A Description of the Diseased Conditions of the Knee-Joint Which Require Amputation of the Limb, and Those Conditions Which Are Favourable to Excisi

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1865 edition. Excerpt: ... 1. Mr. Fergusson's twenty-one cases. No. of Cases operated on. Cared. Deaths from various causes. 21 9 11 Of the twenty-one cases operated upon by this surgeon, eleven occurred in females, and ten in males. The age of the youngest patient was three years and a half, that of the eldest thirty-five years. The earliest period at which the operation was undertaken after the occurrence of disease was at the eleventh month; the most remote, after nine years and a half. Of these twenty-one cases, nine were cured with useful limbs, the degree of utility varying, however, according to circumstances. Thus, in one case (chronic synovial disease, &c), to be hereafter more particularly spoken of, a young woman had her knee-joint excised in March 1856, and the anchylosis is one which admits of very considerable motion. The girl has at the present time a most useful limb, and is employed as a hard-working servant. The last time I examined the limb, osseous material had been, in no appreciable way, generated. This examination was made nearly three years ago. In another instance, the second operation performed by this surgeon (1852), on account of synovial disease, and ulceration of the articular cartilages, the nature of the union which has resulted is entirely fibrous, and very considerable motion is allowed at the present time; so that she is compelled, if wishing to undergo any unusual fatigue, to support the limb with an iron side-rod, fixed at one end to the pelvis and by the other into her boot. The limb, as is seen by the accompanying photograph, is well nourished, and but five inches and a half shorter than its fellow, although a considerable portion of both bones forming the knee-joint was removed. But by far the most interesting cases of this...