Tetany following extirpation of the thyroid / by Francis J. Shepherd.

  • Shepherd, Francis J. (Francis John), 1851-1929.
Date:
[1912]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Tetany following extirpation of the thyroid / by Francis J. Shepherd. 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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    -•*.34- —tr tINTED FROM ANNALS OK SURGERY 227 South Sixth Street Philadelphia, Penna. TETANY FOLLOWING EXTIRPATION OF THE THYROID* WITH REPORT OF A CASE. BY FRANCIS J. SHEPHERD, M.D., C.M., F.R.C.S.E. (Hon.), OF MONTREAL Before the function of the parathyroid glands was known, Reverdin and Kocher noticed that symptoms of tetany fol- lowed the complete removal of the thyroid gland, but that if a part of the gland was left the patient as a rule escaped tetany and also cachexia strumapriva. Before these observations were published, Billroth had io cases of tetany out of 38 thy- roidectomies, Reverdin 3 cases out of 17, and Mikulicz re- ported 3 cases of tetany out of 7 thyroidectomies. It was thought that tetany was due to thyroid removal, and the im- portance and function of the parathyroids was not established until considerably later and after much experimental work had been done on animals. The parathyroids were discovered by Sandstrom, of Up- sala, in 1880, and Gley in 1891-1897 proved for the first time by experiments on animals that post-operative tetany was due to the removal of the parathyroids and not to the thyroid. Soon after (in 1896) Vassale also connected tetany with removal of the parathyroids. Benjamins in 1892 first examined the * Read before the Chicago Surgical Society, May 3, 19x2.