Macrodactyly, and some other forms of congenital overgrowth, and their relation to tumours / by Sir George Murray Humphry.

  • George Murray Humphry
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Macrodactyly, and some other forms of congenital overgrowth, and their relation to tumours / by Sir George Murray Humphry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    17a of the foot and even the hones of the leg (No. 15) being enlarged. The affection showed an especial tendency to spread along the sole of the foot, and the adipose tissue ta grow up between the metatarsal bones. The various tissues, except in No. 15, were simply hypertrophied (overgrown), but not otherwise diseased ; and no abnormal condition of the blood-vessels, save the thickening of the veins in No. 15, or of the nerves was- discovered in any case. The over-extension of the toes noted in some was probably caused by the adipose growth on the plantar aspect exceeding that on the dorsal; and the lateral curvature observed in the fingers was probably due to an irregularity in the growth on their two sides rather than, as suggested by Curling, to the infiuence of the ex- tensor tendons. In Nos. 7, 8, and 22 the condition was symmetrical or nearly so. It occurred about equally in boys and girls, in the hands rather more often than in the feet. This sort of congenital overgrowth, attended usually with a relatively proportionate increase of the several tissues concerned, is not confined to the hands and feet. It occurs also in the face and other parts. I have re- corded^ the case of a girl, aged twelve, in whom there was congenital overgrowth or hypertrophy of the gums on the left side, without and within the alveolar border, which had increased so much as to bulge the cheek and project the lips, and cause such inconvenience as to render an operation for removal of the deformity necessary ; the teeth, though in great measure covered by the mass, and the maxillary bone were normal. The lips on the left side were larger and thicker than natural, also the left ala of the nostril, and the left eyelids and eyelashes, and the hair of the eyebrow and that of the forehead, which latter descended lower than on the right side. The pinna of the left ear was a quarter of an inch longer and a little thicker than that of the right ear. The left tonsil and side of the palate and the papillm on the left side of the * ‘ Aunals of Surgery,’ iii, 1.
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