Second memoir on excision of the knee-joint : to which is appended a remarkable example of the power of operative surgery in saving the same articulation / by Richard G.H. Butcher.

  • Butcher, Richard G. H., 1819-1891.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second memoir on excision of the knee-joint : to which is appended a remarkable example of the power of operative surgery in saving the same articulation / by Richard G.H. Butcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    55/82 (page 51)
    “ Camhridge, Nov. 22, 1856. u Eliza Hobbs, the young woman who underwent the ope¬ ration of excision of the knee-joint, came over to Cambridge, and I have seen her to-day. The bones are firmly united, and bear the weight of the body well; so that she is able to walk w’ithout either crutch or stick, the only defect being, that the limb is one inch and a half shorter than the other, and stiff from the hip to the ankle. I am very glad to be able to send you so satisfactory an account of the operation. The wound has long been soundly healed.” The next case, No. vn., successfully operated on by Mr. Hughes, November 16, 1854, is described by this gentleman in a letter with which he favoured .me, and dated, Stafford, November 15, 1856. “ I received your first note of inquiry, and delayed to answer it till I could conveniently visit Anne Turner, the subject of the operation, who resides on the bor¬ ders of the county. I have this week been to her residence to make the needful inquiries, and am obliged, she being from home, to content myself with the testimony of her mother. I learn that the sinuses did not permanently close until last April. She has, during the last twelve months, had a very useful limb, and has declared her intention to go out to ser¬ vice. She has often walked to church and back, between three and four miles, and once the same distance, without an interval of rest, and without much inconvenience. The shortening of the limb is between an inch and a half and two inches.” Mr. Henry Smith has kindly informed me as to the pre¬ sent condition of the boy successfully operated on by Mr. Fergusson, December 16, 1856—No. vm. “ October 1, 1856. 1 have frequently seen him walk into the theatre of King’s College Hospital when Mr. Fergusson wished to show him to his pupils. In this case an inch and a half of bone was re¬ moved.” It is with great pleasure I refer to the case, No. ix., suc¬ cessfully operated on by Mr. Brotherston, January 12, 1855. He has favoured me with the following history as to the boy’s present state:— “Alloa, November 13, 1856. “ The present condition of the leg, in which I performed excision of the knee-joint on January 12, 1855, is as follows:— The leg continues quite well to this date; the tibia and femur are firmly anchylosed, and the patella movable, but a little drawn up. All ulceration has perfectly healed, and he can walk without the support of a crutch. The leg is an inch e 2