A new operation for bony anchylosis of the hip joint with malposition of the limb by subcutaneous division of the neck of the thigh-bone / by William Adams.

Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new operation for bony anchylosis of the hip joint with malposition of the limb by subcutaneous division of the neck of the thigh-bone / by William Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    as to the existence of cartilaginous covering to the bone, synovial membrane, &c. I am not aware of any operation having been performed in this or any other country on the hip joint in cases of bony anchylosis, with the object of obtaining free motion by the establishment of a so- called “ artificial jointand it will at once be seen that further experience is required before we can confidently speak of the success of such an operation, although the cases recorded by Dr. Sayre are un- doubtedly worthy of the most attentive considera- tion. It occurred to me, however, that in these cases of bony anchylosis of the hip joint, with extreme dis- tortion, a much, more simple operation might be per- formed by the subcutaneous division of the neck of the thigh-bone, about its centre, within the capsular ligament (as represented in Fig. 2); and on the 1st December, 1869, I performed this operation success- fully on the following case. Luke Bristowe, aged 24, a gardener from Loudon, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, was admitted into the Orthopedic Hospital on the 12th October, 1869, in consequence of extreme deformity at the hip-joint. The thigh was flexed upon the pelvis at a right angle, and firmly anchylosed in this position ; the heel of the right leg rested on the upper part of the left knee joint, and the limb was therefore perfectly use- less. The only mode of progression was either with two crutches, or with one crutch and a stick, which lie generally used (as shown in Fig. 3). He had also anchylosis of the vertebral articulations through a considerable portion of the spinal column; all the