Case of cysticercus cellulosæ in the anterior chamber of the human eye.

  • Mackenzie, William, 1791-1868.
Date:
[1848]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of cysticercus cellulosæ in the anterior chamber of the human eye. 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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    left eyelids being retracted by the fingers of the assistant and the operator, I made a puncture with Beer's pyramidal knife, at the temporal edge of the cornea, to the extent of a of an inch. A little of the aqueous humour escaping as I withdrew the knife, the tail-vesicle of the hydatid became flattened and much expanded between the iris and cornea. I immediately passed Schlagintweit's hook through the wound, seized the body of the hydatid with it, and easily withdrew the animal entire. The iris protruded somewhat through the wound, but was readily reduced by friction through the medium of the upper eyelid, so that the pupil resumed its natural form and place. The patient was sent to bed, and ordered to keep her eyes shut, and the left eye covered with a wet rag. The hydatid was received into a teaspoonful of warm blood-serum, but this probably restrained its movements, which grew more lively on its being transferred into tepid water. It continued to move for fully forty minutes after being extracted from the eye, but very feebly for the latter half of that time. Viewed through the compound micro- scope, the transparent corona of claws surrounding the rostellum was seen distinctly. The corpuscles scattered over its neck, and which are supposed to be ova, were very distinct, as well as the four lateral suckers, which appeared as if covered, each of them, with a minute enchased cornea, darkened with pigmentous matter. Next day the patient felt quite well; the eye appeared natural, and she said she saw as well with it as the other. No reaction followed, and she was dismissed on the 21st October. As this is only the fifth instance of a cysticercus cellulosie in the anterior chamber of the human eye, the particulars of which have been recorded, I may perhaps be allowed to add a few remarks on it. In the first place, there can be little doubt that the attack of ophthalmia in June, immediately preceding the appearance of the hydatid, was owing to the development of its ovum in one of the blood-vessels of the iris or choroid j