Campbell Geddes, A.

2019-02-15T14:33:56Z

2019-02-15T14:33:56Z

1908

1. Acromegaly and the Giantism of Nutritive Over-loading are one, and are dependent for their different lines of evolution upon differences in the constitution of the body which, in turn, is dependent upon the age of the whdle body or of parts of the body or of inborn differences of the body cells.

2. Nutritive overloading is either systemic and dependent upon failure of the exogenous metabolism or local to the tissues and dependent upon failure of the vascular control.

3. Failure of the exogenous metabolism may be the result: A. Of an undue and altogether excessive strain being thrown upon its mechanism as the result of an abnormally great intestinal absorptive power. • B. Of changes in the liver which may be secondary to typhoid fever or some other acute infectious disease. • C. Of changes in the ductless glands which govern the metabolism of the liver. In some cases these are of unknown origin, in others, they appear to be secondary to some acute disease, still in others to some profound nervous disturbance whatever the intimate meaning of that may be.

4. Enlargement of the pituitary occurs in all those cases in which there is systemic nutritive overloading and is to be regarded as a functional, compensatory hypertrophy, frequently carried to excess and frequently associated with secondary degenerative changes.

5. Enlargement of the pituitary does not occur in cases in which there is no systemic nutritive overloading.

6. Acromegaly and the Giantism of nutritive overloading are best classed together under the title Acromegalic-Gigantism.

7. Acromegalic-Gigantism is a symptom of excessive nutritive supply to the somatic cells.

8. The growth changes of Acromegalic-Gigantism affect most markedly the most absorptive cell areas of the body which are found,first, in the epiphyseal cartilages, second, comparing each tissue with tissues of its own kind in the ontogenetically and phylogenetically more youthful areas of the body.

9. Acromegalic-Gigantism is inevitably associated with the development of a precocious senility which, unlike true senility, is of environmental, and not of protoplasmic, origin. There is, therefore, always a chance of rejuvenescence in the presence of in- creased blood supply. This almost invariably occurs and bossing and buttressing of the bones results.

10. Acromegalic- Gigantism superficially resembles Eunuchoid Gigantism and Physiological Giantism, but is essentially different from both in origin and result. In origin because in them there is no loss of metabolic control; in result because they do not carry with them the inevitable doom of a precocious senility and an early death.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/35019

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2019 Block 22

Acromegalic-giganticism: a hypothesis

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

MD Doctor of Medicine