On the pathology of Paget's disease of the nipple / Louis A. Duhring and Henry Wile.

  • Louis Adolphus Duhring
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the pathology of Paget's disease of the nipple / Louis A. Duhring and Henry Wile. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/10
    Extracted from the American Journal of the Medical Sciences for July, 1SS4. ON THE PATHOLOGY OF PAGET’S DISEASE OF THE NIPPLE. Bv LOUIS A. DUHRING, M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Skin in the University of Pennsylvania, AND HENRY WILE, M.D., Clinical Assistant in Dermatology in the University of Pennsylvania, and Assistant Physician to the Philadelphia Dispensary for Skin Diseases. In the July number, 1883, of this Journal, one of us (Dr. Duhring) reported two eases of Paget’s disease of the nipple, referring only to the clinical features of the disease. The notes below recorded deal with the specimen of the first of these cases. The relation between certain diseased processes of the nipple and areola, and the subsequent development of mammary cancer, first pointed out by Paget, has already evoked some discussion. The importance of the sub¬ ject is apparent, and it ultimately resolves itself into the question of dis¬ tinguishing between ordinary eczema of the nipple and another similar cutaneous pathological process which on good grounds is believed to lead to the formation of malignant disease of the mammary gland. The histology of the two diseases, as already indicated by Thin {Brit. Med. Jour., May, 1881) in an able article on this subject, is dis¬ tinct. He says, “ The microscopical examination is decisive on this point, and proves definitely that the disease is not eczema.” But the question of paramount interest and importance is to settle the exact relation be¬ tween the cutaneous affection and the subsequent development of cancer in the gland. There is supposed, by the best authorities, to exist a causa¬ tive relation between the first and second. Paget {St. Bartliol. Hosp. Reports, 1874, p. 83) was the first to call attention to this affection, and pointed out the relation between surface irritation and the development of cancer, e. g., epithelioma of the lip.