The classic: Chapter XVIII. Operative treatment in chronic articular ostitis. 1884.

This Classic article is a reprint of the original work by Virgil P. Gibney, Chapter XVIII. Operative Treatment in Chronic Articular Ostitis. An accompanying biographical sketch of Virgil P. Gibney, MD, is available at DOI 10.1007/s11999-009-1166-2 . The Classic Article is (c)1884 and is abridged from Gibney VP. Operative treatment in chronic articular ostitis. In: The Hip and Its Diseases. New York, NY, London, UK: Bermingham & Co; 1884:388-402.

Two cases of joint disease in post-medieval church cemetery of St. Ilija.

Evidence of disease was analyzed from the skeletal remains of 11 individuals dating to the post-Medieval period from church cemetery of St. Ilija in Serbia. Two individuals showed pathological condition affecting joints. It was supposed that first individual had been suffering from Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. It seems that this condition remained untreated, with extensive bone remodeling, and that the deformity of femoral head and acetabulum caused secondary degenerative joint disease at a relatively early age of this individual. Second case was related to the bony akylosis of the hand finger, probably caused by Dupuytren's disease. In addition, we discussed development of differential diagnosis in both pathological conditions.

[Native or not? Isotope analysis of a female skeleton on the 9th century A.D. from Elsau, Canton Zurich, Switzerland]. / Einheimisch oder fremd? Isotopenanalyse eines Frauenskelettes des 9. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. aus Elsau, Kanton Zürich, Schweiz.

At Elsau near Winterthur (CH), a 9th century AD grave with a female skeleton was found in 2003. This grave was reopened one to six years after burial. After manipulating the partially decayed skeleton, the grave was filled with a layer of rocks and a claw of a sea eagle as well as the paw of a fox was placed on top. At least from this time onwards, the grave was situated in the annex of a church. Because of this special burial site for the 42 year old woman, who suffered from different severe illnesses, it is thought that she belonged to the upper class. The postmortal changes at the grave are exceptional and even after thorough research, no equivalent burial procedures are known from this area. To investigate the possibility if the woman migrated to the region of Elsau, the oxygen and strontium isotope composition of several teeth and one long bone of her skeleton was analysed. The results indicate a certain but restricted mobility within the northern Alpine foreland and as a result changes of the isotope composition of the food and drinking water during her childhood. Immigration from regions in which similar burial customs to those used for the woman persisted into the 9th century AD can be largely excluded based on the isotope composition of her skeletal remains. The mobility in the pre-Alpine region supports the interpretation that the woman belonged to the upper class, whose properties where widely distributed.

[Transition from malum coxae senile to the arthrosis deformans concept. A summary of the best known theories and classifications]. / Der Weg vom Malum coxae senile zum Begriff der Arthrosis deformans. Eine Zusammenfassung der bekanntesten Theorien und Klassifikationen.

The disease of degenerative arthritis has been known for thousands of years. Paleopathology has provided findings of ancient degenerative alterations. Furthermore, physicians in classical antiquity described several forms of joint diseases. A challenging problem was the therapy, which was limited at that time. For centuries all joint diseases were subsumed under the term"rheumatism." In 1683 Thomas Sydenham, who suffered himself from gout, first differentiated this joint disease from the larger group of rheumatic joint diseases. Another early classification was undertaken by John Haygarth in 1779. He differentiated gout from malum coxae senilis and the chronic rheumatic diseases. The different theories and the resulting classifications were influenced by different disciplines such as surgery, internal medicine, pathology, anatomy, neurology, microbiology, and radiology. This investigation includes the time period from the early nineteenth century until 1925 when the word "arthrosis" was first used in a medical publication. This investigation is based on research at the library of the German Museum for Orthopedic History and Science as well on the systematic search for articles in different German journals such as Zeitschrift für Orthopddie and Fortschritte auf dem Gebiet der Röntgenstrahlen. It includes almost all important books and publications about degenerative arthritis for this time period. In the past there were many different descriptions for degenerative arthritis. The establishment of X-rays and new methods in histology and microbiology and the aspect of biomechanical theories led to a better understanding of the different diseases. The authors tried to construct new classifications without the knowledge of the causal and formal pathogenesis. This is the reason for the large number of different classifications, which had to be revised after a short period of time. This publication gives an overview about the most important articles and books which led to the classification currently in use.

Incidence and prognosis of coxarthrosis. 1964.

To define radiographic criteria, the radiographs of all patients diagnosed with coxarthrosis during the year 1951 were reviewed. Structural or joint space changes, evident radiographically in one of every seven cases in 1951, persisted at the time of the review in 1962. In the remaining cases, the diagnosis had been based upon the presence of osteophytic changes alone. Only one of 86 such cases reviewed in 1962 had structural or joint space changes. Osteophytes had no clinical significance and did not progress to coxarthrosis. Osteophytes appear to be a part of normal age changes. The radiographic diagnosis of coxarthrosis must be based on the demonstration of structural or joint changes. The natural history of coxarthrosis was studied by observing the course of the disease over a ten-year period in all patients (168) with primary and secondary disease diagnosed during the five-year period, 1950-1954. About one in nine cases in this series was classified as secondary, and the sexes were equally well represented. The occurrence of bilateral disease in one third of the patients strongly suggested that primary coxarthrosis is a disease sui generis. Four out of ten patients died within ten years of diagnosis of the disease.