Neurosyphilis : $b Modern systematic diagnosis and treatment presented in one hundred and thirty-seven case historiesSouthard, Elmer Ernest
Science
Neurosyphilis : $b Modern systematic diagnosis and treatment presented in one hundred and thirty-seven case histories
Southard, Elmer Ernest
Neurosyphilis
=Neurologically=, the pupils were myotic and both showed the
Argyll-Robertson reaction. There were no abnormal reflexes whatever, and
there was neither ataxia nor speech defect. Not only the blood but also
the spinal fluid W. R. proved to be positive; there was a marked
increase in the albumin and globulin; there was a gold sol reaction of
the syphilitic type, and there were but three cells per cmm.
1. In view of the headache in case Kantor, what other causes of
headache are to be considered? It is certain that irritations of
the dura mater can produce headache, and the physiological
observation of the sensitiveness of the membranes and the
non-sensitiveness of the brain substance is an ancient and
classical observation. Internal hemorrhagic pachymeningitis
produces severe headache. The relations of this disease to trauma,
to arteriosclerosis, and possibly to syphilis (alcohol perhaps
should also be considered) in certain instances have not been
entirely cleared up. Syphilitic headaches are, according to
Lewandowski, dependent also upon a dural affection or upon a
periosteal affection. The headaches of brain tumor are also
commonly related to dural conditions, either directly due to the
pressure of the tumor itself, or indirectly to the heightened
intracranial pressure consequent upon the tumor. It is clear that
the tension under which the dura mater lies is not always
localized in the region of a brain tumor or a syphilitic lesion.
Head has claimed that brain tumor produces headaches of two kinds,
according to whether the disease affects the dura mater or is
dependent upon an increase of pressure in the brain. It does not
appear that the pia mater has any relation to headaches, but
meningitis, in which the inflammation is confined to the pia
mater, is nevertheless associated with headache; the headache is
here supposed to be due to the increase in brain pressure, and
thus actually to an effect wrought upon the dura mater. Vasomotor
disorders and various types of cephalic hyperemia are thought to
produce a kind of headache, but Lewandowski calls this kind of
headache somewhat in question. Reflex headaches are stated to be
produced indirectly by a process of radiation from interior
lesions in the brain. There are certain headaches called nodal
headaches (_Schwielen-Kopfschmerz_). Hypermetropia, caries of the
teeth, adenoids, and diseases of the nose and axillary cavities,
to say nothing of thoracic and abdominal diseases, are also
counted among conditions that may produce headaches. In this
connection, Head has claimed differential zones of headache
corresponding to certain diseases.
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