A MAN'S PERPETUAL GROWTH.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2041, 24 August 1906, Page 7

A MAN'S PERPETUAL GROWTH.

The Manchester lioyal, Infirmary numbers among its out patients a man who is sintering from what is happily an exceedingly rare disease. It is known as acromegaly, and takes the form of a perpetual enlargement of the bony framework of the body, more particularly the skull and the •itremitios. The disease was diagnosed about seven years ago, and the patient has since been attended regularly by one of the resident infirmary doctors. in that time the disease has made alarming progress, and the unfortunate man has become very much deformed, 'lhe enlargement of the long bones has resulted in the figure growing somewhat bent and misshapen. The jaws have assumed a leonine form, and the lower jaw particularly has grown to a remarkable size. The lower teeth have spread outwardly, and are now much in advance oi those of Lhe upper jaw. The ears have grown to seven or eight times' their normal size, and the patient's speech has become affected, apparently from the thickening of the cartilages of the larynx. The nose has broadened, and the eyes are also growing larger. The poor man's sulferings are increased by a singular form of blindness —in clinical language termed hemianopsia. in order to see an object clearly he must turn his head to the left, as the sight is limited to the outer half of the right eye. Walking has become a dilhculty through the remarkable growth of the leet, and the patient's hands have developed to quite an extraordinary extent. Indeed, they have become so large and misshapen as to render them of little practical use. The lingers have thickened without growing in length, and spreading the fingers out is a dilllcult process, iioth the thighs and the upper arms appear to have shrunken with the enlargement of the extremities. The result of this steady increasing malformation has been to compel the man to give up his irade of a trench polisher, and he has been forced to earn his living in a precarious fashion. He is -il j ears oi age. The case, which is naturally of great interest to medical men, has formed the subject of a clinical lecture at the infirmary.