Syphilis in the adrenals 



by 

 DR. C BURLLE DE EIOUEIFCBDO 



(With plates 34-3Q). 



Hislopathologicai syphilitic lesions in 

 the adrenals liave latterly been the ob- 

 ject of special researches and refe- 

 rences in the littérature on this subject. 



Of late, professor SIMMOND, oí 

 Hamburg, and ALDRED SCOTT, pro- 

 fessor of Michigan University, the for- 

 mer in his research-work on congenital 

 sj'philis of the adrenals, the latter in 

 the study of the effects of syphilis on 

 the different organs , published more 

 detailed observations modelled on pre- 

 vious researches, which had not until 

 then led to a series of coordinated con- 

 clusions. SIMMOND (1) describing the 

 characieristic lesions of congenital syphi- 

 lis of the adrenals considers the thick- 

 ening of the capsule, observed by him 

 in all the 18 cases he studied, as the 

 pathognomonic lesion. He calls this thi- 

 ckning uperihy per nephritis syphilitica-». 



1— Virchow's Archiv, 1914, Bel 216. 



Besides this he indicates the inliltrationss- 

 of limphocytes in the cortex, wliichhedo* 

 es not consider as a primitive manifesta, 

 tion of the morbid process but as a the 

 spreadnig of tlie process from the cap- 

 sule. 



In 1916, ALDRED SCOTT (2) pu- 

 blished an article on cThe persistence 

 of active lesions and spirochetes in the 

 tissues of clinically inactive or cured 

 syphilis», quoting 6 cases of syphilitic 

 lesions of the adrenals observed out 

 of 41 autopsies. In the order of frequen- 

 cy as sites of this lesions he considers 

 the adrenals to take the fourth place. 



He gives the following order aorta, 

 heart, testicle, adrenals, central nervous 

 system, liver and spleen. In these he 

 found Infiltrations of mononuclear leuco- 

 cytes in the medulla and in the limits 

 between cortex and medulla with spiro- 



2— The Americaji journal of Medical Sciences, 19164 

 V. 125, 



