Diseases of infants and children / by Henry Dwight Chapin and Godfrey Roger Pisek ; with 181 ill. and eleven colored plates.

  • Chapin, Henry Dwight, 1857-1942.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of infants and children / by Henry Dwight Chapin and Godfrey Roger Pisek ; with 181 ill. and eleven colored plates. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    Fatty Degeneration of the Newly-born. (Buhl's Disease.) This is a very rare disease that acts like some form of pyogenic infection. It is characterized by fatty degeneration of the heart, liver, and kidneys with hemorrhages from any of the mucous membranes or into the various serous cavities or viscera. The spleen and liver are both usually enlarged. The disease is accompanied by great prostration and may last one or two weeks. Icterus may be present. The treatment is supporting and symptomatic, but not able to save life. Icterus Neonatorum. This is a common affection of the newly-born. Two distinct varieties are recognized, differing widely in cause and prognosis and known as the mild and grave forms. (a) Mild Form.—Two divergent theories have been advanced to account for this form. The first considers the jaundice to be purely hematic; the second theory regards it as hepatic in origin. Bile is first formed in the liver and then carried into the circulation, the resorp- tion being due either to congestion or to edema of the hepatic tissue. It seems highly probable that both these theories may apply in different instances, and doubtless many cases of icterus neonatorum are to be satisfactorily explained only by taking into consideration a morbid condition of both the blood and the liver, thus combining the hematic and hepatic theories. The intense congestion of the skin observed during the first few hours of life often produces a yellowish coloration that cannot be con- sidered jaundice. It is of the same nature as the discoloration of the skin following an ordinary cutaneous bruise. The yellow tint is at first seen only on deep pressure, but as the erythema fades the yellow- ness increases. The conjunctiva? are not colored, and the urine appears normal. This yellowness is usually first noticed on the second day, and may continue a few days or a week. The term true icterus can be applied only to those cases in which the yellow discoloration of the skin is caused by a staining by the bile pigments. This more often occurs in cases of prolonged or difficult labor, in children born asphyxiated or before term, and in generally feeble infants. It is very frequently seen in foundling asylums. It may appear as early as a few hours after birth, but usually is not marked until the second or third day. In very mild cases the yellow color may appear only on the face, chest, and back, the conjunctiva? being