On the treatment of acute rheumatism : with special references to the use of the salicylates / by Donald W.C. Hood.

  • Hood, Donald William Charles.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the treatment of acute rheumatism : with special references to the use of the salicylates / by Donald W.C. Hood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    With Salicylates, 1,265 Cases—cont. Name. Age. Date of admission. Day of death. Total length] of illness. Cause of death. A. N. .. 18 .. 14, 11, ’85 .. 40 .. 45 Cardiac bronchitis E. K. ..17 .. 27, 11, ’84 2 7 .. Pericarditis, pleurisy C. C. .. 10 .. 2, 11, ’84 7, 7,’84 5 .. 13 .. Pericarditis, pneumonia Gr. H. .. 12 3 .. 11 .. Pericarditis, pleurisy J. B. .. 26 1, 12, ’83 7 .. 21 .. Pneumonia A. H. ..11 .. 6, 6, ’84 2 3 .. Pneumonia 26 deaths. • The relative mortality in the two groups of cases which I have collected is much the same. The deaths are arranged for com- parison. These tables show the age of patient, date of admission, date of death, total length of illness, and the stated cause of death. In 18 cases occurring among 850 patients treated without salicylates, and 26 cases occurring among 1,265 patients treated with salicy- lates, the proportion thus being much the same. From these cases it appears that organic lesions are more commonly found among patients treated by salicylates, and for this reason I find it difficult to give hyperpyrexia its true value. In many cases, although the cause of death is assigned to an inflammatory lesion, the tempera- ture was sufficiently high to warrant the use of the term hyper- pyrexia. Wishing to obtain further information as to the mortality in acute rheumatism, I have consulted the pages of the ‘ Lancet ’ since the year 1864. In find in that Journal during twelve years, 1864-1875, there are 19 fatal cases alluded to. Of these 19 cases death is attributed to hyperpyrexia in 16. These cases all occurred prior to the introduction of salicylates. In the ten years and six months, 1876-June, 1886, 24 fatal cases are quoted, all occurring among patients taking salicylates, and, as far as I can gather from the reports, the fatal result was attributed to syncope or hyperpyrexia, hyperpyrexia being specially mentioned in 20 cases. It would not be legitimate to make use of such a comparison as is afforded by the pages of a medical journal as a basis from which to estimate the death-rate in any disease treated by different methods, and I merely refer to the matter with the hope of being able to supplement our knowledge as to the dangerous symptoms noticed during the administration of salicylates, and while con- sidering such dangerous symptoms “ hyperpyrexia ” will naturally attract our attention.