SURGERY.
Re-appearance after Excision of a Non-malignant Growth.—Second
Operation. Under the care of Mr. Cock.—John Marknaan, a farm
laborer of robust health, now aged seventy-one, was under Mr. Cock’s
care five years ago on account of a tumor, the size of a hen’s egg, situ-
ated on the outer and back part of the right thigh, which had been slowly
increasing for five years. It had given him no pain, and his health had
not in the least declined since its appearanee. Mr. Cock dissected it
out, which was easily done, since, although adherent to the skin, it was
loose and movable on the parts beneath. It was a lobulated, firm, fibrous-
looking mass, not succulent, surrounded by a thin capsule of cellular
tissue, the completeness of which rendered it not difficult to be certain
that the whole was removed. The wound healed kindly, and the man
left the hospital.
In the beginning of November of the present year he again applied
for admission, a growth nearly the size of the former one having made
its appearance close to the cicatrix. He stated that it began to grow
about six months after the operation, and had again increased in size
very slowly and painlessly. It now consisted of two portions, connected
at the base, one much larger than the other, and each presenting a
rounded, well-defined outline. The skin was not ulcerated, and had
never been so.
On Nov. 2, Mr. Cock again excised the tumor, removing, as on the
former occasion, the superjacent and attached skin. The section of the
growth exhibited precisely the same features as before; it was sur-
rounded by a thin capsule., was deeply lobed, and, when cut, the surface
became very convex. Its texture was firm, whitish, and crossed in a
radiating direction by bands of fibrous tissue. Mr. Burkitt examined
its minute structure under the microscope, and discovered the kind of
cells characteristic of M. Lebert’s “ fibro-plastic tumors.” The wound
soon healed, and the man has now returned home.
We may remark, that all the main points in the history of this tumor
were strongly in favor of its being non-malignant. It had caused no
pain, had never ulcerated, had existed for ten years, yet no glands had
become enlarged, nor had the health of the patient ever been in the
least deteriorated.—Ibid.