Notice of a case of cyanosis, of the blue disease. connected with mutual adhesion of the semilunar valves of the pulmonary artery / by David Craigie.

  • Craigie, David.
Date:
[©1843?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notice of a case of cyanosis, of the blue disease. connected with mutual adhesion of the semilunar valves of the pulmonary artery / by David Craigie. 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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    render tlic free and natural circulation through the puhnonary artery impracticable- There are three forms of lesion to which the pulmonary artery is liable; the first is a very unusually contracted formation of its cylinder; the second is complete obstruction of its interior; and the third is more or less occlusion of its interior by coalescence and mutual adhesion of its valves. From the cases hitherto re- corded the two first lesions appear to be congenital; but it is not easy to say whether the third is congenital, or depends on some morbid process established soon after birth. In the spring of 1841, I met with an instance in which this lesion was found in a degree so remarkable that it seems difficult to understand how life was continued to the 19th year. 1. On the afternoon of Wednesday the 7th of April 1841, as I was quitting the Hospital about 5 p. m., 1 found at the inner gate a young man from the country with a face and lips almost purple, labouring under extreme breathlessness, and so enfeebled that he was quite unable to ascend the steps of the staircase. I request- ed my clerk to get him conveyed to bed; adding, that it was a case of communication of the right and left sides of the heart; and after the patient had a little recovered himself, the following facts were learned. From infancy this young man, named Andrew Wauchope, had always been subject to shortness of breath, which was very urgent in cold, damp weather. The face, lips, hands, and nails had always been of a purple or livid colour, and though at some times this was less deep than at others, it never en- tirely disappeared. From his earliest remembrance he was sub- ject to palpitation, or violent knocking action of the heart, which was aggravated to an extreme degree by corporeal exertion, or ascending an acclivity. During the last two years, also, he ob- served the feet and ankles to be occasionally swelled ; but this symptom always subsided. It recurred some time ago, and was considerable at the time of admission. Notwithstanding these complaints he continued to work at agri- cultural labour of a light nature, till about a week before the time of admission, when he was attacked with rather copious hemor- rhage from the lungs, which took place unexpectedly while he was sitting beside the fire, Avithout any corporeal exertion or mental excitement. The hemorrhage, he added, had recurred several times during the week, though he could not say how frequently, further than that it had sometimes occurred twice daily. The purple colour of the face, lips, and nails continued; the tongue was of a livid purple colour at the tip, was elsewhere of a leaden tint, except in the centre, where its colour was obscured by a grayish fur of some thickness; the inside of the lips and cheeks were of an unusually deep-blue colour ; and the vessels of