard.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Persistent hereditary oedema of the legs with acute exacerbations : Milroy's disease / by W.B. Hope and Herbert French. 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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    First Case traced. Generation 1.—The first member of the family of whom we had any account was William Tucker. It is reported that he ‘ had very swollen legs all his life but no further particulars are available. He died in 1854 at an advanced age. Children of William Tucker, senr. Generation 2.—William Tucker had two children, William and Hannah. This William was affected by ‘swollen legs ’ and ‘ attacks ’. He died in 1870. Hannah also had c swollen legs ’ and ‘ attacks ’. She died in 1864 when 70 years of age. She had married a Mr. Wherrell, and our patient is one of her descendants. Children of William Tucker, junr. Generation 3.—William Tucker, junior, had two children, Eliza and Alfred. Eliza had ‘ swollen legs ’ and ‘ attacks ’. She married, but had no children, and died in 1860 of scarlet fever. Alfred is still alive, and is quite free from the swollen-leg complaint, as are his children also, so far as we have been able to trace them. Children of Hannah Wherrell (nSe Tucker). Hannah Wherrell, daughter of William Tucker, senior, had the following children: Elizabeth, Henry, Mary, Hunsley, William, Harriet, and Lucy. Elizabeth, who had ‘ swollen legs ’, went to America, and is thought to have been drowned. Henry is alive now, aged 75. a cowman by occupation. He was first troubled by his swollen legs when he was 9 years old. The oedema was persistent, but was kept under control by bandages. At 20 years of age he had his first ‘ acute attack ’, similar to those of our patient, and he has had many ‘ acute attacks ’ since, though the last one was 25 years ago. He is hale and hearty, notwithstanding his age. The swelling affects the dorsum of the feet, and the legs nearly to the knee, where it stops suddenly. The accompanying photograph (Fig. 3) does not make the swelling very apparent, because the patient keeps his legs constantly bandaged, knowing what a size they get if the bandages are left off. The creases caused by the bandages show fairly well. Some months ago this man had to take some cows to the local market, and in running after them his bandages came off and could not be replaced ; on returning home at night the legs, up to the knee, were a great size, but there was no opportunity of getting a photograph of them then. The vigour of the man, notwithstanding his age, is shown by the way he could run after the cows. His children, George, Thomas, Henry, Silas, Alfred, Bessie, and Ellen, are mentioned again below. Mary was normal and had two normal children. Hunsley was herself normal, but of her six children, Ellen, Rose, Emma, and three more, one (Ellen) had the ‘ swollen legs ’ and ‘ acute attacks ’ (vide infra). William was free from oedema, and died of phthisis, childless.