OPEN JOINTS 



By J. N. Frost, D.V.M., Ithaca, N. Y. 



The literature in regard to suppurative arthritis 

 seems to be a minus quantity so far as veterinary sur- 

 gery is concerned, and the case reports are few. As one 

 medical work states, ''Our knowledge of joint disease is 

 so imperfect that no opportunity should be lost by which 

 clinical data may be added." 



Causes. — The causes of open joints are kick wounds, 

 nail punctures, and the like, which not only open the 

 joint capsule but are liable to carry infection to the 

 joint cavity, where synovia serves as a favorable medium 

 for the development of the bacteria. Another cause is 

 the extension of necrosis from neighboring areas of in- 

 fection, such as tendon sheaths or burs^e. Likewise, it 

 may result by the process of metastasis from some dis- 

 tant suppurating foci. 



The severity of articular wounds is not due to the 

 lesions produced, but to the inoculation of the wound 

 with bacteria. When pyogenic organisms gain entrance 

 to a joint cavity they lead to inflammation of all the 

 structures of the joint, followed by suppuration, and, 

 unless overcome, to the destruction of the joint cartilage 

 and its discharge in the form of pus, leaving the ends of 

 the bones bare and rough. Naturally, this leads, in 

 those joints where the movement is limited, to ankylosis 

 or stiffness of the joint. 



SYMPfOMS. — If the wound of the joint is small, and 

 made by a clean instrument, the only symptom may be 

 the discharge of synovial fluid. In most cases there will 



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