Quotation from: Manual of Surgery

Written by: Alexander Miles and Alexis Thomson


#Nature's Effort at Repair.#--_In cases which are left to nature_, and
in which necrosis of bone has occurred, those portions of the periosteum
and marrow which have retained their vitality resume their osteogenetic
functions, often to an exaggerated degree. Where the periosteum has been
lifted up by an accumulation of pus, or is in contact with bone that is
dead, it proceeds to form new bone with great activity, so that the dead
shaft becomes surrounded by a sheath or case of new bone, known as the
_involucrum_ (Fig. 118). Where the periosteum has been perforated by pus
making its way to the surface, there are defects or holes in the
involucrum, called _cloacae_. As these correspond more or less in
position to the sinuses in the skin, in passing a probe down one of the
sinuses it usually passes through a cloaca and strikes the dead bone
lying in the interior. If the periosteum has been extensively
destroyed, new bone may only be formed in patches, or not at all. The
dead bone is separated from the living by the agency of granulation
tissue with its usual complements of phagocytes and osteoclasts, so that
the sequestrum presents along its margins and on its deep surface a
pitted, grooved, and worm-eaten appearance, except on the periosteal
aspect, which is unaltered. Ultimately the dead bone becomes loose and
lies in a cavity a little larger than itself; the wall of the cavity is
formed by the new case, lined with granulation tissue. The separation of
the sequestrum takes place more rapidly in the spongy bone of the
ossifying junction than in the compact bone of the shaft.

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