The Medical Aspects Of Carcinoma Of The Breast, With A Note On The Spontaneous Disappearance Of Secondary Growths
American Medicine: April 6 1901; 17-19; 63-66
View Original Source →Abstract
The consulting physician sees mammary cancer at two stages of its progress. Dreading the surgeon, and hoping against hope, a number of women prefer to come to him at the first detection of a tumor. But these form a small fraction of the cases. A large majority are the unhappy victims of the internal metastases after operation. For some years I have been interested in this class of cases, and have collected material bearing upon the question of these late, and more strictly medical, manifestations of the disease. In this paper, fourteen cases of carcinoma of the breast are reported in which there were secondary growths and in some cases the secondary growths spontaneously disappeared.
Case Details
Personal Characteristics
Miss x., aged 31
Clinical Characteristics
Tumor in right breast, pains in the back and down the legs, recurrence in the right eye, orthopnea, emaciation, recurrence in the left breast, tumor mass on sternum, effusion in right pleura, vision difficulty in right eye, shooting pains about the sides, cough, tenderness about the fourth and fifth dorsal spines, distinct tumor in the bone, extensive pleural effusion on the right side, dyspnea, lump in the left breast, distinct prominence about the fourth and fifth dorsal spines, back stiffness, exaggerated knee jerks, pain in right leg
Remission Characteristics
Gradual improvement, disappearance of tumor on sternum, improvement in vision of the right eye, less intense pains, gain in weight, ability to walk about, disappearance of tumor on the sternum, no local recurrences, no increase in the tumor in the left breast, progressive improvement in the vision of the right eye
Treatment & Mechanisms
Proposed Remission Mechanisms
Not discussed
Clinical Treatment
Operation november 1897, scirrhus, most extensive radical operation, excision of part of axillary vein, morphia for pain management
Additional Notes
The patient had a fall from her bicycle which was initially attributed to the lump in her right breast. The patient was treated at the Johns Hopkins Hospital by Dr. Halsted. The patient's father was under the care of Dr. de Schweinitz.