of gummata or sclerosis, but in congenital syphilis hyperplasia of the
glandular connective tissue frequently occurs, being usually associated
with specific lesions of the lungs, liver, kidneys, and general
glandular system.
SYMPTOMS AND COURSE.--As chronic pancreatitis rarely attains a
sufficient degree of development to interfere seriously with the
function of the organ, the disease is usually latent, or masked by the
symptoms of the originating lesion in secondary hyperplasia, or by the
associated diseases of the abdominal viscera in alcoholism and acquired
syphilis.
When due to hereditary syphilis, the foetus is stillborn or death takes
place soon after birth, and there are no characteristic symptoms.
Occasionally, however, especially when it depends upon a complete
obstruction of the duct of Wirsung, a diagnosis may be made from the
presence of emaciation, fatty stools, and melituria, with epigastric
pain of a neuralgic character, and the discovery of a deep-seated,
dense tumor extending transversely across the epigastrium.
The duration is indefinite, and varies greatly with the cause. While a
return to the healthy condition is possible during the early stage of
the lesion, the usual course is similar to that of chronic interstitial
inflammation in other organs.
TREATMENT.--The management, when a diagnosis can be made, must be
guided mainly by the etiological indications. The restoration of the
functions of the heart, lungs, or liver when these organs are at fault,
the abstinence from alcohol in the drunkard, and an energetic use of
mercurials or iodide of potassium in syphilis, are of the first
importance in arresting the disease. A persistent course of mild
purgatives and of cathartic mineral waters is serviceable. Pain should
be relieved by belladonna or opium. The diet must be simple and
digestible, and if an arrest of the pancreatic secretion be indicated
by the appearance of fat in the stools, an effort should be made to
supply the deficiency. For this purpose pancreatin, prepared by
precipitation by alcohol from a watery extract of a calf's or pig's
pancreas, may be used.[1] The pancreatin may be given in doses of from
five to fifteen grains, in the form of a pill or in capsules, and at an
interval of two hours after food is taken, or the same quantity of
pancreatin may be added to the food a few moments before it is eaten.
Probably the best substitute is a watery infusion of the gland
containing all its soluble principles. To prepare an active infusion
the pancreas must be taken from the animal during the act of digestion.
It is then freed from its surrounding fat, and macerated for two hours
in four times its weight of water at a temperature ranging between 25°
and 30° C. (58.3° and 61.1° F.). Another plan is to beat a calf's
pancreas in a mortar with six fluidounces of water until a milk-like
fluid is obtained, and strain. One-third of the infusion obtained by
either method is administered after each meal, an entire pancreas being
thus used every twenty-four hours.
[Footnote 1: One gramme of pancreatin is sufficient to emulsify fifteen
grammes of fatty substances, to convert eight grammes of starch into
glucose, to digest fifty grammes of fibrin, twenty grammes of
syntonine, and thirty-three grammes of boiled albumen (Raymond).]
{1123} The extractum pancreatis,[2] as it is now furnished to the
profession, is a very useful preparation. It may be employed to
peptonize milk, milk-gruel, and broth, or be given in combination with
bicarbonate of sodium at a fixed interval after each meal, as in the
following formula:
Rx. Ext. pancreatis, drachm j;
Sodii bicarbonatis, drachm ij;
M. et. ft. Chart No. XII.
S. One powder to be taken two hours after each meal.
[Footnote 2: That prepared by Fairchild Brothers & Foster of New York
has proved the best in my hands.]
Peptonized milk is prepared by putting into a clean quart bottle 5
grains of extractum pancreatis, 15 grains of bicarbonate of sodium, and
a gill of cool water; shake, and add a pint of fresh cool milk. Place
the bottle in water not so hot but that the whole hand can be held in
it without discomfort for a minute, and keep the bottle there for
exactly thirty minutes. At the end of that time put the bottle on ice
to check further digestion and keep the milk from spoiling.
Peptonized milk-gruel is made of equal parts of any farinaceous gruel
and fresh cold milk. To a pint of this combination 5 grains of
extractum pancreatis and 15 grains of bicarbonate of sodium are added,
and the whole allowed to stand in a warm place for thirty minutes, when
the process of digestion must be arrested by placing on ice.
