Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Cervical rib, and other cases / by J. Collins Warren. 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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![to the point of its origin from the seventh cervical vertebra. The removal of the bone seemed to relax the brachial plexus which had been somewhat stretched by the the arching position of the bone. The wound healed by first intention and the patient has experienced little or no pain since and is recovering the use of the arm. [The patient was shown at the meeting, about two months after the operation, and expressed herself greatly relieved by the operation. The arm is steadily gaining in strength. The rib was also shown as well as several specimens of cervical rib kindly loaned by Prof. Dwight from the Warren Museum.] Reference to the literature of this subject shows an exhaustive paper by Ehrich 3 of which the accompany- ing is an abstract. Although the occurrence of cervical ribs is not un- common, cases in which they have given rise to symp- toms are exceedingly rare in literature. They are usually accidentally discovered, and possess only an anatomical and embryological interest. Gruber, at St. Petersburg, has described 76 cases; and Pilling, of Rostock, has increased the number to 139. In only three of this large number did the cervical rib give rise to symptoms. Ehrich is able to add two cases from personal knowledge, and five from literature, making ten cases. Cervical ribs are second in frequency of recurrence to lumbar ribs. They have been found at all ages down to a six-months’ embryo. They occur oftener double than single. In Pilling’s cases, the proportion was 37 to 16. They always are connected with the seventh cervical vertebra. They have a costal carti- lage only in those cases where they articulate with the first thoracic rib or with the sternum. 2 Beitrage zur klinlsche CMrurgie, Bd. xiv, Heft 1.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22451997_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
