Partial dislocation of the radius and ulna backwards : with the formation of a new joint / by T.M. Girdlestone.

  • Girdlestone, T.M.
Date:
[1850]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Partial dislocation of the radius and ulna backwards : with the formation of a new joint / by T.M. Girdlestone. 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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    PARTIAL DISLOCATION OF THE RADIUS AND ULNA BACKWARDS, WITH THE FORMATION OF A NEW JOINT. By T. M. GIRDLESTONE, F.R.C.S. Read on Thursday^ March 14, 1850. The prepai’ation here described was taken from a subject in the dissecting- rooms, and is consequently without a history; but, fr'om the appearance of the joint, we may conclude that the displacement occuiTed some yeai’s before death. The foreann could be flexed to a right angle, but was here stopped abru])tly by an unyielding barrier in the joint: extension was but little im- paired; rotation somewhat limited: none of the muscles were tom, but those in front of the arm and forearm were wasted. The following is the condition of the joint:—The anterior ligament had been ruptured, but a part of it remains, and has formed fresh attachments; the lateral ligaments have suffered but Uttle injury; the orbicular ligament has been torn across, and the posterior portion of it passes obliquely upwai’ds over the head of the radius, and termi- nates in the external lateral ligament, which is thus lengthened; while the anterior portion has become adherent to the neck of the radius, and limits its rotation outwards. The posterior liga- ment has acquired an attachment to the old articular surface of the olecranon, and is considerably strengthened by some strong transverse fibres which are attached to the condyles, and ap- pear to prevent the coronoid process of the ulna from slipping into the olecra- non cavity of the humeras. The coronoid process of the ulna, rounded at its exfremity, and flattened on its articular surface, rests on the margin of the olecranon fossa, at the back of the articulation of the humerus, and is here supported in a new joint, which is formed by some irregular- shaped pieces of bone developed in the posterior ligament, as well as by a con- siderable prominence of bone growing from the back of the inner condyle. The head of the radius rests on a similar process behind the outer condyle. The ends of the bones entering into this new joint are smooth and hard, and covered by a substance resembling a thin layer or fibro-caitilage, excepting the head of the radius, which is but little altered, its cartilage remaining on it, and giving rise to some fibrous tissue which is attached to the cup-shaped cavity on its summit. A thin layer of cartilage, with some tough fibrous tissue adherent to its smJace, covers the old articulation of the humerus. The radius and ulna are not separated from each other. When the bones of the foreai'm are driven backward from their articulation ^vith the humerus, they do not always