Tuberculosis of bones and joints / by N. Senn.

  • Nicholas Senn
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tuberculosis of bones and joints / by N. Senn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    extended to the epiphysis and iinally to the synovial membrane, at a point corresponding to the posterior recess of the capsule of the joint. The results obtained in four guinea-pigs were not as typical as in the rabbit. Injection of an emulsion of tubercu- lar pus in distilled water into the femoral artery of a rabbit pro- duced a cheesy mass in the upper part of the tibia, just below the epiphysial line. There was no tuberculosis in any of the internal organs. Injection of an emulsion of a pure culture of tubercle bacilli—made by taking the culture from a tenth series of tubes from Koch's laboratory and rubbing it up in distilled water—into the knee-joints of a number of rabbits produced in every instance typical tuberculosis, followed by extension of the disease to the cartilages and articular extremities of the bones. In three cases a similar injection was made into the lower epiphysis of the femur, and in each instance with positive re- sults. The experiments made on goats, by injecting the tuber- cular material directly into joints, nutrient artery of tibia, and epiphysial extremities of the long bones, yielded positive results. Krause ( Die Tuberkulose der Knochen und Gelenke. Leipzig, 1891) produced tuberculosis of joints in rabbits by injecting pure cultures suspended in distilled water. Two weeks after the injection he found the joint swollen, and the animal dragged the leg in walking. The swelling increased quite rapidly, and the temperature of the surface of the joint was increased. As a rule, the animal died in from four to five weeks. In every specimen examined the para-articular tissues were much swollen, and in one of the animals an abscess had formed outside of the joint. The synovial membrane was always found swollen and very vascular, but its inner surface was usually smooth. In the superficial layers miliary nodules are few ; but these Avere more numerous near the surface. Some of the nodules were larger and showed central caseation. The histological structure of the nodules was tyi)ical. In guinea- pigs he infected the animals by injecting a pure culture into the subcutaneous connective tissue in one of the inguinal regions,
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