Bright's disease

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox medical condition (new) Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine. It was frequently accompanied by high blood pressure and heart disease.

Signs and symptoms

The symptoms and signs of Bright's disease were first described in 1827 by the English physician Richard Bright, after whom the disease was named. In his Reports of Medical Cases,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> he described 25 cases of dropsy (edema) which he attributed to kidney disease. Symptoms and signs included: inflammation of serous membranes, haemorrhages, apoplexy, convulsions, blindness and coma.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Many of these cases were found to have albumin in their urine (detected by the spoon and candle-heat coagulation), and showed striking morbid changes of the kidneys post-mortem.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite journal</ref> The triad of dropsy, albumin in the urine and kidney disease came to be regarded as characteristic of Bright's disease.<ref name=":2" />

Subsequent work by Bright and others indicated an association with cardiac hypertrophy, which Bright attributed to stimulation of the heart. Frederick Akbar Mahomed showed that a rise in blood pressure could precede the appearance of albumin in the urine, and the rise in blood pressure and increased resistance to flow was believed to explain the cardiac hypertrophy.<ref name=":3" />

It is today known that Bright's disease is caused by a wide and diverse range of kidney diseases;<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name="pmid12381966">Template:Cite journal</ref> thus, the term Bright's disease is retained for historical application but not in modern diagnosis.<ref name="pmid2682170">Template:Cite journal</ref> The disease was diagnosed frequently in diabetic patients;<ref name=":3" /> at least some of these cases would probably correspond to a modern diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy.

Treatment

Bright's disease was historically treated with warm baths, blood-letting, squill, digitalis, mercuric compounds, opium, diuretics, laxatives<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and dietary therapy, including abstinence from alcoholic drinks, cheese and red meat. Arnold Ehret was diagnosed with Bright's disease and pronounced incurable by 24 of Europe's most respected doctors; he designed The Mucusless Diet Healing System, which apparently cured his illness. William Howard Hay had the illness and, it is claimed, cured himself using the Hay diet.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Society and culture

List of people diagnosed with Bright's disease

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  • Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer, began suffering from Bright's disease in 1900, and died on 18 May 1909.
  • Paul Anderson, American Olympic gold medalist weightlifter, died 15 August 1994. In 1961, he and his wife Glenda founded the Paul Anderson Youth Home in Vidalia, Georgia.
  • Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States, died 18 November 1886.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, Victorian aristocrat and industrial magnate whose vast expenditure on buildings makes him the pre-eminent architectural patron of the 19th century; diagnosed with Bright's disease and died after multiple strokes on 9 October 1900.
  • Marcus Daly, Irish immigrant; Copper King of Butte, Montana; discoverer of copper riches in the Anaconda mine and founder of Anaconda, Montana; first president of Amalgamated/Anaconda Copper Company; died on 12 November 1900.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Emily Dickinson, poet, died on 15 May 1886.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Henry Chapman Mercer, a famous tile-maker, archeologist, and collector from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, died on 9 March 1930.
  • Billy Miske, American light heavyweight and heavyweight boxer, who once fought Jack Dempsey for the World Heavyweight Boxing title, died on 1 January 1924.
  • Helena Modjeska, Victorian actress, died on 8 April 1909.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Luke Short, famed gunfighter, was diagnosed with Bright's disease in early 1893, but died on 8 September of that year due to edema.
  • Charles H. Spurgeon, London pastor known as "The Prince of Preachers", died in 1892.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Robert Stroud, "the Birdman of Alcatraz," was diagnosed with Bright's disease at Fort Leavenworth Pentitentiary shortly after he began his original sentence, but lived on until 21 November 1963.
  • Alfred H. Terry, an important Union Major General and, later, commanding officer of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, died on 16 December 1890.
  • Virgilio Tojetti, Italian-American painter<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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References

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