Spondylolisthesis : with description of a case / by Robert W. Lovett.

  • Robert W. Lovett
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Spondylolisthesis : with description of a case / by Robert W. Lovett. 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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    [Reprinted from the Transactions of the American Orthopedic Association, 1897.] II SPONDY The name spondylolisthesis (onovduXoi;, a vertebra, and dhodrjacz, a gliding) refers to a forward subluxation of the body of one of the lower lumbar vertebrae, with the exception of one recorded case where the upper part of the sacrum was displaced forward. This displacement has ordinarily been described as a dislocation ; in most instances it hardly reaches a greater degree than may be described by the name subluxation. Even this name is incorrect anatomic- ally. This is because the body of the vertebra is chiefly affected, while the laminae and spinous process remain practically in place. The condition has attracted attention chiefly from the obstetrical point of view, on account of the secondary pelvic changes produced, and surgical literature contains next to nothing about it. Fr. Neugebauer,1 of Warsaw, has so thoroughly investigated and elab- orated the subject that whoever strives to elucidate it from any point of view must do so largely by quotations from his extensive writings. In 1854, when this condition was recognized and named by Killian,2 there were described only four known anatomical speci- mens. In 1890, when Neugebauer's treatise was written, there were one hundred and one clinical and anatomical observations. Blake,3 Gibney,4 and Lombard5 contributed the only recorded American observations. Between the publication of Neugebauer's classic in 1892, which was written in 1890, and to-day there have been reported, so far as I could find, twenty-four more cases (two in men). The later cases add little to the surgical interest, excepting those