LYMPHANGIECTASIS. DILATED LYMPHATICS. 



Result of lyiiipliangitis, of heart disease, of pulmonary arterial thrombo- 

 sis, of external jugular plugging. Causes, obstruction to lymph flow, com- 

 pression, increased venous blood pressure, fibrinous lymph coagula, action 

 of sensory nerves, of lymphadenitis, anaemia. Symptoms like dropsy if 

 in plexus, in large lymphatics, moniliform swelling, sacculation, wounds 

 discharge lymph, hyperplasia of connective tissue, fatty deposits, lipoma- 

 ta. Treatment, elastic bandage, cold, astringents, iodine, punctures, liga- 

 tures, cauterizations, tonics. 



The most striking cases of dilatation of the lymphatics in the 

 lower animals are met with in horses that have suffered repeatedly 

 and severely from the lymphangitis of plethora. Then the lower 

 part of the shank and the postern are enormously thickened to 

 perhaps two or even three feet in circumference, and skin and 

 connective tissue are the seat of a general dilatation of the lym- 

 phatic plexus and vessels with great thickening of their walls. 

 Nocard and Barrier record cases of general dilatation of the lym- 

 phatics in dogs in connection with heart disease, al.so the case of a 

 horse with old standing thrombosis of the pulmonary arteries, 

 hypertrophy of the right heart, and dilatation of the thoracic duct 

 to the size of the arm and of the lymphatics of the mesocolon to 

 the diameter of half an inch to nearly an inch. Nocard records 

 two cases in the horse, one of a reticular lymphangioma of the 

 sheath, and the other of dilatation of the lymph vessels accompa- 

 nying the saphena vein on the inside of the thigh. This formed 

 small, soft, fluctuating, extremely irregular tumors, completely 

 covering the vein for a space of about four inches. 



In both cases the dilatations were surrounded by a thick layer 

 of connective tissue filled with liquid-. Virchow records a case of 

 a new-born calf in which a thrombosis of the external jugular 

 vein caused obstruction of the mouth of the thoracic duct, and a 

 consequent extreme disten.sion of all the splanchnic lymph ves- 

 sels with a slightly sanguinolent fluid. The intestines especially 

 were covered everywhere with broad, bead-like canals, arranged 

 so closely together that the intervening tis.sue could be scarcely 

 recognized. 



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