[Report 1933] / Monmouthshire County Council.

  • Monmouthshire County Council
Date:
1933
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1933] / Monmouthshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    89/120 page 79
    Artificial pneumothorax work has increased very much during the year and IS likely to continue to do so. X-rays control of this work is indispensable, as every patient is screened before and after each refill and periodical films are taken, chiefly with reference to the condition of the other lung. During the year, 62 refills have been given to 6 patients, all of whom are doing well. The examination of contacts has been carried out steadily and system- atically so far as time and circumstances allowed; suspicious cases were X-rayed and, if not definitely tuberculous, arrangements were made for them to be re-examined periodically. Considering the comparatively rare occurrence of the adult type of pulmon- ary tuberculosis in children with tubercle bacilli in the sputum, it may be noted that, during the year, there have been 7 such cases in the Area. Their ages ranged from 8 years to 14 years. The connection between an attack of (apparently) simple pleurisy and pulmonary tuberculosis was remarkably illustrated by the case of a young man who had a left-sided pleurisy with effusion, which another X-ray examination, some months later, showed to have completely cleared up; but there was con- siderable infiltration in the right lung which had appeared since he was X-rayed at the time of his attack of pleurisy on the left side. At the time of the first X-ray he had no sputum, on the second occasion he had sputum which was found to contain tubercle bacilli. During the year a large number of miners suffering with cough, sputum and shortness of breath have been referred to the various clinics as possible cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. In most of these men. X-ray examination revealed the presence of dust infiltration, early, medium, or advanced. Super-added tuber- culosis was not diagnosed in the majority of cases, but in a few instances tubercle bacilli were found in the sputum. Many children were examined, and the so-called ** delicate ’ child presents a very difficult problem in the way of definite diagnosis and treatment; so many symptoms which are thought to be due to tuberculosis may be due to something else; a positive Von Pirquet reaction indicates infection but not necessarily active disease; and X-ray films of children’s lungs are notoriously difficult to interpret. The condition named Hllum tuberculosis ” which used to be diagnosed by X-ray examination has been designated by one eminent authority as “ a shadow which disappears in the light of the post-mortem room ” and such terms as pre-tuberculous ” have been described as “ fig-leaves to hide pathological ignorance.”
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image