A case of status lymphaticus / by J.H. Musser and J.T. Ullom.

  • Musser, John Herr, 1856-1912.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A case of status lymphaticus / by J.H. Musser and J.T. Ullom. 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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    weighs at birth 14 grammes, at 9 months 20 grammes, and at 2 years 27 grammes. After the second year it remains about constant till puberty, after which it atrophies. It seems indisputable that the thymus does cause pressure on the trachea, as witness the case of Koenig and Purrucker, in which opera- tion relieved tjie dyspnea. Lange reports a case where the trachea was compressed from left to right and from behind forward until one diameter was only one-third of the other. That it may cause dyspnea by pressure on the phrenics or pneumogastric may be possible, but has never been proven. The cases of Koenig and Purrucker were both in young infants, one 3 weeks and one 3^ months. The other set of observers claim death to result from toxemia induced by the thymus or lymphatic apparatus. This opinion is not with- out very plausible evidence in its favor. Lochte, in some experiments on hyperthymi- zation of the blood, found that this caused, first, a lowering of blood-pressure due to paralysis or depression of the vasoconstrictors; secondly, acceleration of pulse due to direct influence on the heart; thirdly, an overdose killed, showing results at autopsy suggestive of asphyxia. Flexner in some experiments with myda- toxins and cytotoxins found that their introduc- tion caused a hyperplasia of the lymphoid tissue