Practical manual of the diseases of the heart and great vessels ... / By F.A. Aran ... Translated from the French, by Wm. A. Harris, M.D.

  • Aran, F. A. (François Amilcar), 1817-1861.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical manual of the diseases of the heart and great vessels ... / By F.A. Aran ... Translated from the French, by Wm. A. Harris, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    296/312 (page 290)
    APPENDIX TO DISEASES OF THE HEART. CHAPTER 41: HYDRO-PERICARDIUM, HEMO-PERICARDIUM, AND PNEUMO-PERICARDIUM. Every effusion of abundant serosity originally developed in the pericardium constitutes hy dro- pericardium. These effusions frequently appear as a consequence of general dropsy, or of an acute or chronic inflammation; but they are rare, as an idiopathic disease. They may be the result of an exhalation which takes place in the last period of life. In general dropsy, the pericardium al- ways contains, in proportion, less liquid than the other serous cavities. It is rare to find more than sixteen ounces, although Corvisart is said to have found eight pints. The liquid which is therein enclosed is ordinarily yellowish and transparent ; it is only troubled and flocculent when there is peri- carditis. The general symptoms which authors assign to pericardic dropsy are very obscure ; viz., weight in the region of the heart, a floating sensation of the organ which patients experience, undulations of the liquid heard and even seen between the intercostal spaces, irregularity of the heart’s pulsations, fre- quency and intermission of the pulse, orthopnea, palpitations, and syncopes. All these signs have nothing very characteristic of the disease. The local symptoms allow us to recognise with