Notes on Pott's fracture : with a few remarks on the treatment of old cases / by Robert Jones.

  • Jones, Robert, 1857-1933.
Date:
[1887]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on Pott's fracture : with a few remarks on the treatment of old cases / by Robert Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Of seventy-five cases I find on reference that fifty-seven were males and eighteen women. The age varied greatly— 3 occurred between the ages 5 and 10 of whom 2 were males. 10 yy yy 10 „ 20 yy 7 yy 25 yy yy 20 CO o ' yy 21 yy 21 yy yy 30 „ 40 yy 18 yy 9 yy yy 40 „ 50 yy 4 yy 4 yy yy 50 „ 60 yy 2 yy 2 yy yy GO „ 70 yy 2 yy 1 was 74 years old, a male. About 30 per cent, of the cases sought surgical aid on the day of the accident, about 35 per cent, on the second day, about 15 per cent, on the third day, and the remainder later. In fifty- four out of seventy-five cases the fracture was of the right fibula. In regard to the question of the cause of deformity it appears to me that there has been a great deal too much written. I have no belief in any muscular action theory. It occurs and is intensified by the continuation of the force which was employed upon the fracture. A foot is fractured by inversion, and generally the deformity is inversion, and so with eversion. Patients generally do not realise the enormity of the accident, and continue for a few strides onward until a trivial deformity becomes typical. Two cases will illustrate this. A gentleman vaulting from his bath fell upon the inside of his left ankle, and “ feeling something give,” he looked at his foot. There was no deformity to be observed. The pain not being acute he walked as far as the towel rail, donned his dressing-coat, and found his way to the bedroom. The deformity by this time had, to his amazement, become typical. Another instance will be afforded by a case I saw, in consultation with a medical friend, who told me that he had been called to the patient, who had fallen on his ankle, the point of obscurity being the presence or not of a fracture. On entering the patient’s room my friend was astonished to find a well-marked case of Pott’s fracture with an exceptionally pronounced eversion. The transformation was explained by the patient, who confessed to having doubts con-