On some of the rarer forms of breast cancer / by W. Sampson Handley.

  • Handley, W. Sampson (William Sampson), 1872-1962
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some of the rarer forms of breast cancer / by W. Sampson Handley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ment and somewhat low malignancy. The tumour is generally found immediately beneath the nipple, which is not retracted. For a long time it remains mobile under the shin and upon the fascia, and there is no shrinkage or puckering of the breast. Moreover, the . disease is slow in affecting the axillary glands. It will thus be seen that this form of cancer imitates, in many respects and for a long time, an innocent tumour of the breast. In an earl}' stage a distinction may be impossible except by exploration, Acute cancer of the breast. A terrible form of breast cancer, known as acute cancer or mastitis carcinomatosa, is fortunately rare. It is found only in comparatively young women who are healthy at the time of its development. This form of growth generally develops during lactation, although it may be found in the unmarried. The whole breast becomes enlarged and swollen, the skin shews an erythematous blush and is hot to the touch. It may be swollen and oedematous, and sometimes presents the typical orange rind appearance. The nipple may either be retracted or may be swollen by lymphatic oedema. In some cases it is only a portion of the breast that forms the tumour, and in such cases the swelling is sector-shaped like the indurations of chronic mastitis. It is only in acute carcinoma that the tumour pre¬ sents this shape, which is otherwise characteristic of innocent conditions of the breast, and especially of chronic mastitis. Even in cases where only a part of the breast is at first involved the whole breast is rapidly converted into a large tumour, which becomes firmly fixed over its whole extent, both to the skin and the fascia. Within a few weeks the thoracic wall may shew the appearance of cancer en cuirasse. The thick and rigid skin, now immobile upon the chest wall, is covered with nodular growth. General dissemination rapidly occurs, and within from six weeks to three months after the onset of the disease the patient is dead. Operation in such cases is useless. Not infrequently acute cancer of the breast has been taken for mammary abscess, and has been excised under this impression. It must be remembered that lymphatic oedema of the skin pre¬ senting the characteristic orange rind appearance may be
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