On the coagulation of the blood in the venous system during life : (a thesis for a medical act in the University of Cambridge) / by George Murray Humphry.

  • Humphry, George Murray, Sir, 1820-1896.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the coagulation of the blood in the venous system during life : (a thesis for a medical act in the University of Cambridge) / by George Murray Humphry. 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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    Case TO. In the patient who died after removal of a portion of the lower jaw, followed by erysipelas and pneu- monia, whose case has been before referred to (page U) the trunk and primary branches of the right pulmonary artery (fig. 3) were nearly filled up by a firm, yellowish white, fibrin- ous clot, which was for the most part loosely adherent to the vessels, but in some places was so firmly attached that the lining membrane was torn up in the attempts to detach it. In the smaller branches of the artery the clot was mottled with red and white portions, was less adherent, but was firm and dry, and filled up the canal. Its ramifications extended as far as I could follow them. The lower lobe of the lung was hepatised; and there was sero-purulent fluid in the pleural cavity. The trunk and primary branches of the left pulmonary artery (fig. 4) were occupied by a still firmer and older clot, which was white, quite closely adherent to one side of the vessel, so as to form a part of its wall; and the smooth surface of the clot was continuous with that of the artery. Though the new structure stood out in strong relief, and occupied a considerable space of the canal, there was still room enough for a large column of blood. The ramifi- cation of this clot in the secondary and tertiary branches of the artery were closely adherent to the sides of the vessel, so as to form mere ridge-like projections, which would not have much interfered with the current of blood. They were marked with dark lines and spots, as if from deposit of pig- ment in them. In some of the branches of the artery the only remaining trace of the clot was a staining of the lining- membrane with delicate dark lines. These stains were con- tinuous with the clots which occupied the larger branches. There was no apparent disease of the vessel itself. The lower lobe of this lung was in a pneumonic state. There can, I think, be little doubt that the formation of the clots in the pulmonary arteries, in these, and other like cases1, 1 Baron, Archives Qinirales de Midecine, ii. p. r, appears first to have directed attention to the subject. Paget, Medico-Chirnrgkal Transactions,