Peptonized broth is made in the following way: Take one-fourth of a
pound of finely-minced raw lean beef or mutton or chicken, and one-half
pint of cold water; cook over a slow fire, stirring constantly, until
it has boiled a few minutes. Then pour off the liquor, beat the meat to
a paste, and put both into a bottle with a half pint of cold water. Add
30 grains of extractum pancreatis and 20 grains of bicarbonate of
sodium; shake well, and set in a warm place (110-115°) for three hours,
shaking occasionally; then boil quickly. Finally, strain or clarify in
the usual way and season to taste.
MORBID GROWTHS OF THE PANCREAS.
Carcinoma.
Cancer is probably the most common of the chronic affections of the
pancreas. It is usually secondary, being due to an extension of
carcinoma of the stomach, duodenum, liver, or abdominal lymphatic
glands, but there are enough cases on record to show that it may be
primary. It has been discovered in the foetus at birth, but the vast
majority of cases occur after the age of forty. Men are more frequently
affected than women. Nothing is known as to the influence of inherited
tendency in the production of the disease, and as little of the
exciting causes, though some authors attach much importance to
prolonged pressure upon the epigastrium and to blows and contusions on
the upper part of the abdomen.
ANATOMICAL APPEARANCES.--Primary carcinoma may be either {1124}
scirrhous, encephaloid, or colloid, the first being the variety most
frequently observed.
The lesion begins in the head of the gland in the form of several small
nodules which gradually coalesce. Sometimes the whole gland becomes
involved in the new formation; again, isolated nodules may be scattered
throughout its substance, and exceptionally the growth is limited to
the tail or middle portion. When the head alone is involved, the
remainder of the gland either remains healthy, undergoes fatty
degeneration, or becomes indurated. The tumor is rounded in outline and
nodular, and varies in size, density, and color according to the form
of carcinoma present. The duct of Wirsung is ordinarily obstructed,
large retention cysts, containing a yellowish-red liquid, are formed,
and the changes already described under the head of Chronic
Interstitial Pancreatitis take place in those portions of the gland
which are free from carcinoma. The disease is very prone to extend to
the surrounding organs, particularly the neighboring lymphatic glands,
the duodenum, and the liver, rarely to the stomach. When the contiguous
organs are not directly implicated in the carcinomatous changes, they
are subjected to pressure by the tumor, and in the case of the stomach
and duodenum adhesions often form, and are followed by perforation.
There seems to be a tendency also to infiltration of the adjacent
subperitoneal connective tissue and to hyperplasia of the fibrous
tissue of the viscera, even when they are not secondarily involved in
the morbid growth, leading to narrowing of the aorta, thickening of the
walls of the stomach and duodenum, and a sclerosis of the liver.
Obstruction of the common bile-duct, with dilatation of the
gall-bladder from retention of bile, is a frequent result of the
disease.
Secondary carcinoma of the pancreas usually first appears in, and is
limited to, the head of the gland. It seldom occurs in isolated
nodules, but the growth is generally continuous with the primary
cancerous mass. The form is either scirrhous or encephaloid. Wagner
records a case of cylindrical-celled epithelioma following a simple
epithelioma of the mucous membrane of the duodenum; and a similar
instance has come under the author's own observation;[3] but this
variety of morbid growth is rare. The primary growth is almost
uniformly situated in the stomach, duodenum, liver, or gall-bladder,
though occasionally it may be seated in some distant organ; in such
cases the pancreatic tumor appears as an isolated nodular mass.
[Footnote 3: _Transactions of the Pathological Society of
Philadelphia_, vol. ix. 13.]
SYMPTOMS AND COURSE.--The symptoms may be divided into two
classes--namely, first, those which arise from the lesion of the gland
itself; and, secondly, those which depend upon the effect of this
lesion on the neighboring viscera.
The features belonging to the first class are general marasmus, pain,
the appearance of fat and perhaps undigested muscular fibres in the
fecal evacuations and of fat in the urine, and the physical signs of an
abdominal tumor.
