Dercum
considers it a connective- tissue dystrophy--a fatty
metamorphosis of various stages, possibly a neuritis. The first
of Dercum's cases was a widow of Irish birth, who died both
alcoholic and syphilitic. When forty-eight or forty-nine her arms
began to enlarge. In June, 1887, the enlargement affected the
shoulders ,arms, back, and sides of the chest. The parts affected
were elastic, and there was no pitting. In some places the fat
was lobulated, in others it appeared as though filled with
bundles of worms. The skin was not thickened and the muscles were
not involved. In the right arm there was unendurable pain to the
touch, and this was present in a lesser degree in the left arm.
Cutaneous sensibility was lessened. On June 13th a chill was
followed by herpes over the left arm and chest, and later on the
back and on the front of the chest. The temperature was normal.
The second case was a married Englishwoman of sixty-four. The
enlarged tissue was very unevenly distributed, and sensibility
was the same as in the previous case. At the woman's death she
weighed 300 pounds, and the fat over the abdomen was three inches
thick. The third case was a German woman in whom were seen soft,
fat-like masses in various situations over either biceps, over
the outer and posterior aspect of either arm, and two large
masses over the belly; there was excessive prominence of the mons
veneris.
Pages:
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686