Report of a case of cyst of the cerebellum / by John M. Swan, M.D., Philadelphia, pathologist to St. Mary's Hospital.

  • Swan, John M. (John Mumford), 1870-1949
Date:
[1905]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of a case of cyst of the cerebellum / by John M. Swan, M.D., Philadelphia, pathologist to St. Mary's Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    opening the skull the internal table was seen to be eroded and finely granular in appearance. The dura was congested. On cutting the tentorium cerebelli on the right side a large quantity of clear, pale serum containing flocculi escaped. On delivering the brain the right hemisphere of the cerebellum was seen to be the seat of a large cyst which had almost entirely replaced the cerebellar substance on its ventral surface. The wall of the cyst was smooth and apparently composed of white matter. Pro¬ jecting on the surface of the hemisphere there was a round tumor which was gelatinous at its peri¬ pheral portion, but more firm at its attached base. The brain was not dissected but appeared to be normal on the surface. The histological examination was made in the McManes Laboratory of Pathology of the Univer¬ sity of Pennsylvania (No. 359). Sections were made (1) from the free portion of the tumor; (2) from the base of the tumor; and (3) from the pos¬ terior pole of the right eye. The tissues were em¬ bedded in paraffin and stained with hsematoxylin and eosin. The free portion of the tumor was composed prin¬ cipally of a fragmented, friable matrix which stained fairly well with eosin; but which was poorly stained in many places. It was more granular than fibrillar in appearance and in places entirely structureless and hyaline. Embedded in this matrix were rela¬ tively few cells. Some of these cells were round with multiple nuclei; others were spindle shaped and very deeply stained; and still others were some¬ what stellate in outline and showed more than one nucleus. There were some deep blue staining masses, which were sometimes lobulated and which resembled corpora amylacea somewhat. They showed no concentric lines, however, and, on ac¬ count of their deep staining, suggested calcareous degeneration. The blood vessels were surrounded