Loss of flesh is one of the earliest symptoms: it is generally
progressive, and is at times so great that the spine can be distinctly
traced through the abdominal walls. Together with this emaciation there
is debility, often extreme, but sometimes not so marked as might be
expected from the degree of wasting. The skin is commonly pale and dry,
and before jaundice is {1125} developed has the ordinary sallow hue of
cancerous cachexia. The features are pinched, and the face wears an
expression of anxiety and suffering. In cases uncomplicated by
peritoneal inflammation the temperature remains about normal, or it may
be lowered as the general exhaustion increases. The pulse is feeble and
slightly increased in frequency.
Pain is the most uniformly present and the earliest symptom. It is
always situated deep in the epigastrium, and from thence extends to the
back, to the right or left side, downward to the umbilicus or lower
part of the abdomen, and upward into the chest. It is generally
continuous, but is subject to remissions and paroxysmal exacerbations.
During the remissions sensations of distress, of burning, or of dull
pain are experienced at the pit of the stomach; during the
exacerbations, which may last several days, the pain becomes extremely
acute and lancinating and extended in distribution. The ingestion of
food and pressure upon the epigastrium have no constant effect upon the
pain. Quick movements of the body from side to side often increase it
and excite exacerbations. The suffering is greatest in the erect
posture, and on this account the patient bends his body forward so as
to relax the abdominal muscles. The paroxysmal and neuralgic character
of the pain indicates implication of the coeliac plexus.
The appearance of fat in the stools is an important symptom, unless
there be at the same time an obstruction to the passage of bile into
the duodenum, indicated by jaundice. Lipuria has been noticed in a few
cases only.
In many instances (nearly one-half of the number of recorded cases)
physical exploration reveals the signs of enlargement of the organ. At
times there is merely a sense of fulness and resistance to the touch,
and a modified tympanitic percussion note in one of the three regions
of the upper segment of the abdomen. But usually when a tumor is
present it is readily mapped out by palpation. The tumor is seated in
the epigastrium, and may extend into the right or left hypochondrium or
downward into the umbilical region. It varies much in size, is rounded,
nodulated, firm, slightly movable or fixed, and tender, though
sometimes painless, to the touch. Percussion yields dulness or a
dull-tympanitic sound. On auscultation a blowing murmur may be heard
when the tumor presses upon the aorta; and when this murmur is present
there is usually also transmitted pulsation.
The symptoms belonging to the second class arise when the adjacent
viscera become involved in the cancerous disease, or when their
functional activity is disturbed by the encroachment and pressure of
the enlarged pancreas.
From the association of a catarrhal condition of the mucous membrane of
the stomach, particularly when the pyloric orifice is obstructed,
several prominent symptoms of gastric catarrh are frequently
observed--namely, sialorrhoea, pyrosis, acid eructations, flatulence,
abnormal sensations, such as burning, weight and oppression in the
epigastrium after taking food, and increased thirst. The tongue varies
in appearance: it may be dry and covered with a brown or yellow fur,
but when the flow of saliva is increased it is peculiarly clean and
moist; and this condition is rather characteristic. The appetite is
also variable; sometimes it remains good {1126} until the end, and
occasionally it is perverted. Hiccough in some cases is an obstinate
and annoying symptom.
Nausea and vomiting are late but moderately constant features. Their
relation to the ingestion of food is not fixed. The vomited matter may
consist of food, of glairy mucus more or less tinged with bile, of
colorless liquid, or of a fluid resembling a mixture of bran and water.
If there is marked pyloric obstruction with dilatation of the stomach,
large quantities of frothy and fermenting material containing sarcina
ventriculi are rejected at intervals. In the rare cases in which
secondary sarcoma of the viscus is developed the ejecta are bloody or
have the coffee-ground appearance, and the vomiting occurs several
hours after eating, as the new growth is generally situated at the
pylorus. When there is adhesion of the pancreatic tumor to the stomach,
with perforation, both blood and pus are vomited. Dilatation of the
stomach is attended by prominence of the epigastrium and an extended
area of gastric tympany, and in cancer of the pylorus a tumor is often
appreciable on palpation. The bowels are usually constipated. The fecal
evacuations are hard, and when the biliary secretion is absent from the
intestine they are clay-colored, and often contain fat. When there is
ulceration of the mucous membrane of the duodenum following secondary
cancer or adhesion, the stools become black and tar-like from the
presence of altered blood. Complete obstipation occurs in mechanical
obstruction of the gut from direct pressure or from bands of lymph.
