Rare tumour of the orbit / by John B. Story.

  • Story, John B.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rare tumour of the orbit / by John B. Story. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    cheek, but I was not able to make it project through the fornix conjunctiva beneath the eyeball. There was no evidence of any- thing i-eally serious or dangerous about the tumour, but the patient being anxious to have it removed, and I being anxious to see what it was, I proceeded some days later to extract it through a small incision in the skin at the border of the orbit. No difficulty was experienced in its removal, but there was a somewhat un- accountable and unexpected quantity of venous haemorrhage. On dividing the skin and subjacent fascia, I easily made the tumour project through the opening, but it was enclosed in a firm though thin capsule, which had to be divided before it could be removed. On dividing this capsule the tumour popped out on the cheek, as an orange pippin does when squeezed between the finger and thumb of a school-boy. There was no pedicle whatsoever, nor any con- nexion vv'hich I could discover with any of the neighbouring tissues. The bleeding was staunched, and the wound healed by so-called first intention; but so far as the patient's comfort is concerned, I cannot state that the operation has proved a success. When she stoops the swelling of that portion of the soft parts in the orbit occurs to as great an extent as before; and there is also to be seen a swelling of the upper portion of the orbit which I did not observe before the operation, although it is possible that it existed. Only in one respect can she be said to be better—namely, that the bluish colour of the skin has disappeared. The tumour vras nearly spherical, measuring in its longer diameter about 1 cm., and in the shorter one about 7 mm. At one extremity of the longer diameter a smaller spherical tumour, about 2 mm. in diameter, was firmly attached to the primary one. The whole mass was bony hard, and could not be cut with a scalpel. My friend, Mr. Arthur Baker, kindly made a section of it with a fine saw, and we found that it was solid throughout, and formed of a series of irregularly concentric lamellae of different shades of grey and white matter, the whiter layers being apparently more dense and firm than the grey. The peripheral layer resembled bone in external appearance, and passed without interruption between the tumour proper and the little excrescence on its surface.