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
=Physical examination= was very difficult through lack of coöperation
and a screaming and kicking resistance upon every attempt. There was a
suggestion of hydrocephalus in the protrusion of the forehead. The
pupils reacted readily to light and accommodation. The knee-jerks were
active, but there was otherwise no disorder of reflexes. The patient had
great difficulty in getting up from the floor, and for the most part
insisted upon lying in ventral decubitus on the floor, crying when
attempt was made to raise her. An attempt was made to test her by the
Binet scale, by which she was found to rate at 2⅘ years although a
portion of this low-rating was thought to be due to a failure of
coöperation.
The =family history= threw little or no light upon the case. The parents
were living and well; a brother of 16 years was at work in the market
district; two of the other siblings are in the first and second grades
at school and regarded as exceptionally bright by their teachers. The
fourth was the patient, Margaret; a fifth had died at 9 weeks of heart
trouble; the sixth, seventh, and eighth, of 3, 1½ years and 3 months
respectively, appeared entirely well. There were no miscarriages or
stillbirths.
[Illustration:
Juvenile paresis—spastic paraplegia. 5 years.
]
The scissors gait and spasticity seem to point undoubtedly to organic
disease of the nervous system, along with which the mental deterioration
seemed to suggest an active progressive involvement of the cerebrum. The
history seemed to be convincing that the child was not an instance of
congenital feeblemindedness.
A neurologist’s clinical diagnosis would naturally be syphilis. In point
of fact, this diagnosis was borne out by the laboratory tests, which
showed a positive W. R. in the serum and spinal fluid, positive
globulin, a slight excess of albumin, and a syphilitic gold sol
reaction.
1. What is the significance of the trauma in the case of Margaret
Tennyson? The trauma seemed to the family the precipitating cause.
We find cases of general paresis in adults very definitely
following trauma, yet neurosyphilis, both in adults and in younger
patients, mainly occurs without trauma. On the whole, in this
case, it is perhaps safer to regard the trauma as mere
coincidence. A sister older than Margaret was found upon
examination to have a positive W. R. The other children could not
be examined.
=Traumatic form of PARETIC NEUROSYPHILIS (“general paresis”).=
=Case 90.= The point about Joseph O’Hearn was his entire mental
soundness up to the time of an injury at work, when he was blown through
a double window in an explosion, badly bruising his head. Shortly after
the accident, although not immediately, the patient began to show signs
of mental disorder, doing very foolish things, losing his memory, and
becoming unable to work.
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