314 Surgical Diseases and Surgery of the Dog 



Treatment. Where it is desirable to remove them they are best 

 excised by a snip of the scissors and the base touched with lunar 

 caustic. 



Tyloma. Capped Elbow. This term is applied to the un- 

 sightly callosities which develop in the skin principally in the region 

 of the elbow but also elsewhere about the legs, and which are fre- 

 quently complicated with hygroma, to be next described. They are 

 particularly common in members of the larger breeds, viz.. Great 

 Danes, Mastiffs and Greyhounds, and develop as a result of constant 

 intermittent friction and pressure, through the habit these animals 

 have of lying in the sternal position and resting the elbow on the 

 ground. Pathologically, they are an epidermal hypertrophy and 

 hyperplasia, consisting of laminae of horny cells with but slight 

 fibrous development. They sometimes ulcerate. 



Symptoms and Diagnosis. The condition exists as a callous 

 thickening with bare, greyish surface. When ulceration takes place 

 collateral edema may occur. 



. Treatment. No treatment is advisable for the reason that the 

 condition is merely a blemish and does not incommode the animal 

 and would soon recur because of the persistence of the causative 

 factor. Ulcers should be treated with nitrate of silver. 



Hygroma. As distinguished from tyloma, the term hygroma is 

 applied to the fluctuating adventitious bursae which are frequently 

 associated with it. They are cysts of contusion or true neoforma- 

 tion, intermediate connective tissue becoming bruised and torn, and 

 spaces forming in which serous fluid and sometimes blood collect, 

 which may (rarely) suppurate and discharge by fistulous opening. 

 Organization by condensation of the adjacent connective tissue may 

 take place when the condition again resolves itself into uncompli- 

 cated tyloma. 



Symptoms and Diagnosis. Hygroma exists as an indolent, 

 round or oval, uniformly fluctuating tumor, without peripheral in- 

 duration and ordinarily without inflammatory reaction. It does not 

 incommode the animal in any manner. 



Treatment. A cure is difficult of attainment, for the same rea- 

 son as in tyloma. Simple puncture is valueless, for the cyst recurs 

 as soon as the outer wound has healed. An attempt should first be 

 made to excite an imflammation within the sac. By means of an 

 aspirating syringe with large needle, the fluid is withdrawn from the 



