抄録
Out of 1180 patients in National Tama Zensei-en Leprosy Hospital between 1938 and 1943 the author's investigation on upper respiratory organ leprosy has enabled him to find the following result.
(1) Clinical observation: Nasal morbidity was found to be 83.1%-in light cases, 97.2% in medium cases, and 992% in serious cases. Pharyngeal and laryngeal morbidity was 18.1-19.3% in light cases, 60.2-71.0% in medium cases, and 96.0-93.6% in serious cases. In the K-type microbes were found in snot to 63.4%, in the N-type to 5.0%, and in the M-type to 6.7%.
As a prodrome epistasis or nasal catarrh was found very few. As an initial symptom rubefacient swellings in nasal mucous membrane, or miliary rashes or nodulous lesions were observed. In cases of lepra maculosa some times tuberculoid macula was produced. The lesions mentioned above caused ulcers which resulted cicatrix atrophy followed by various deformities.
(2) Autopsical observation: Observation on laryngeal leprosy revealed that the hearth is likely to develop on cartilago epigiottic parts and cartilago arytaenoidean parts. Histologically the initial hearth was found around the nerve branches located deep in suhmucons layers. It has a tendency to grow sideward among connective tissues or mucous membranes. when it reaches perichondrium it will cause perichondritis. Lesions in larynx is easier to cure than tuberculous iesiors. In one case healed lesions were often found together with new lesiors, which shows that the circulatory spreading of bacillus leprae is always repeated.
