Observations on torticollis : with particular reference to the significance of the so-called hematoma of the sterno-mastoid muscle / by Royal Whitman.

  • Whitman, Royal, 1857-1946.
Date:
[1891]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on torticollis : with particular reference to the significance of the so-called hematoma of the sterno-mastoid muscle / by Royal Whitman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    1. A muscle shortened in utero may be ruptured at birth, thus presenting a deformity where the in- duration is a coincidence and not a cause.’ Such a case was reported by Bruns''’ at the last Congress of German Surgeons. 2. An inflamed gland, adherent to the muscle, with torticollis from nerve irritation, may be mis- taken for hematoma, as in the case mentioned. 3. Similar enlargements may in certain instances be of other origin than injury—such as fibrous, sarcomatous,® or syphilitic tumors, arising, it maybe, in utero. Cases reported by Graser, Taylor,‘ Hadra,'’ and Holmes® would seem to support this view. It is possible, too, that injury in a tuberculous or syphilitic child might give rise to a myositis suffi- ciently exaggerated to cause permanent arrest of development and actual shortening. In regard to injury in general, this is undoubtedly an occasional cause of acquired torticollis. It might operate at birth as in later life, and hema- toma might be a coincidence, or we may fancy that fibers of the spinal accessary nerve might be involved in the induration following muscle rupture, with irritative spasm as a result. These, however, are simply conjectures, and are entirely distinct from the question of scar-contraction that we are considering. It may be objected that the ' Rennecke: Centralbl. fiir Gyn , No. 22, 18S6 Centralbl. Kir Chir., No. 26, i8gi. •'* Graser : Miinch. nied. Woclienscli., No. 13, 1887. ■* Trans. Lond. Path Society, xxvi. p. 22.p ^ N. Y. Med. Record, January 23, t886. ‘‘ Diseases of Childhood and Infancy.