Object numberRCSPC/02487
Scientific nameHomo sapiens
CollectionPathology
CategoryWet preparations
Wellcome numberHC 14.4
DescriptionHeart, showing subacute infective endocarditis.
SPECIMEN The heart opened to show the aortic valve. The left posterior and anterior cusps are covered by a mass of friable vegetations, and the corresponding sinuses of Valsalva are so weakened by the extension of the ulceration that an aneurysm has formed, the sac of which has ruptured into the atrium. The mitral valve is much thickened, and is aortic cusp is ulcerated where it is in contact with the diseased aortic valve. The left ventricle is dilated and hypertrophied.
HISTORY From a man who had had acute rheumatic fever sixteen years before death without any cardiac affection. He had suffered for about three months with 'ague', and took to his bed. No disease could be detected, and the fever was not relieved by quinine of arsenic. A fortnight before death he suffered considerable precordial discomfort, and a double aortic murmur was now detected. This rapidly became louder, and he died in acute heart failure.
presented
Physical Location
LocationNot on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Bibliography
SourceFlaxman 1939
NotesFlaxman's paper summarises Peacock's career, the cases Peacock presented through the Pathological Society of London from 1847 to 1882 and his work on 'Malformations of the Human Heart', first published in 1858.
SourcePeacock 1876
NotesMS. catalogue of Peacock's preparations of malformed hearts.