concept
Atheromatous Process (Arterial Degeneration)
atheromatous process
also: атероматозный процесс, перерождение артерий, arteriosclerosis
The underlying diagnosis Chekhov gives for Grigorovich's condition: a hardening and fatty/calcified degeneration of the artery walls, which he explains to Suvorin with the image of a rubber tube grown brittle with age -- a senile, incurable disease of which the angina pectoris is only a symptom.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Suvorin, 18 March 1887. Moscow. §8 atheromatous process, a degeneration of the arteries
The actual diagnosis, as Chekhov explains it: the artery walls harden and lose elasticity with age (what would now be called arteriosclerosis), rendering them liable to rupture under strain -- "a senile and incurable affliction." This entire paragraph is a small, exact piece of nineteenth-century clinical exposition, offered without euphemism to prepare Suvorin for the likelihood of Grigorovich's death.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 18 March 1887. Moscow. §8 an ordinary rubber tube which, from long use, has lost its elasticity
Chekhov's own analogy for explaining arterial degeneration to a lay reader -- characteristic of his habit, throughout the correspondence, of translating medical knowledge into plain, vivid images.