Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [411]
the wound of entrance continuing to lose blood and bile until daylight the next morning, when the hemorrhage ceased, but the flow of bile kept on. By June 10th there was considerable improvement, but the wound discharged blood-clots, bile, and serum. When the patient left the hospital on July 15th the wound was healthy, discharging less than 1 1/2 ounces during the twenty-four hours, of a mixture of free bile, and bile mixed with thick material. When last heard from--July 27, 1867--the patient was improving finely in flesh and strength. McKee mentions a commissary-sergeant stationed at Santa Fe, New Mexico, who recovered after a gunshot wound of the liver. Hassig reports the case of a private of twenty-six who was wounded in a fray near Paducah, Kentucky, by a conoid ball, which passed through the liver. The ball was cut out the same day. The patient recovered and was returned to duty in May, 1868. Patzki mentioned a private in the Sixth Cavalry, aged twenty-five, who recovered from a gunshot wound of the abdomen, penetrating the right lobe of the liver and the gall-bladder.
Resection of the Liver.--It is remarkable to what extent portions of the liver may be resected by the knife, cautery, or ligature, and the patient recover. Langenbuch records a case in which he successfully removed the greater portion of the left lobe of a woman of thirty. The lobe had been extensively deformed by tight lacing, and caused serious inconvenience. There was considerable hemorrhage, but the vessels were secured, and the woman made a good recovery. McWhinnie, in The Lancet, records a case of dislodgment of an enlarged liver from tight lacing. Terrilon mentions an instance in which a portion of the liver was removed by ligature after celiotomy. The ligature was removed in seven days, and the sphacelated portion of the liver came off with it. A cicatrix was completed at the end of six weeks, and the patient, a woman of fifty-three, made an excellent recovery. Bastianelli discusses those cases in which portions of the liver, having been constricted from the general body of the organ and remaining attached by a pedicle, give rise to movable tumors of the abdomen. He records such a case in a woman of thirty-seven who had five children. A piece of liver weighing 500 grams was removed, and with it the gall-bladder, and the patient made an uninterrupted recovery. Tricomi reports a case in which it was found necessary to remove the left lobe of the liver. An attempt had been made to remove a liver-tumor the size of a fist by constricting the base with an elastic ligature. This attempt was a failure, and cure was also unsuccessfully attempted by wire ligature and the thermocautery. The growth was cut away, bleeding was arrested by the thermocautery and by iron-solution, the wound entirely healed, and the patient recovered. Valerian von Meister has proved that the liver has marvelous powers of regeneration, and that in rabbits, cats, and dogs, even three-fourths of the organ may be reproduced in from forty-five to sixty-five days. This regeneration is brought about chiefly by hypertrophy of the lobules.
Floating liver is a rare malady in which the liver forms an abdominal prominence that may be moved about, and which changes its situation as the patient shifts the attitude. The condition usually arises from a lax abdominal wall following repeated pregnancies. The accompanying illustration exhibits a typical case verified by postmortem examination.
Hypertrophy of the Liver.--The average weight of the normal liver is from 50 to 55 ounces, but as noted by Powell, it may become so hypertrophic as to weigh as much as 40 pounds. Bonet describes a liver weighing 18 pounds; and in his "Medical and Surgical Observations," Gooch speaks of a liver weighing 28 pounds. Vieussens, the celebrated anatomist, reports an instance in which the liver weighed 20 pounds, and in his "Aphorisms," Vetter cites a similar instance. In 1811 Kraus of Germany describes a liver weighing 25 pounds; modern instances of enlarged liver are too numerous to be quoted here.
Resection of the Liver.--It is remarkable to what extent portions of the liver may be resected by the knife, cautery, or ligature, and the patient recover. Langenbuch records a case in which he successfully removed the greater portion of the left lobe of a woman of thirty. The lobe had been extensively deformed by tight lacing, and caused serious inconvenience. There was considerable hemorrhage, but the vessels were secured, and the woman made a good recovery. McWhinnie, in The Lancet, records a case of dislodgment of an enlarged liver from tight lacing. Terrilon mentions an instance in which a portion of the liver was removed by ligature after celiotomy. The ligature was removed in seven days, and the sphacelated portion of the liver came off with it. A cicatrix was completed at the end of six weeks, and the patient, a woman of fifty-three, made an excellent recovery. Bastianelli discusses those cases in which portions of the liver, having been constricted from the general body of the organ and remaining attached by a pedicle, give rise to movable tumors of the abdomen. He records such a case in a woman of thirty-seven who had five children. A piece of liver weighing 500 grams was removed, and with it the gall-bladder, and the patient made an uninterrupted recovery. Tricomi reports a case in which it was found necessary to remove the left lobe of the liver. An attempt had been made to remove a liver-tumor the size of a fist by constricting the base with an elastic ligature. This attempt was a failure, and cure was also unsuccessfully attempted by wire ligature and the thermocautery. The growth was cut away, bleeding was arrested by the thermocautery and by iron-solution, the wound entirely healed, and the patient recovered. Valerian von Meister has proved that the liver has marvelous powers of regeneration, and that in rabbits, cats, and dogs, even three-fourths of the organ may be reproduced in from forty-five to sixty-five days. This regeneration is brought about chiefly by hypertrophy of the lobules.
Floating liver is a rare malady in which the liver forms an abdominal prominence that may be moved about, and which changes its situation as the patient shifts the attitude. The condition usually arises from a lax abdominal wall following repeated pregnancies. The accompanying illustration exhibits a typical case verified by postmortem examination.
Hypertrophy of the Liver.--The average weight of the normal liver is from 50 to 55 ounces, but as noted by Powell, it may become so hypertrophic as to weigh as much as 40 pounds. Bonet describes a liver weighing 18 pounds; and in his "Medical and Surgical Observations," Gooch speaks of a liver weighing 28 pounds. Vieussens, the celebrated anatomist, reports an instance in which the liver weighed 20 pounds, and in his "Aphorisms," Vetter cites a similar instance. In 1811 Kraus of Germany describes a liver weighing 25 pounds; modern instances of enlarged liver are too numerous to be quoted here.