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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    to of an inch. The inter-cellular spaces are much greater than in the superficial parts of the corresponding cartilage of the opposite limb, and are occupied by hyaline substance in which there are traces of fibres, which are continuous with those of the fibrous covering of the end of the bones. On proceeding in the examina¬ tion towards the skin, the walls of the cartilage cells gradually dis¬ appear, and their contents—nuclei and granules—become mixed with the fibres of the fibrous tissue, where the nuclei can be seen dis¬ tinctly elongating to form nuclear fibres, especially after the appli¬ cation of acetic acid. The formation of white fibres in the inter¬ cellular substance, quite independently of the cells, is also distinctly observed, so that there can be no doubt that the cartilage substance is converted into fibrous tissue, of which the white fibres are pro¬ duced by transformation of the hyaline substance, and the yellow or nuclear fibres by elongation of the nuclei of the cartilage cells. The appearance of the cartilage at the point of connection with the fibrous membrane, is almost precisely similar to that which forms on the surface of costal cartilages in the neighbourhood of parts irri¬ tated artificially, and is represented in Figs. 5 and 6. Fig. 5. FiX A different process, which, however, there is good reason to be¬ lieve would have terminated in the same manner, occurred in an in¬ stance in which the leg of a dog was amputated at the knee-joint twelve weeks before the examination of the parts. The patella was left, but its lateral connections were sufficiently loosened to allow it to be drawn upwards on the thigh. The stump healed completely by the first intention in a few days: the animal got very fat, and did not manifest the slightest uneasiness when the part was freely handled, or at any other time. The following were the appearances- The patella lies loosely on the surface of the femur, half-an-mch above the edge of its trochlear surface. The cicatrix is firm, and the covering of the end of the bone perfectly healthy, and \eiy moveable everywhere, except in one spot, a line in diameter, near the lower part of the external condyle of the femur, where a little oozing occurs, and a firm adhesion to'the deeper parts exists. The