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| LYMPHLAND |
| The Dutch explorer Jan Huygen Linschoten recorded that the descendants of those that killed St. Thomas were "all born with one of their legs and one foot from the knee downwards as thick as an elephants leg"
(32). Thereafter, there are numerous references to elephantiasis, especially in Africa but also in Asia, including China, where Manson was later to discover the life cycle of the parasite. Another pathological condition associated with lymphatic filariasis is chyluria, in which the urine appears milky. This condition was recorded by William Prout in his 1849 book On the Nature and Treatment of Stomach and Renal Diseases Handley WS: “Lymphangioplasty: New Method for Relief of Brawny Arm of Breast-Cancer and for Similar Conditions of Lymphatic Oedema” Lancet Mar 1908;1:783-5. Indian works on traditional medicine described elephantiasis with lymphorrhea around 1500 B.C. Ancient Egypt: the Ebers Papyrus circa 1550 B.C., refered to infectious elephantiasis (filariasis) Celsus was probably the first author to use the term elephantiasis (30 B.C. - 50 A.D.) Dropsy andelephantiasis were described by Paul of Aegina and Artetaus of Cappadocia (De Elephante Morbo, 50 A.D.) Galen (138-201 A.D.) included edema in his list of medical diagnoses. Prosper Alpino, physician of the Venetian ambassador to Egypt, described Elephantiasis arabicum around 1541 The association of edema with the lymphatic system was not made until the lymphatics were clearly described. hewson 1744 and Cruikshank 1789 established these connections for the first time. Lymphedema as a complication fo breast cancer was described by horne 1805 and Druitt 1850. Halstead 1921 who pioneered radical mastectormy surgery related lymphedema to axillary node dissection. Milroy provided the first scientific description of congenital lymphedema 1892. |
