Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
The most typical form of malformation of the esophagus is imperforation
or obliteration. Van Cuyck of Brussels in 1824 delivered a child which
died on the third day from malnutrition. Postmortem it was found that
the inferior extremity of the esophagus to the extent of about two
inches was converted into a ligamentous cord. Porro describes a case of
congenital obliteration of the esophagus which ended in a cecal pouch
about one inch below the inferior portion of the glottidean aperture
and from this point to the stomach only measured an inch; there was
also tracheal communication. The child was noticed to take to the
breast with avidity, but after a little suckling it would cough, become
livid, and reject most of the milk through the nose, in this way almost
suffocating at each paroxysm; it died on the third day.
In some cases the esophagus is divided, one portion opening into the
bronchial or other thoracic organs. Brentano describes an infant dying
ten days after birth whose esophagus was divided into two portions, one
terminating in a culdesac, the other opening into the bronchi; the left
kidney was also displaced downward. Blasius describes an anomalous case
of duplication of the esophagus. Grashuys, and subsequently Vicq
d'Azir, saw a dilatation of the esophagus resembling the crop of a bird.
Anomalies of the Lungs.--Carper describes a fetus of thirty-seven weeks
in whose thorax he found a very voluminous thymus gland but no lungs.
These organs were simply represented by two little oval bodies having
no lobes, with the color of the tissue of the liver. The heart had only
one cavity but all the other organs were perfectly formed. This case
seems to be unique. Tichomiroff records the case of a woman of
twenty-four who died of pneumonia in whom the left lung was entirely
missing. No traces of a left bronchus existed. The subject was very
poorly developed physically. Tichomiroff finds four other cases in
literature, in all of which the left lung was absent. Theremin and
Tyson record cases of the absence of the left lung.
Supplementary pulmonary lobes are occasionally seen in man and are
taken by some authorities to be examples of retrogressive anomalies
tending to prove that the derivation of the human race is from the
quadrupeds which show analogous pulmonary malformation. Eckley reports
an instance of supernumerary lobe of the right lung in close connection
with the vena azygos major. Collins mentions a similar case. Bonnet
and Edwards speak of instances of four lobes in the right lung. Testut
and Marcondes report a description of a lung with six lobes.
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