Illingworth, Charles Frederick William

2019-02-15T14:30:36Z

2019-02-15T14:30:36Z

1929

The occurrence of cholesterol deposits in the wall of the gall- bladder has appeared to the writer to be of more than passing interest, for the following reasons:- (i) Although cholesterol is of widespread distribution and may be laid down in many sites throughout the body in large collections, yet little is known either of its real function in regard to the general body economy or of the conditions which control its deposition, Such deposits consequently attract interest in inverse proportion to our knowledge of their causation. (2) The biliary tract is known to bear very particular relationship to cholesterol, for, with the exception of the milk during lactation, the bile forms by far the most important vehicle for its excretion, and it therefore becomes a very attractive hypothesis that the gall- bladder, as a specialised part of the biliary tract, bears some close relationship to this excretory process and that this relationship renders it particularly subject to the deposition of cholesterol.

Part II. of this thesis is devoted to a consideration of these and other aspects of the disease, and to a description of experimental work which.has been carried out in relation to them, Firstly, Cholesterosis of the Gall-bladder will be considered in its relation to similar deposits of cholesterol in other organs. Secondly, an excursion will be made into the realms of Comparative Pathology, to describe a similar. change which it has been the writer's good fortune to observe in the gall-bladder of a cat.

Thirdly, the possible causes of Cholesterosis in the human being will be considered, and the experimental production of the disease in animals under controlled conditions will be described. And lastly, experimental work will be recorded which goes to indicate the relation of Cholesterosis to the function of the gall-bladder and biliary tract.

Whatever may be the pathogenesis of Cholesterosis of the Gall-bladder, a feature of very practical interest is its relation to the formation of gall-stones. It is well recognised that Cholesterol forms the chief constituent of the great majority of gall-stones, and it will be shown later that those stones which consist almost entirely of Cholesterol seem particularly apt to be associated with Cholesterosis of the Gall-bladder. The relationship between these two conditions therefore invites examination.

In Part III, the present-day views as to the formation of gall-stones are considered, and in this connection several cases from the series here reported are described, which indicate the relationship existing between the origin of stones and cholesterol deposition in the gall-bladder wall.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/34729

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2019 Block 22

Cholesterosis of the gall-bladder: a clinical and experimental study

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

MD Doctor of Medicine