Descriptive Card Log Book Entry
Rodin Number: 31
E Number: 162
Donor: Osler
Date: 1884
Size (H x W cm): 18 x 14
The specimen shows a 7 cm saccular aneurysm in the descending aorta. It extends into the posterior mediastinum and is filled with laminated clot. An esophageal diverticulum (arrow in back view (top)) adheres to the floor of the aneurysm.
Comment
The descriptive card refers to a discussion of this specimen in the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical Society Minute Book May 9, 1884. However, the entry corresponds to specimen No 40 rather than this one. The card also makes reference to Osler's article reviewing his experience with descending aortic aneurysms based primarily on his experience at Johns Hopkins ( International Clinics 1903 I: 1-40). In this article, he documents 14 cases seen at that hospital since its opening. He also describes and illustrates the clinical and autopsy findings of a case he had seen in Montreal in 1882, in which an aneurysm had ruptured into the esophagus and caused the death of a 35 year-old woman. It is not clear if Osler kept a specimen from this case; however, if he did, it has been lost.