Pott's disease, or, Angular curvature of the spine : cases successfully treated and reported in the New York journal of medicine, November 1857 / by J.A. Wood.

  • Wood, Jacob A. (Jacob Abbott), 1810-1879
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pott's disease, or, Angular curvature of the spine : cases successfully treated and reported in the New York journal of medicine, November 1857 / by J.A. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    The disease commenced in October, L855, with severe pain in the right hip, extending down the thigh, and occurring in parox- ysm. This took place more frequently at night, often depriving the patient of rest, followed with loss of appetite, emaciation, general debility, and great contraction of the right lower extremity. These symptoms continued up to the time my attention was first called to the patient, eight months from the commencement of the disease, when the case presented a prominent, angular cur- vature of the spine backward, inclining somewhat to the left, shortening the right leg three inches, the result of caries of the two upper lumbar and lower dorsal vertebrae. The patient was of a nervous temperament, strumous habit, and lax fibre, with a weak and frail constitution. Treatment.—This consisted in the application of a spinal appa- ratus upon the new principle, constructed to meet the exigencies of the case, and readjusted as circumstances required, the use of • •od liver oil, three times a day, a generous diet, and daily exercise upon the feet, what the patient was able to bear without fatigue. 0]) the adjustment of the apparatus, the relief from pain, as in the former case, was immediate and complete, and did not recur. The patient improved rapidly, until the last of September fol- lowing, when there were manifest indications of an abscess, form- ing in the right lumbar region near the curvature, which retarded somewhat the process of recovery, The abscess was opened the last of December, and discharged three pints of pus, mixed with a proportion of dark colored blood. The discharge continued abundant for several weeks, and at a subsequent period, numerous pieces of bone, varying from one quarter to half an inch in length, passed with the discharge of matter. October ], 1857.—The abscess is now healed, the curvature completely reduced, the lower extremities of equal length, origin- al form fully restored, and the patient, whose weight at the time I first saw her (sixteen months since) Avas only sixty-five pounds, has now attained to one hundred and fourteen pounds, and, in all respects, has a healthy and robust appearance. Bostox, Oct. 1. 1857. [ Report of Cases to It continued. ]