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Preface
In writing this website I believe
the initial interest of readers will be in the
historical anomalies, which can be recorded in
most clinical conditions whether these are of
a “human” or medical “nature”.
The other themes are the way investigations occurred, the thoughts behind
differential diagnosis and the drawing together of references. The way
in which acromegaly is portrayed in medical literature has changed but
less than one might expect.
Terminology
Akromakrie akro = end, megas = large
“
La maladie de Marie” proposed name after Pierre Marie, proposed by
Verstraten and some of Pierre marie’s students.
Pachyakrie - Von Recklinghausen proposed since the increase in skin
thickness is invariable.
Photographic origin of research
A considerable amount of this research has derived from my
interest in the relationship between acromegaly and images, especially
photographs. All the small images link to larger ones and I also have
still larger versions on file or can put together a collection on CD if
some could be useful for teaching purposes. (Please contact me by
e-mail
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)
Original
papers from journals or books were photographed on Kodak Recordak using
a Leitz Reprovit (1981-2) and subsequent on Ilford Pan F. Negatives
were copied using Kodak Fine Grain Positive for early lectures and
printed using Ilford Multigrade paper.
The thought of printing out some 700 images meant the project was very
much put on hold and has now been rejuvenated with the possibility of scanning
quantities of negatives with ease.
Scanner Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 with slide adapter and roll-film adapter.
Negatives scanned at 300ppi enlarged to A3, jpg quality 100%. (ppi pixels
per inch)
Files used on website are:
- In-line images 72ppi, jpg quality 80%, max width 320 pixels, maximum
height 200 pixels (reversed for vertical images)
- Linked images 72ppi, jpg quality, max width 640 pixels, maximum height
400 pixels (reversed for vertical images).
Website specification
The original site was designed using Macromedia Studio MX 2004 on Macintosh OSX
platform using Dreamweaver templates, stylesheets and is compliant to W3C
XHTML and CSS2 standards it has since been transferred along with the rest of my website onto a Content Management System joomla 1.0.12 and now joomla 1.5.4. Some parts may require Flash Player 9. Accessibility
is to AAA standard throughout.
The family of acromegalics
"There are very few diseases all cases of which appear to present
such a strong family likeness." (Hutchinson W 1898)
See
PitPat site for patient's story 
. . . . of a Bradford lady. For the last seen or eight
years she had not cared to go out at all because "people looked
at her so"
(Appleyard 1892)
Papers, publications and lectures
Photographs from my research on acromegaly an gigantism have been used
in the following publications:
Anatomy and Physiology 4th Edition Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning 2000.
An Illustrated History of Acromegaly: Diagnosis and
Treatment (Slide resource kit) Ipsen Ltd, Produced by Medical Action
Communications Ltd, edited by Professor Stafford Lightman, 1998.
Lectures
History of Medical Photography in the Guise of Acromegaly
Institute
of Medical and Biological Illustration Conference, Warwick University,
September 1983.
Illustrated History of Acromegaly and Gigantism
Bristol
Medical History Society, Frenchay Postgraduate Medical Centre, November
1983
Endocrinology Club, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, February
1984
Kidderminster Medical Society, Kidderminster Postgraduate Medical
Centre, April 1984.
Acknowledgements
This website would not have been possible without the help of many people
including the many librarians, museums and archivists who have put up with
my many and varied, and some would say strange, requests. I would especially
like to thank those who have freely given me copies of papers and photographs.
The following list is not exhaustive but I will be adding to it as I finish
writing up.
Dundee Ninewells Medical School Library
Somerset County Museum
Jonathan Musgrave, University of Bristol
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Burgring, Wien.
Worcester Public Library
Hunterian Museum, The Royal College of Surgeons
of England.
University of Derby, Library and Learning Resource Centre
Scarborough Borough Council, Department of Tourism and Amenities
Nancy W Zinn, Head of Special Collections, The
Library, University of California, San Francisco
for photocopy of paper by Ellinwood.
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