Case 68. We would like to give the full effect of our surprise at the outcome of the case of Margaret O’Brien, a school-teacher, 26 years of age. To be sure, Miss O’Brien developed symptoms at 22 or 23 which we can now explain consistently with the outcome of the case; for at that time, she began to complain of severe pain in the head, especially in the forehead and temples, and also became nervous, unable to remain quiet, and given to insomnia. She was markedly depressed at the time and would refuse to talk at times. However, only the headache in this prodromal period could be regarded as particularly suggestive of syphilis, and headache in an over-worked school-teacher is not uncommon.
In fact, the picture presented by the patient was one of catatonic dementia praecox. The patient was admitted to the hospital after a sudden onset of excitement. At first she was very restless, continually looking about and getting up and walking away from the examiner, giving the impression of understanding all questions but preserving an air of indifference. A few days later, the patient was gotten to answer more coöperatively. She remarked that the hospital was heaven although in Boston; that it was summer time (correct) and that her memory was greatly impaired. The physician was a messenger of God (delusion later corrected). The patient had not done God’s will; her breath was leaving her; God’s voice was heard from time to time, and Miss O’Brien had heard it for a long time. God tells her to do His will. However, as Miss O’Brien remarked, “I must think all this nonsense, turning against God.”
The patient frequently attitudinized and would remain in an apparently catatonic condition for many minutes. For the most part, she was resistive and mute and non-coöperative as to examination. From time to time, she made impulsive suicidal attempts. So far as a somewhat inadequate physical examination was concerned, nothing abnormal could be made out; in particular, the pupils reacted normally to light and were otherwise normal. The routine W. R. of the blood serum, however, returned positive, and in accordance with the policy of the Psychopathic Hospital, the patient was subjected to a lumbar puncture. The lumbar puncture yielded a positive W. R., 109 cells per cmm., a positive globulin and a considerable excess of albumin, and an exceedingly mild gold reaction—syphilitic type.
Ten days after admission, the patient had a convulsion. She never regained consciousness, continued to have convulsions for a few hours, and died, apparently from paralysis of respiration. The heart continued to beat for a short period after respiration ceased. The autopsy was consistent with the diagnosis which had been rendered after the surprising results of the W. R. in the blood and the laboratory findings in the spinal fluid had been learned. There was a generalized encephalitis with congestion of all the smaller cerebral vessels and petechial areas in the meninges and upon the cortical surfaces. We regard the case as one of syphilitic encephalitis.
The brain weighed 1265 grams, indicating a loss of 79 grams by Tigges’ formula (8 times the body length in centimetres). The pia mater was, in the gross, quite normal within the cranium; nor were any cells found in a smear from this pia mater; but the pia mater over the spinal cord was visibly edematous, and a smear from the spinal pia mater showed great numbers of lymphocytes and especially of plasma cells—a finding which was confirmed in stained section, by which a remarkable display of plasma cells was found plastered somewhat generally over the entire pia mater of certain segments. The brain substance was softer than normal, but displayed no differences of consistence. The stripping of the pia mater of the temporal lobes on both sides yielded the so-called “decortication” (that is, the adhesion of small bits of brain substance to the pia mater). The optic nerves were somewhat thinner than normal. No other gross lesions of the brain were found.
The dura mater, although dense and injected, was not otherwise abnormal. There was an early visible sclerosis of the middle meningeal arteries, more marked on the left side.
The cause of death, so far as the autopsy revealed it, was bronchial pneumonia. There was a diffuse nephritis.
1. Are the hallucinations in the case of O’Brien characteristic? Hallucinations are regarded as playing a minor rôle in general paresis. In fact, earlier workers sometimes denied that hallucinations occurred at all, and this denial has been made once more of late by Plaut,[[15]] but Kraepelin quotes Obersteiner as observing hallucinations in 10%, and regards that figure as approximately corresponding with his own experience. Junius and Arndt are cited as finding 17% of their cases hallucinated. Auditory hallucinations are somewhat more frequent than those of vision (alcoholic psychosis must be considered). The visual hallucinations of paresis are thought by Kraepelin to be related with atrophy of the optic nerves, and he states that they occur by preference in patients having such atrophy. Hallucinations though not common are more frequent in non-paretic neurosyphilis than in paretic neurosyphilis.
2. What was the cause of death in Margaret O’Brien? The autopsy, as above stated, indicated pneumonia. In point of fact, this patient developed convulsions and ceased respiration, the heart continuing to beat for some time after respiration had ceased. It may be that the death should be counted as one of neurosyphilitic seizure.
Tonsillar abscess associated with neurosyphilis (Lues Maligna?).