The treatment of malignant tumors by repeated inoculations of erysipelas : with a report of ten original cases / by William B. Coley.

  • William Coley
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of malignant tumors by repeated inoculations of erysipelas : with a report of ten original cases / by William B. Coley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The temperature did not fall to normal until the eleventh day of the disease. Although all of the nodules were diminished in size and some even disappeared, the check proved but temporary, and they soon began to increase in size. Although the last attack of ervsipelas was a severe one, the recovery was very rapid, and the general condition was soon as good, if not better, than before the attack. The tumors grew very rapidly and were exceedingly painful. In October there were three distinct tumors, the largest of which was as large as a cocoanut, without ulceration, very soft, almost cystic in feel. There was a second tumor, as large as a large orange, a fungoid mass with a small pedicle. Both of these were removed by operation in the latter part of Octo¬ ber, and the large areas left uncovered by skin healed with remarkable rapidity. She has gained considerable weight and strength, and there now remains a tumor the size of half an orange, which has been treated by repeated inoculation the past two weeks. The growth has been checked, but the tumor has not decreased in size. I have not yet been able to produce a third attack of erysipelas in this case. The general condition is better than last June, and there is no evi¬ dence of general dissemination.1 Case VIII. Recurrent carcinoma of the breast; repeated inoculations of erysipelas; diminution in size of tumor; improvement temporary.—The tumor occurred in a woman forty years of age, who was married and had had children. Predisposing causes were to be found in a family history of cancer, and also in a personal history of mastitis. The tumor was first noticed one and a half years before. Four operations had been performed within less than a year. The tumor at the time of inoculation was the size of a goose-egg, 5 by 3 inches, and occupied the upper part of the region of the left breast. The growth was markedly protuberant and ulcerated over an area the size of a silver half-dollar. A thin, serous discharge, very profuse, necessitated frequent dressings. There was also a hard tumor, the size of an egg, adherent to the skin on the right breast, which was unmistakably carcinoma. Inoculations were begun August 1, 1892, and continued at short intervals for two months. Moderate constitutional reactions followed the injections, and there was partial degeneration of the tumor, and con¬ siderable diminution in its size. The general condition of the patient was perfect, and not perceptibly the worse from the treatment. The reaction usually passed away in twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and the patient was able to be up and out most of the time. I did not suc¬ ceed in producing a true attack of erysipelas, although I used the same cultures as in the preceding case. The inoculations were discontinued in the early part of October, and the tumor began soon to increase in size. Case IX. Recurrent carcinoma of the cervical glands; repeated inocu¬ lations; partial degeneration of tumor.—The patient was a man, fifty-five 1 March 8, 1893. The patient’s general condition is about the same. She is being; treated with injections of the toxic products of erysipelas.