A case of compound fracture of the patella : with an analysis of sixty-nine cases of that injury / by Alfred Poland.

  • Poland, Alfred, 1822-1872.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of compound fracture of the patella : with an analysis of sixty-nine cases of that injury / by Alfred Poland. 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.

    4/50 (page 2)
    of injuries in consequence of having had under our care in Guy’s Hospital an interesting case of the kind, and which involved the question as to the propriety of primary amputa- tion. Although this case was attended with serious after- consequences, and therefore rather in favour of the doctrine upheld, yet it afforded us a sufficient basis to form a paper on the whole question, and which we have ventured to lay before the Society for their judgment. It is true that Dr. G. Bouchard,1 of Paris, has recently pub- lished a very excellent brochure on this injury, but he has included together all lesions of the joint-structure, such as fracture of the condyles of the femur and head of the tibia, thus opening a very wide field of inquiry ; his collection of cases are arranged according to the different phases of inflam- mation, suppuration, ulceration, and repair. In the present communication, however, we have confined ourselves entirely to the patella, and arranged the cases in a tabulated form according as the fracture was produced by incised, lacerated, or gunshot wounds; at the same time we have thought fit to append a table of the more serious compound fractures of the joint, in order to show how some of this class of cases may under certain circumstances be recovered from and repaired without the loss of a limb. The following is a general outline of our case, from notes by Mr. C. S. Chevallier. George M—, aet. 28, a boiler maker, was admitted into Guy’s Hospital on January 19th, 1869. About eight weeks previously he received a transverse lacerated wound over the anterior surface of the right knee, which was produced by a fall on the knee, and for which he was treated as an out-patient at the hospital. The wound was about three and a half inches in extent and the patella was exposed, but the joint was not injured. The edges of the wound were brought together by strapping, and a back splint was placed behind the knee- joint. The case progressed favorably, union of the edges took place, and cicatrization was almost completed, when, about 1 Bouchard, G., M.D., ‘ Des Fractures de la Rotule compliquees d’ouverture de l’articulation Tibio-femorale, et de leur Traitment.’ Paris, 1868.