PRESSURE ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM IN ITS RELATION TO HYPERGLYCEMIA: CHRONIC PIQÛRE

Abstract

Claude Bernard's piqûre¹ showing the close relation of the central nervous system to carbohydrate metabolism attracted the attention of many investigators and clinicians, so that cases of transient glycosuria as well as even cases of diabetes mellitus were examined for changes in the central nervous system. Since it was found that cases of tumors of the central nervous system and also cases of recent cerebral and subdural (intracranial) hemorrhages are often associated with glycosuria, special attention was paid to cases showing symptoms of direct pressure on the medulla oblongata. Indeed, tumors of its own or neighboring tissues, blood extravasations in its immediate vicinity or even into the fourth ventricle, and echinococcus situated occasionally in the cavity of the fourth ventricle have furnished useful anatomopathologic material, suggesting strongly a possible interrelationship between the glycosuria and the pathologic findings in or near the medulla. The accompanying table includes the cases compiled from