Part 59 (2/2)

State the prognosis and treatment of sarcoma.

The disease is always more or less malignant and, as a rule, sooner or later a fatal termination takes place. It is usually slow in its course.

Excision or extirpation, _x_-ray exposures, and the administration of a.r.s.enic in increasing dosage (preferably by hypodermic injection) now are generally considered the most promising in this usually hopeless malady.

Granuloma Fungoides.

Describe granuloma fungoides.

A rare form of disease, heretofore looked upon as sarcomatous, but now generally recognized as granuloma, and formerly described under the names _mycosis fungoides_, _inflammatory fungoid neoplasm_, and several others. It is characterized usually by symptoms of an eczematous, urticarial, and erysipelatous nature, and by the sudden or gradual appearance of pinkish or reddish, tubercular, nodular, lobulated, or furrowed tumors or flat infiltrations, which may disappear by involution or may be followed by ulceration; several or a larger number of the growths present a mushroom, papillomatous, or fungoid appearance, sometimes roughly resembling the cut part of a tomato. In most cases the tumor stage of the malady is not reached for two or more years; in exceptional instances, however, they appear in the first few months. The lesions, especially in their early stages, are, as a rule, accompanied with more or less burning and itching.

State the prognosis and treatment of granuloma fungoides.

The malady may last for several years or much longer, a fatal termination, with rare exceptions, sooner or later taking place. After the tumor stage is well established, the patient usually succ.u.mbs in from several months to one or two years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 65. Granuloma Fungoides.]

Treatment consists of tonics, if indicated, and the administration of a.r.s.enic, preferably hypodermically, and Rontgen-ray exposures, along with the application of mild antiseptics, and operative interference when necessary or advisable.

CLa.s.s VII.--NEUROSES.

Hyperaesthesia.

What is hyperaesthesia?

By hyperaesthesia is meant increased cutaneous sensibility. It is usually more or less localized, and is met with as a symptom in functional and organic nervous diseases.

Dermatalgia.

(_Synonyms:_ Neuralgia of the Skin; Rheumatism of the Skin; Dermalgia.)

What do you understand by dermatalgia?

By dermatalgia is meant a tender or painful condition of the skin unattended by structural change. It is commonly limited to a small area, and is usually symptomatic of functional or organic nervous disease. As an idiopathic affection it is looked upon as of a rheumatic origin.

Treatment depends upon the cause.

Anaesthesia.

<script>