Actinomycosis of the colon, liver, and lung / by R.F.C. Leith.
- Leith, R. F. C. (Robert Fraser Calder)
- Date:
- [1894?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Actinomycosis of the colon, liver, and lung / by R.F.C. Leith. 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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![lost, the outline becoming very irregular, showing rounded, lobulated, and finger-like invasions of the liver substance, as seen in Fig. 3. In these the minute abscesses, with their delicate, pig- mented walls, were well seen. The rest of the liver was advancedly fatty; but in no part were abscesses seen distant from the main mass, all the prolongations being seen to be in direct continuity with the main growth. This is not always so, as was exemplified by a case which has been carefully described by my colleagues, Grainger Stewart and Muir in Vol. I. of these Reports, at the post-mortem examination of which I was present, and part of the liver of which is now preserved in my museum. It shows several small abscesses a short distance away from the main mass, which was moreover much larger and more irregular in shape than that of the present case. This appearance is also described by Dr. Taylor ^ in another case in which several little white grains, like miliary tubercles were seen, both on the surface and on section, at a distance from the main honeycomb-like mass. Mr. Shattock^ and others have made similar observations; but, while this reticular or honeycomb-like arrangement of abscesses is undoubtedly the usual appearance which an actinomycotic growth in the liver shows, other observers, e.g. Mr. Eve,=^ have described a different form in which definite cheesy nodules were seen, without the formation of abscesses. I may also note that, both in Dr. Taylor's case and mine, the actinomycosis had spread to the lateral wall of the body on the right side, and, had the patient lived, would have led to the formation of an abscess in the midaxillary line about the seventh or eighth ribs, which might have been the first indica- tion inducing him to seek medical advice. A glance at the recorded cases of abdominal and other forms of actinomycosis will show how frequently this abscess pointing is one of the first prominent indications of the disease; abscesses having been observed and opened in almost every region of the parietes in the abdominal region, in the thorax and neck. 1 Gvj/'s Hospital Rr.porls, ]801, vol. xlviii, 2 rravs. Path. Sac, Lrmdon, 188). //>/(/. ]8,S<).](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21467626_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
