On the healing of wounds in articular cartilages, and on the removal of these structures after amputations at the joints : with remarks on the relation which exists between the diseases of cartilage and ulceration and inflalmmation in other textures / by P. Redfern.

  • Redfern, Peter, 1821-1912.
Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the healing of wounds in articular cartilages, and on the removal of these structures after amputations at the joints : with remarks on the relation which exists between the diseases of cartilage and ulceration and inflalmmation in other textures / by P. Redfern. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    as a permanent structure ; I therefore instituted other experiments, which were as follow :—-Three incisions were made across the car¬ tilage of the patella and obliquely from below upwards, in a young dog, and two others were made vertically and from the centre to¬ wards the circumference in the cartilage of the trochlear surface of the femur. The patella became dislocated on the inner condyle of the femur, and the dislocation returned instantly after reduction, so that it was allowed to remain. The dog suffered considerably, and could not put his leg to the ground for a fortnight, after which, slight lameness continued for some time, and then almost altogether dis¬ appeared, except when any unusual movement was produced. The joint was examined at the end of twenty-four weeks and five days, and presented the following appearances:—A slightly increased quantity of synovia exists in the joint; the patella rests by the ex¬ ternal half of its articular surface on the inner side of the internal condyle of the femur, and the part of the fibrous capsule of the joint which lies upon the trochlear surface of the femur and glides over it, presents a dense, white, and smooth spot, similar in appearance to fibro-cartilage, and of exactly the same size and shape as the troch¬ lea. The edges of the trochlear surface of the femur, and the ver¬ tical ridge on the cartilage of the patella, are less prominent than usual, and rounded. The cartilage of the femur appears perfectly healthy, that of the tibia somewhat softer than natural, and the car¬ tilage of the patella is more transparent, and has a small perforation in its centre leading down to the bone. The position of the incisions is difficult to see on the patella, and is only marked by the slightest curvilinear depressions; on the femur, one incision is recognised with the greatest difficulty, and the position of the other cannot be seen with the naked eye. On microscopical examination, the superficial cells over a consi¬ derable extent of the surface of the cartilage of the patella, and especially in the neighbourhood of the central depression, have be¬ come much enlarged, many measuring j^L-^th 0f an inch in dia¬ meter ; they are nearly spherical, and their contents appear to have divided into three or four masses like nuclei; they are lodged in hyaline substance of greater transparency, and much greater soft¬ ness than ordinary, so that the cells can be pressed out of it. The appearance of the surface is in fact very similar to that shown in Fig. 2, and formerly described as showing the structure of the super¬ ficial layers of the cartilage of the tibia of a dog at a spot in which increased pressure had been made. In the neighbourhood of the incisions into the cartilage of the pa¬ tella, and upon the trochlear surface of the femur, though not ex¬ tending upon the condyloid surfaces, the substance of the superficial layers of the cartilage has become converted into a membrane com¬ posed of granules, nuclei, and fibres. The formation of this mem¬ brane may readily be traced by an examination of it at the line of junction of the trochlear and condyloid surfaces, where it becomes