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
=Scar of penis=; =sclerosis of aortic arch= (Heller’s type?) and slight
coronary arteriosclerosis; =calvarium= thin and =dense=; =dura mater
thickened= and adherent to calvarium; calcified arachnoidal villi;
=chronic= cerebral and cerebellar =leptomeningitis=; =atrophy of frontal
lobes=; =granular ependymitis=; =sclerosis of posterior columns= of
spinal cord; emaciation; unequal pupils; slight parietal fibrous
endocarditis, slight mitral sclerosis; gastro-intestinal atrophy;
chronic cystitis; chronic abscess of prostate.
The description of the head findings is as follows:
Skin exceedingly loose, and the whole skull cap thinned. The diploë
are absent. Adhesion with dura easily separated. The dura somewhat
thickened, but not distended. Along the longitudinal sinus extensive
calcareous granulations adhere to it. The longitudinal sinus does
not contain blood, and the inner surface is normal in color. The pia
is extensively thickened and opaque and a general subpial exudate
exists which is more marked over the vertex where it lifts the pia
from the brain surface to the extent of three centimeters in
Rolandic, superior frontal, intraparietal, and mesial precentral
sulci on each side. The arteries at base are free from atheroma. The
temporal lobes are much bound down by adhesions, as is the
cerebellum. Post mortem softening is evident. The hemispheres show
no asymmetry, but the frontal convolutions are markedly atrophic.
The corpus callosum is united to the cortex by old adhesions and has
to be dissected away from it. Lateral ventricles contain some slight
amount of cloudy fluid, and the pia along the vessels is opaque.
Some granulations in ependyma. Brain weight, 1305 grams. Pons and
cerebellum, 195 grams.
Cord.—Dura much thickened, and the pia corresponds to its appearance
in brain with a like exudate. Cross sections of cord show sclerosis
of posterior columns.
Bacteriologically the _typhoid bacillus_ was cultivated _from the
meninges and from the swollen mesenteric lymph nodes_. The blood was
negative; the intestines were negative so far as lesions were
concerned.
The microscopic examination confirmed the clinical diagnosis of GENERAL
PARESIS and of TABES, since there was not only an extensive chronic
encephalitis, with the usual lymphocytic and plasma cell deposit and
irregular gliosis, but also a well marked posterior column sclerosis,
not unusual save in its extreme degree.
It might be surmised that some difficulty would arise in distinguishing
the effects of paretic meningoencephalitis from those of the more recent
typhoidal process. The well-known tendency of typhoidal processes to
escape polynuclear exudation, at least until frank necrosis has set in,
gave rise to the idea that the two mononuclear pictures—that of general
paresis and that of typhoidal processes—might be confusing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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