966 INJURIES AND INFLAMMATION OF THE STIFLE-JOINT. 



V.— INJURIES AND INFLAMMATION OF THE STIFLE-JOINT. 

 ACUTE GONITIS. 



The larger domesticated animals, and horses in particular, often 

 suffer injuries of the patella and stifle from barbed wire, kicks, stabs 

 with stable-forks, thrusts with lances, sabre cuts, &c, which give 

 rise to suppuration in the joint (Arthritis purulenta). Inflammation 

 may also extend to the joint from the tendon sheath of the flexor 

 metatarsi and extensor pedis ; and as both portions of the femoro- 

 tibial joint communicate, suppuration extends from one to the other, 

 and eventually to the patellar joint. 



The synovial membranes are congested, swollen, much thickened, 

 and their internal surface is covered with soft, reddish-grey granu- 

 lations. The articular surfaces are dull, greyish-blue, rough, 

 atrophied and softened ; deep erosions may be absent. The joint 

 contains a quantity of a viscid, purulent fluid. 



The symptoms are : severe lameness ; the animal carefully avoids 

 placing weight on or moving the limb ; all the joints of the limb are 

 held stiffly in a position of flexion (Fig. 526) ; there is diffuse painful 

 swelling of the joint, which discharges a purulent synovia. The 

 animal shows fever and loss of appetite, lies continuously, if not 

 placed in slings, and may die from exhaustion with symptoms of 

 septicaemia. 



Acute aseptic or serous inflammation of the stifle-joint is less 

 frequent, but it may be symptomatic of rheumatism, or it may follow 

 violent bruising or wrenching of the stifle, and lead to extravasation 

 into the joint or to chronic serous arthritis (dropsy of the stifle). 

 Acute closed arthritis is distinguished by lameness, intense local 

 pain, and the presence of a fluctuating swelling over the stifle. Under 

 treatment the acute symptoms may gradually subside, or the disease 

 assumes a chronic course, the stifle remaining enlarged and the horse 

 more or less lame. Cadiot described a case of tuberculous gonitis 

 in the dog. In oxen, less frequently in horses, rheumatic inflammation 

 of the stifle-joint has been seen. 



Chronic serous arthritis, or dropsy of the stifle-joint, may result from 

 the acute form, or it may develop very early in life. It may affect 

 one or both stifles, and is sometimes attributed to hereditary weakness 

 of the joints. The stifle is disfigured by a painless swelling, which 

 hinders movement, but otherwise does not appear to cause 

 inconvenience. 



The prognosis of suppurative gonitis is almost hopeless, and 

 in most cases slaughter is to be advised. Fat oxen should at once 



