A case of simple stenosis of the oesophagus, followed by epithelioma / by C. Hilton Fagge.

  • Charles Hilton Fagge
Date:
[1892]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of simple stenosis of the oesophagus, followed by epithelioma / by C. Hilton Fagge. 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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    Mr. J. L—, set. 84 at the time of his death, had for upwards of forty years had a difficulty in swallowing food. He thought it originated in the habit of eating fast. When it first came on it seemed to him as if, when he swallowed anything, the wind met it and forced it back. In consequence of this difficulty of deglutition, all the solid food he took-was divided into very small portions. In the last twenty years of his life, whenever he happened to eat a morsel exceeding a certain size (and that very minute), it lodged in the oesophagus, and for several days, or even more than a week, he would take neither food nor drink. He used to wash down solid food with liquids, and often drank before taking food. He was not known to suffer from sickness, nor did he ruminate nor bring up his food in pellets. He never had a bougie passed down his throat. For some time before he died he was extremely weak, being only just able to walk from room to room. He indulged to excess in the use of spirits. About three weeks from the day of his death, on rising one morning, he fell back exhausted, and from that time he lay in a semi-lethargic state,^speaking very little, and taking only small quantities of fluids. He was, however, able to swallow fluids to the very last. He brought off a little blood occasionally, but there were no other symptoms pointing to the occurrence of ulceration in the affected part. His pulse was very feeble, and latterly scarcely perceptible, so that his death was expected from one day to another for a fortnight before it occurred. During this time the extremities were cold and livid, and the circulation seemed to cease in them successively; first in one lower limb, then in an upper, and in the other limbs in the same order. As has been already stated, he was eighty-four years old at the time of his death. On post-mortem examination it was found that the body was by no means emaciated; there was a rather thick layer of fat over the abdominal muscles, and a good deal in the omentum. The autopsy was conducted in Mr. L—'s private house, and, therefore, without the advantages that are a matter of course in a hospital. The only parts in which any disease was found were the oesophagus and certain structures in its immediate neighbourhood. These were preserved, and have been placed
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