Pseudoglioma / by John B. Story.

  • Story, John B.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pseudoglioma / by John B. Story. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    then advised enucleation, which Dr. Benson performed on the next day, assisted by Dr. Gibson. As much of the optic nerve as possible was removed with the globe, for, although we all believed the case to be one of inflammation, the possibility of malignant disease could not be excluded, and we thought it right to act on the supposition that it might be present. Dr. Benson found great difficulty in re- moving the posterior half of the globe from the adjacent structures, and excised a piece of tissue, about the size of an almond, which was adherent to the posterior pole of the globe, and seemed to grow from or in the sheath of the optic nerve. This piece of tissue re- sembled fat in appearance, and was very vascular. The section of the nerve was apparently healthy. I have not noted the size of the globe. The cornea was clear, the lens partly so, the anterior chamber obliterated, and the pupil occluded. An equatorial section of the globe being made, the vitreous was found decayed into a yellow partly diffluent mass, resembling pus in external appearance, but probably containing more fibrous net-work, which kept it fixed in the globe when the latter was opened. At one side a small band of this matter lay in contact with the sclerotic, being separated from the rest of the disorganised vitreous by an intensely vascular cream- coloured band, of a crescentic shape, which evidently represented the thickened and inflamed retina. The examination of the recent specimen with the microscope disclosed nothing but small sound granular cells in the vitreous. The tumour adherent to the optic nerve contained nothing but fat cells and fibrous tissue. After hardening in Mullers fluid and spirit, sections were cut and examined microscopically, with the following result:—Cornea healthy, except for an unusual separation of the fibres from each other, which was not especially well marked in the centre; Descemet's endothelium intact—it was almost in contact with cornea, but a space remained between them which was filled with an amorphous yellow substance, probably the embedding mass of celloidine; the iris tissue in a state of inflammation, as also that of the choroid, retina, ciliary body, and the sclerotic in the neighbourhood of Schlemm's canal; lens not implicated, but all round it, in the posterior chamber as well as in the vitreous masses