A case of disease of the lymphatics of the abdominal integuments, with occasional discharge of large quantities of a chylous fluid / by William Roberts, M.D.

  • Roberts, William, Sir, 1830-1899.
Date:
[©1870?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of disease of the lymphatics of the abdominal integuments, with occasional discharge of large quantities of a chylous fluid / by William Roberts, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Dr. Carter, of Bombay,* has recorded two cases, of which the following short abstracts may be read with interest: 1. This was a Parsee youth in whom the inguinal glands were greatly enlarged, soft and doughy to the touch, but not painful. On the cutaneous surface of the thigh, a few inches below Poupart's ligament, was a small, hardly perceptible pimple, from which there occasionally issued a milky fluid, and sometimes so copiously, that in the course of the day a pint has been collected. Pressure just above the spot caused the flow to cease. The discharge commenced six months before; it lasted two or three days and then ceased, pressure having been applied ; it reappeared after an interval of a month, and again stopped after a few days. The discharge reap- peared a third time, when the patient came under the observation of Dr. Carter. Before the discharge came on the glands in the groin became tumid and rather painful. The fluid collected from this man's thigh presented in perfection the characters of chyle. It coagulated in about five minutes, it separated a few hours after- wards into clot and serum, the latter being milky in appearance. At a later period the whole became again fluid. Under the micro- scope blood-corpuscles and chyle-corpuscles were found. In this man the urine never became chylous. 2. This was an adult Hindoo who became a hospital out-patient under Dr. Carter's care on August 23rd, 1859, on account of an_ affection of the scrotum. The skin of this part was corrugated in a peculiar way, thickened, and studded with numerous small tubercles, which were soft to the touch, and when punctured freely discharged a chylous fluid. The inguinal glands on both sides were much enlarged, soft and doughy to the touch, and they diminished in size under pressure. The scrotum began to enlarge four months before, and after a time the peculiar corrugation of the skin appeared. The milky discharge occurred occasionally, and spontaneously, and inter- mitted. It did not issue from one spot, but from several. When it ceased, and also sometimes during its continuance the urine became chylous. The tumefaction of the inguinal glands seemed to alternate with the appearance of chyle in the urine. The parts * 'Med.-Chir. Trans.,' vol. xlv, p. 189.