48. Landolfi??s Method of treating Cancer
1857
American Journal of the Medical Sciences
Progress of the Medical Sciences. [April firmed scirrhus, free from attachment, and nipple not retracted; feels sharp, darting, and lancinating pains shooting through the tumour, extending to the flands in the axilla, which are much enlarged. A small hard swelling was rst perceived about eight years since, the origin of which she attributes to a blow. Until two years ago the enlargement was very trifling, when the cata¬ menia ceased, but since then it has increased most rapidly, and the pain,
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... ich was at first very inconsiderable, has been much more severe in its character. The health is very materially impaired, though no very strongly-marked cancer¬ ous cachexia is observable in her countenance. There is no hereditary pre¬ disposition ; but she has lost a sister by consumption. " Dec. 3, 1856. Commenced to destroy the skin over the full extent of the surface of the tumour by the application of strong nitric acid, the heat and pain of which having subsided, I next applied the escharotic, prepared and spread on linen (as described) over the part to the extent of which I had de¬ stroyed the skin, over which I placed a portion of cotton wool, and left it until the following day, prescribing one grain of opinm every four hours to allay the pain, and to commence with one pill three times a day, composed of one grain of iodide of arsenic; twelve grains of sulphate of quinine; twenty-four grains of extract of hemlock: mix, and divide into twelve pills. " 4th. The skin over the tumour where the acid and dressing had been ap¬ plied being perfectly destroyed, I made several vertical incisions from above, or the top part of the tumour, to the bottom, merely through the skin, as deep as the deadened part, when narrow strips of linen, spread with the dressings,1 were pressed down by means of a probe, to the bottom of the same. On account of her excessive debility and exhaustion, cod-liver oil was ordered, together with some steel medicine, with full meat diet, wine, and porter. "5th. The incisions were deepened, and the dressings applied as before. This was repeated daily till the " 17/A. When I found I had reached to the' bottom of the diseased structure, from which time they were discontinued. The lino of demarcation between the dead and living part was now very perceptible, and it afterwards became gradually more defined, until the entire separation around the tumour took place. "Jan. 4, 1857. The thirty-second day after the commencement of the treat¬ ment, the tumour was enucleated entire, weighing at least a pound and a quarter, during a part of which time she suffered severely from influenza and bronchitis, which greatly retarded its progress. On the detachment of the tumour, a healthy granulating surface presented itself, which has since con¬ tinued to heal most rapidly under the use of the ordinary resin dressing, and at the same time her health has most remarkably improved." [A professional friend in this city, some years since, tried this caustic in cancer, in a number of cases, but his results were not such as to give encourage¬ ment to its further use. -Ed.] 48. Landolfi's Method of treating Cancer.-The commission appointed by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, consisting of MM. Broca, Cazolis, Furnari, Manec, Mounier, and Moissenet, have just reported most unfavourably upon M. Landolfi's method of treating cancer. According to the report, there is nothing new in this method, and the caustic employed is only the caustic of M. Canquoin disguised by the addition of a colouring and strongly smelling substance, and rendered more unmanageable and less certain in its action by the addition. The report also condemns M. Landolfi's plan of attacking only small portions of the tumour at a time. Nor is there anything of a practical character to recommend this plan; for of 9 cases of cancer of the breast, and 3 cases of cancroid disease, which were treated by M. Landolfi at the Salp6trifcre, under the eyes of the commissioners, the results were as follows: among the 9 cases of cancer of the breast there were 2 deaths, 4 decided aggravations of the symptoms, and 3 cicatrizations with immediate repullulation-conse-1 In this instance the preparation was made in the proportion of two parts of the chloride of zinc to one part of mucilage.
doi:10.1097/00000441-185704000-00068
fatcat:wbxxml4msjetzptddigxxoyn44