Occasionally, just before death there is diarrhoea, and there may be an
alternation of vomiting and diarrhoea.
The symptoms and signs of secondary carcinoma or sclerosis of the liver
may be present, but the most commonly observed indications of impaired
hepatic function depend upon pressure-obstruction of the common
bile-duct. These are jaundice, fatty and clay-colored stools, and the
appearance of a tumor in the region of the gall-bladder. Jaundice is a
very common symptom. It occurs late in the disease as a rule, is
progressive and persistent, resisting all treatment, and is extreme in
degree, the skin becoming deep-yellow or greenish in color. The tumor
of the distended gall-bladder is pyriform in shape, firm and elastic to
the touch, yields a dull percussion sound, and occupies a position
opposite the extremity of the tenth rib on the right side of the
abdomen.
Dropsy occurs in a large proportion of cases (nearly one-half) during
the advanced stages of the disease. It is due to vascular obstruction
occasioned by the pressure of the enlarged pancreas itself or of the
secondarily degenerated coeliac glands, and finally by secondary
lesions of the liver. The dropsy appears either in the form of ascites
or anasarca, is not often extreme in degree, and is subject to
variations, disappearing and reappearing at intervals. Ascites is the
more common form, but both conditions may exist in the same patient.
It is impossible in the majority of instances to definitely fix the
date of onset of a pancreatic cancer, but the average duration of the
disease may be stated to be about one year. The uniformly fatal
termination usually takes place slowly from gradual exhaustion or with
the symptoms of an adynamic fever, but death may occur suddenly from
hemorrhage.
DIAGNOSIS.--The principal features of carcinoma of the pancreas are
extreme emaciation, loss of strength, dyspepsia, pain of a neuralgic
{1127} character in the epigastrium, constipation, obstinate jaundice,
moderate ascites or anasarca, the appearance of fat in the stools,
lipuria, occasional vomiting, and the physical signs of an epigastric
tumor.
These symptoms are not pathognomonic, however, and the diagnosis can be
certainly established only when it is possible to exclude primary
disease of the surrounding organs, especially of the stomach and liver.
Cancer of the stomach may be excluded by the less-marked character of
the functional disturbances of the viscus; by the absence of frequent
vomiting, hæmatemesis, and the rejection of coffee-ground material; by
the somewhat different situation and greater immobility of the tumor,
by the seat, distribution, and constancy of the pain; and by the
presence of jaundice and of fat in the stools and urine.
Diseases of the liver attended with alterations in the size of the
organ, as cancer, abscess, albuminoid and fatty degeneration, sclerosis
and hydatid tumor, have sufficiently characteristic physical signs and
symptoms to be readily distinguished from cancer of the pancreas. On
the other hand, the tumor of an enlarged gall-bladder is often
confusing. The situation of this tumor opposite the tenth rib and its
pyriform shape are important; other distinguishing points depend upon
the cause of the enlargement. In enlargement from accumulated bile the
tumor is elastic and fluctuating; from accumulation of gall-stones,
hard and nodulated, movable, painless on palpation, and often the seat
of crackling fremitus, produced by manipulation and due to the rubbing
together of several calculi; from cancer, hard, nodular, the size of an
orange, tender on pressure, rapid in growth, preceded by attacks of
biliary colic, and attended by fistulous communications with the
intestines and the passage of gall-stones per anum.
In aneurism of the aorta or coeliac axis the tumor may present in the
epigastrium and produce analogous pressure symptoms. But the pain is
more of the character described as wearing, and is usually augmented at
night: on grasping the tumor a uniform expanding pulsation is felt in
place of the to-and-fro movement appreciable in a tumor resting upon a
healthy blood-vessel and receiving a transmitted impulse, while the
constitutional symptoms and course are quite different.
The tumor of malignant disease of the omentum, although it appears in
the epigastrium or upper part of the umbilical region, is much more
movable, and is accompanied by ill-defined symptoms very dissimilar to
those of pancreatic cancer.
In cancer of the transverse colon the mass may occupy nearly the same
position as a pancreatic growth, but the pain occurs several hours
after food is taken; vomiting is absent, and there is frequently
hemorrhage from the bowels.
