Cases of fibro-cellular tumor in the scrotum : with remarks / by C.R. Thompson.
- Thompson, Charles Robert.
- Date:
- [1850]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Cases of fibro-cellular tumor in the scrotum : with remarks / by C.R. Thompson. 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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![cells,—all such forms as commonly occur in the substance of inflamed organs. This tumor was evidently analogous to the fibro-cellular gi’owths which are met with in the cellular tissue in various parts of the body,—a gi-owth differing from the oedematous enlargement of the whole scrotum—the elephantinsis scroti —in that it did not involve the integu- ment nor the whole cellular tissue, but rather was contained in a proper cellular capsule. The growth was altogether of a 7nore solid and compact consistence; and, although it felt fluctuating at parts, this seems to have h ’en owing to its extreme elasticity and the tension of the integiunent over it. Tumors of this description are not of very uncommon occuiTence in the labia e.xterna of females ;'-i- hut they rarely present themselves in the scrotum. Mr. Lawrence states, in a clinical lecturef, that he had never met with such a tumor in the scrotum; and I have not been able to find any published record of a similar case. In the museum of St. Bartholomew’? Hospital is a drawing of a tumor which presented very much the same charac- ters as the one related, and for whose history I am indebted to ^Ir. Paget’s notes. Case.—A carpenter, aged 74, in good general health, was under l\Ir. Stanley’s care, on account of a tumor in the scro- tum : it had beeli growing four years, and he thought it was caused by rough riding many years previously, but gave no very clear account of it. The tumor was supposed to he an enlargement of the testicle. A collection of fluid, like hydrocele, was felt in the lower part, and was tapped. A large hernial sac existed above the tumor; and being in doubt how far this might extend into the scrotum, Mr. Stanley did not recom- mend the removal of the mass. The patient loft the hospital, and the tumor increased, until, at deatli, it weighed 24 pounds, and measured about 18 inches in length and 8 inches in breadth, hang- ing, a huge mass, between the thighs. After death, a large hernial sac was found at the upper part of the tumor, quite above it, and so loosely connected with it, that the tumor might have * In museum Roy. Coll. Surp. is one weighing 10 lbs. In museum St. Bartholomew’s, series 3514, is one described by Mr. Lawrence in Med.- I Chir. Trans, vol. xvii. p. 11. t Medical Gazette, vol. xxxvi., p. 177. Mr. Earle amputated a similar tumor in 1831. been removed without opening the sac. At the lower and front jiart lay the testis, flattened and expanded, with its ejiididymis similarly altered, but, like it, of healthy structure. The tunica vagi- nalis was thickened, dilated witli serous fluid, and flattened over the tumor. The tumor formed an oval mass, easily separated from the adjacent tissues; its whole surface was divided into lobes, obscurely and imperfectly separated in the central pai'ts, but on its exterior standing out prominently: its chief part consisted of tough, elastic, cellular tissue, closely and compactly inter- woven ; in many parts infiltrated with bright yellow fluid, and in all parts very moist. It was of a pale, nearly white colour, streaked here and there with pink, where vessels principally collected. Parts near the surface were softer and more gelatinous, almost like the texture of firm gelatinous polypi. By microsco])ic examination the struc- ture was found to be exactly resembling that described in the first case. Case.—A tumor has been desetibed by Mr. O’Ferrall, in the Dublin IMcdical Journal,* which has so many features in common with the above cases, that I think it may be classed with them. Tlie patient was 44 years old; the tumor hung down nearly to the knees, drawing the integuments from the pubis and groin; the skin over it was smooth, and traversed by lai'ge venous trruiks, from which occasional severe liffimon-hage took place. The consis tence of the mass was unequal; some parts being of a cartilaginous hardness, others soft and elastic. The right testis was healthy; the cord of the left side could be felt for about an inch of its extent, and then appeared lost in the tumor. The ]ratient pointed to a spot at the lowest part of the mass, where, from the sensation on pressure, he be- lieved the left testis was situated. There were no enlarged glands in the gi-oin. The tumor liad been perceived ten years; first as a hard swelling, about the size of a marble, on the cord. It enlarged slowly, and without pain. The tumor was removed by operation, and the patient quickly recovered.! * Vol. i. 1846, p. 521. t This man died, a few months after the ope- ration, of acute phthisis. Both lungs were thickly studded with miliary tubercles. In the substance of the right lobe of the liver was a solitary hard tuber. No reproduction of the tumor in the scrotum, nor any other deposit in any organ or tissue.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22424660_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
