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
The cerebellum of this case was perhaps the most markedly diseased of
all portions of the nervous system. As noted, the cerebellar tissue was
exceedingly firm. How far the notable incoördination of the case (he was
observed on staff rounds characteristically curled up in a heap, showing
quite an unusual degree of general incoördination) was due to the
cerebellar lesions, it is perhaps not possible to say.
=Summary=: John Lawrence, JUVENILE PARETIC NEUROSYPHILIS, is a foil to
Case 3 (James Dixon), paretic neurosyphilis due to acquired syphilis.
Both showed =Cerebral Atrophy=, but Lawrence the more markedly because
of hypoplasia incidental to the congenital origin of his condition.
Whereas Dixon gave little or no sign of =stigmata=, Lawrence (besides
being under-sized, having suspicious teeth, and showing at autopsy a
persistent thymus) showed a =Hydromyelia= and curious trefoil shape to
the spinal cord. Dixon on the other hand had liver lesions and arterial
lesions of the leg.
The suggestion of =Tuberous Sclerosis= in Lawrence is not found in
Dixon; but we have not found it elsewhere. Bourneville did not describe
tuberous sclerosis as syphilitic.
Binucleate Purkinje cells emphasize the congenital source of the lesions
in Lawrence.
=Plasmocytosis and Lymphocytosis=, =Perivascular=, and (less marked)
=Meningeal=, are found in both the congenital and the acquired cases, as
also parenchymatous changes, both =nerve cell losses= and =gliosis=.
Both also show granular =ependymitis=.
It is clear that, over and above the factors of destruction evident in
both Lawrence and Dixon, the congenital case, Lawrence exhibits also the
effects of arrest (in brief not merely atrophy but also hypoplasia).
Early treatment is, therefore, theoretically indicated in the juvenile
group, which means early diagnosis. Early diagnosis and treatment are
still more to be recommended because these juvenile cases progress often
very slowly at first.
=FOCAL BASILAR MENINGEAL NEUROSYPHILIS (“syphilitic extraocular
palsy,” plus other symptoms). Autopsy.=
=Case 6.= Flora Black, a housewife of 43 years, had been tired out for a
year but had been apparently in fair health. She awoke one day with
double vision due to a left internal strabismus. The visual difficulty
gradually passed away so that five months after the sudden seizure she
was apparently quite well again. There was one exception: about three or
four months after the attack of diplopia, Mrs. Black had begun to feel a
kind of weakness in various parts of the face and there were also fairly
definite paresthesiæ. In the sixth month after the initial attack, the
patient began to be unable to chew and was fain to support the lower jaw
with a bandage to aid in mastication. Deglutition was, however, quite
unaffected and there was never any regurgitation of food. There were
pains in the face, the forehead and the back of the neck.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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