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.

  • William Roberts
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.

    18/26 page 12
    other lymphatic glands within reach were enlarged. The nature of the food of the patient was not found to affect the quantity nor the quality of the discharge. The urine was throughout normal in composition, but it was less in quantity when the discharge was profuse. The patient, who was a married woman with six healthy children, stated that twenty-one years ago, two or three months after her second confinement, she had a shivering fit, and shortly afterwards she noticed a lump on the back of her left thigh. The swelling was attended with no uneasiness, but it did not subside until the period of the third pregnancy, when it went away or at least diminished for several months: again reappearing, however, after another shivering fit about a fortnight after delivery. Every year, for the last twenty years, she has also suffered from at least one attack of inflammation (phlebitis ?) in the affected limb. About fifteen years ago, between her third and fourth pregnancies, a few vesicles made their appearance after an inflammation of this kind somewhere near the centre of the lump. The surface at this point was itchy, and a brownish fluid exuded from the vesicles on scratching, which continued to be secreted at remote intervals, and in small quantities, for about a year. Another inflammation having supervened, the vesicular area extended, the discharge became more frequent and profuse, and began to assume a whitish appearance. From this period the affected, area gradually increased, and the discharge more abundant and milky, until for the last six years it assumed almost the appearance presented when the case came under notice. The catamenia were regular, and the discharge was in no wise affected by the menstrual periods. The general health continued fair, but considerable exhaustion followed when the discharge was abundant and long continued. The case was still in progress when reported. The only treatment that seemed to restrain the discharge was the pressure of an elastic stocking reaching to the top of the thigh. Dr. Buchanan, in his paper, cites at length three other cases occurring long ago in France and Germany, of evidently identical nature. In two of them, one a man and the other a woman, the seat of the disease was in the thigh; in the third, a woman, the dis-
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