132 



STUDIES ON PATHOLOGIC OVA. 



No. 569. 



(1) W. P. Miller, Hagerstown, Maryland. 



(2) A 30X26X20 mm.; B 2.5 mm. long. 



(3) Patient had been married about a month. 



(4) The ovum appears to be normal. It is completely 

 covered with villi which branch two or three times, and 

 the interior is filled with a dense mass of reticular magma. 

 At one side is a small nodule 2.5 mm. long and 2 mm. in 

 diameter, which appeared to be the remnant of the embryo. 

 There are other opaque granules scattered through the 

 magma. In order to determine which of these may be 

 the remnant of the embryo, it was necessary to stain the 

 entire specimen and cut it into serial sections. 



(5) The chorionic wall and the villi are edematous, and 

 some of the latter have undergone mucoid degeneration. 

 There is not very much trophoblast attached to the villi. 

 A great quantity of reticular magma is in the exoccelom. 

 Sections of the embryo show that the brain is greatly 

 distended and its ventral wall is disintegrating. This 

 enlargement seems to be mostly in the hind-brain, the 

 fore-brain being reduced in size. It ends in two ex- 

 tremely small eye-vesicles. The ear-vesicles are filled with 

 cells. The spinal cord can be followed only a short dis- 

 tance into the body of the embryo. In the neck there are 

 two very small bilateral blood-vessels. In the body the 

 ccelom is pronounced, and suspended in it is a very small 

 atrophic heart. The intestine is not present, but the 

 lower part of the body is somewhat injured and the 

 structures here can be followed with precision. 



(6) Hydatiform degeneration. Decidua absent. 



No. 573. 



(1) G. Ackerman, Wheeling, West Virginia. 



(2) A 46X17X17 mm.; B 8.5 mm. 



(3) Period has been two weeks overdue. 



(4) The specimen, fleshy and ruptured, contained a 

 large cavity, with an atrophic embryo with a knob-like 

 head, and arm and leg buds missing on the right side. 



(5) The chorionic wall is hyaline and covered with 

 completely degenerated villi which are matted together 

 with blood-clot'and very degenerate decidua, which show 

 some leucocytic infiltration. The embryo is markedly 

 dissociated, the brain being practically solid. The fore- 

 brain is dragged out into a long process, and on each side 

 there is a very small rudimentary eye with lenses attached 

 to the skin. The dissociation of the eye-vesicles is so 

 extreme that it is difficult to separate them from the 

 surrounding tissue. The limb-buds are very atrophic. 

 The shape of the organs and body is normal, but the 

 tissues are much dissociated. There is a large central 

 space in the umbilical cord filled with debris. 



(6) Decidua very degenerate, but probably somewhat 

 infiltrated. 



No. 592. 



(1) Abraham Poska, Hobson, Montana. 



(2) A 47X33X26 mm. 



(3) The specimen came from an induced abortion. 



(4) One side of the ovum is partly covered with blood- 

 clot, the other with short, apparently normal villi. Its 

 cavity is filled with very dense reticular and granular 

 magma containing remnants of an opaque and apparently 

 disintegrated embryo. After fixation in formalin the 

 magma is somewhat reticular, being intermingled with a 

 very extensive and dense jelly-like substance. There are 

 but few opaque particles to be seen within it. 



(5) Sections show the magma to be quite clear, and 

 scattered through it are large strands of cells representing 

 the disintegrating embryo. In one of the sections a faint 

 outline of the peritoneal cavity, encircling the intestine, 

 can be made out. There are also independent blood- 

 vessels. It would seem as though the embryo had been 

 crushed when about 4 mm. long. The chorionic wall is 

 thickened and badly infiltrated with leucocytes on the 



outside, but these do not enter the coslom. The wall is 

 covered with villi partly degenerated and partly normal 

 in appearance. Between them there is an inflammatory 

 mass. Where the villi are bathed with fresh maternal 

 blood they are fibrous, with poorly preserved blood- 

 vessels; but many of them contain blood-vessels which are 

 filled with blood, which takes on an intense eosin stain. 

 Scraps of tissue, which appear to be remnants of the 

 amnion, reach from the chorion into the cavity of the ovum. 

 (6) Severe infiltration. 



No. 610. 



(1) V. Van Williams, Baltimore, Maryland. 



(2) A 23X20X20 mm.; B 3 mm. 



(3) Patient has a child about 15 years old. Aborted 4 

 years ago. Period 3 days overdue. 



(4) The entire specimen is pear-shaped, the body being 

 formed by the ovum, covered with a uniform layer of 

 villi, which branch three or four times. The stem is 13 

 mm. long and is composed of fibrin, decidua, and blood. 

 The ulterior of the specimen is partly filled with reticular 

 magma, and on one side a small nodule, 3 mm. long and 

 about 1 mm. in diameter, is embedded. This is not 

 closely attached to the walls of the chorion, nor does it 

 appear to be covered by the amnion. It' probably is 

 pathological. 



(5) Sections of the chorion show that its walls are 

 badly disintegrated. The main wall is somewhat fibrous, 

 and between the villi there is a large quantity of fibrinous 

 substance well filled with round cells and buds of syncy- 

 tium. In other portions the trophoblast is necrotic. 

 There are also a few clumps of it which show an active 

 growth within the centers. The embryo is almost entirely 

 dissociated. In the sections the head, brain and eye- 

 vesicles can be made out, but otherwise the embryo is 

 badly disintegrated. 



No. 633. 



(1) C. S. F. Lincoln, Shanghai, China. 



(2) A 11X11X11 mm. 



(3) The specimen is from a white patient who had gone 

 1 to 2 weeks overtime. 



(4) The ovum is spherical in shape and covered with a 

 uniform layer of villi which branch once and are 1.5 mm. 

 long. It was opened carefully but no remnant of an 

 embryo was found. 



(5) Sections show that the chorion is macerated. 

 Within was found a vesicle, 2 mm. in length, which appears 

 quite like the umbilical vesicle. . This runs out into a 

 stem, one side of which is directly continuous with the 

 chorion. At the point of juncture the tissues are full of 

 blood-vessels; otherwise no structure can be made out. 

 The specimen is very degenerate. 



No. 651(?. 



(1) G. C. McCormiek, Sparrows Point, Maryland. 



(2) A 35X30X30 mm.; B 3 mm. long. 



(4) The ovum is irregularly covered with ragged villi 

 and entirely filled with a mass of granular and reticular 

 magma containing a spherical amnion measuring 12 mm. 

 in diameter. This latter is filled with clear fluid, and on 

 one side is an hourglass-shaped body the embryo 

 measuring 3 mm. 



(5) Longitudinal sections through the body of the 

 embryo show that it is set upon the flat amnion, which 

 does not touch the chorion, being separated throughout 

 by reticular magma. The main body of the embryo 

 contains a pear-shaped central nervous system. There are 

 several large cavities which can not be interpreted easily. 

 One is the exoccelom; a second is the umbilical vesicle. 

 The heart and a piece of intestine can be identified. .The 

 chorionic membrane and the villi have undergone a 

 peculiar dissociation; some are a little fibrous, with small 

 nuclei. 



(6) Some hydatiform degeneration; decidua absent. 



