Enlarge Descriptive Card Log Book Entry
Rodin Number: 38
E Number: 198
Donor: Osler
Date: unknown
Size (H x W cm): 11 x 9.5
The specimen shows a portion of the base of the heart from which arise the pulmonary artery (P) and aorta (A). An irregular 2 cm laceration is evident in the latter on both front and back (B) views (long arrow). The obliterated ductus arteriosus has been carefully dissected (view (A) short arrow).
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Comment
The descriptive card and Rodin both suggest that the specimen comes from Osler's autopsy No 125 of July 7, 1877 (described in the Montreal General Hospital Reports 1880 I: 284). However, although the case documented therein is that of a fatal stab wound, the injury is described as affecting "the left subclavian artery 1.2 cm from its origin on the arch, severing the vessel in three-fourths of its extent". The laceration in specimen 29 is clearly in the ascending aorta, and must relate to another case.