Chronic pancreatitis is accompanied by symptoms simulating those of
cancer; the enlargement of the gland, however, is not so great, nor are
the indications of pressure upon adjacent organs so prominent. The pain
is less severe, the general failure in health more gradual, the
progress slower, and constipation less common.
TREATMENT.--The indications are to maintain the strength of the
patient, to provide a diet that is nutritious and at the same time
easily digested, to allay pain by the employment of narcotics, and to
relieve as far as possible the various symptoms as they arise. The plan
of {1128} administering a calf's pancreas or extractum pancreatis will
prove serviceable when the fecal evacuations contain fat. Nutritious
and peptonized enemata may be of service in some cases.
Sarcoma and Tubercle of the Pancreas.
Sarcoma of the pancreas occurs with extreme rarity. It is impossible
during life to distinguish it from carcinoma.
Tubercle of the gland is infrequently met with. Some pathologists deny
its occurrence, and believe that the cases recorded as such are merely
instances of caseous degeneration of the neighboring glands. When it
does occur, it is always secondary, the primary disease being situated
in the lungs or intestines. The alterations in the gland consist in the
development of cheesy masses or of miliary granulations in the
connective tissue between the acini. The condition gives rise to no
definite symptoms, and its diagnosis during life is impossible.
DEGENERATIONS OF THE PANCREAS.
Fatty Disease of the Pancreas.
Two forms of fatty degeneration occur, either separately or
combined--namely, fatty infiltration and fatty metamorphosis.
Fatty infiltration consists of a true hypertrophy of the fat-tissue
normally existing in the gland, or of an increase and extension into
the gland of the peripancreatic adipose tissue. Yellow bands and masses
of fat-tissue appear between the acini, and by constantly increasing in
size lead gradually to a total atrophy of the cells of the acini. The
canal of Wirsung contains a fatty liquid. These changes are found
associated with fatty liver, heart, and omentum, in drunkards
especially.
Fatty metamorphosis of the gland consists of a change analogous to
fatty metamorphosis of other organs. When hyperplasia of the
interstitial connective tissue is absent, the organ is flaccid, soft,
and diminished in size; the acinous structure remains distinct, though
the acini and ducts are filled with a fatty emulsion: after this is
discharged or absorbed the gland appears as a flaccid band, and finally
becomes entirely atrophied. Fatty metamorphosis occurs in drunkards, in
diabetes, in advanced age, in cancer, phthisis, and other wasting
diseases.
Neither form of fatty disease gives rise to symptoms by which it can be
recognized during life.
Albuminoid Degeneration of the Pancreas.
This is only found in combination with amyloid change in other organs
of the body, and a diagnosis cannot be made.
{1129} Hemorrhages into the Pancreas.
Hemorrhages into the pancreas may be divided into three classes.
The most common form depends upon passive hyperæmia, the result of
chronic diseases of the heart, lungs, or liver. In this condition the
effusion of blood coexists with chronic inflammatory changes in the
interstitial connective tissue. The appearance at first is of minute
bloody points scattered throughout the areolar tissue; later, these
change into round or oval pigment masses, or spaces containing reddish
serum and surrounded by thickened, rust-colored, irregular walls.
The second class includes the rare cases of hemorrhage resulting from
the rupture of one of the large blood-vessels of the gland, and due to
some pre-existing change in the vessel walls. In these the pancreas is
enlarged, may be converted into a sac containing blood, either fluid or
coagulated or partially crystallized according to the duration of life
after the hemorrhage has taken place, and a ruptured blood-vessel may
be readily discovered on dissection.
The condition in which, without any evidence of passive hyperæmia or
gross vascular lesion, the entire pancreas become hemorrhagic,
constitutes the third class. The gland is then dark-red or violet in
color, the meshes of the interstitial tissue are filled with recent or
altered blood, and the acini are stained of a dull-gray hue. The
hemorrhage may extend to the connective tissue surrounding the gland.
Finally, the organ becomes soft, the peritoneal covering sloughs, and
fragments of broken-down gland-tissue escape into the peritoneal
cavity. These lesions are so analogous to those which attend thrombosis
occurring in other organs that their dependence upon the same cause
seems probable.