A report of surgical cases treated in the Army of the United States from 1865 to 1871 / War Department, Surgeon General's Office.
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A report of surgical cases treated in the Army of the United States from 1865 to 1871 / War Department, Surgeon General's Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
284/318 page 268
![tumor liiul been opened ou April lOtli, and the contents discharged. It bad filled, ulcerated, and discharged three times previously, at intervals of six months; but at the time of second operation, it was a large, inflamed, and painful cj'st, five inches in diameter. On April 27, 18G7, the patient's constitutional state warranting an operation for removal, he took chloroform, and a crucial incision was made, and the encysted mass was dissected from the surrounding tissues. One ligature was applied; the edges of the incisions were approximated by iron wire sutures and adhesive strips. The edges of the wound not uniting, the d]-essing was removed and the wound allowed to heal by granulation. By May 30, 1867, the wound had healed. DCOXVI.—Memorandum relative to a Morbid Growth removed from the Bach of the left Forearm. By B. J. I). Irwin, Surgeon U. S. A. Specimen 55G1 of the Surgical Section of the Museum is a cystic tumor, which was removed at Fort Wayne, Michigan, from the dorsal aspect of the left wrist and fore-arm of a woman, aged about 40 years, who had never borne children, and whose usual occupation Avas that of a seamstress. The operator, who contributed the specimen, states under date of February 22, 1869, that some four years previously Professor Van Buren had removed from this patient a morbid growth from the same i)osition. The disease having subsequently returned, the woman was advised to submit to amputation of the fore-arm. Upon consultation with two medical men, it was decided to make an exploratory incision with a view to excision of the radius. The incision showed the bone to be healthy, and it was deemed advisable to confine the operation to the complete removal of the diseased tissues. The tumor extended about half an inch over the carpal bones, and about two inches along the extensor tendons of the radius. [A microscopical examination of the tumor was made by Assistant Surgeon J. J. Woodward, U. S. A., who furnishes the folloM'ing memorandum : [Uyqroma i)Mlifcrum^ of Yirchow (Die Krankhaften; Geschwiilste, Band I, S. 206).] Ganglion con- taining fibrinous bodies. The walls of the lobulated cyst are composed of tough connective tissue, containing, however, maiiy spindle-shaped elements imbedded. The little fibrinous bodies of granular matter are arranged in layers.] DCCXVII.—Account of a Morbid Growth on the Leg, requiring Surgical Interference. ScHWAETZWELDER, late Surgcon TJ. S. V. By A. C. Private Philii) —, Co. C, 13th Colored Infantry, aged about 25 years, fell through a cow- catcher, on a railroad track and iiijured his left thigh. The accident put him in the hospital for two or three weeks, during which time cups were applied above the knee. He was mustered out of service in January, 1866. In Decem- ber, 1866, the patient first noticed the appearance of a hard, painless tumor, on the anterior aspect of the left fibula, near the middle third. The tumor was first examined in April, 1867, at Nashville, Tennessee. It then occupied the greater part of the shaft of the fibula, to which it seemed firmly attached, and from which it seemed to originate. Its contour was even and smooth, and the skin adherent. Its most striking characters were extreme hardness, density, and weight. Anteriorily, and just below the head of the fibula, was a soft, fluctuating spot, of small extent. Ou thrusting a grooved needle into it, nothing escaped but thick, black blood. A heteroplastic growth was diagnosed, of scarcely questionable malignity. The patient was placed under close observation. The growth increased rapidly. In two months it doubled its size. An exploring needle introduced into several i^laces revealed osseous (osteoid) tissue, the hard- ness and apparent density of which was remarkable. The perimeter of the calf, including the tumor, measured twenty-one inches and a quarter ; of the sound leg, fourteen. The day after the measurement, June 26, 1867, the removal of the limb having been decided on, it was amputated by Dr. Schwartzfelder, just above the knee-joint. The skin was still adherent. The gastrocnemius and soleus muscles were spread out, and, with the other muscles of the leg, formed a membranous-like Fig. CP.—Osteo-cepba- loma of the left fibula. Spec. 4747, Sect. I., A. M. M.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21970695_0284.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
