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adipocere
6th November 2013, 01:46
This is pretty messed up. I actually used to work in exactly this field and have defleshed my share of corpses for doctors to practice surgical procedures on, knees were part of my "specialty" as far as anatomical specimens were concerned. I used to assist doctors and bio-med researchers experiment on knees. It's true, nobody knew about this. Also, it would have taken under three hours, start to finish, to locate this.

It's inexcusable that doctors could be replacing knees and doing endoscopic surgery inside knees and not even have fully mapped it's anatomy. I'm actually kind of dumbfounded. It is no secret that orthopedic surgery is barbaric and primitive, but good grief...
:rolleyes:


New Ligament Discovered‬ In the Human Knee (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131105081352.htm)
Nov. 5, 2013 — Two knee surgeons at University Hospitals Leuven have discovered a previously unknown ligament in the human knee. This ligament appears to play an important role in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears.
http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/11/131105081352.jpg

Despite a successful ACL repair surgery and rehabilitation, some patients with ACL-repaired knees continue to experience so-called 'pivot shift', or episodes where the knee 'gives way' during activity. For the last four years, orthopedic surgeons Dr Steven Claes and Professor Dr Johan Bellemans have been conducting research into serious ACL injuries in an effort to find out why. Their starting point: an 1879 article by a French surgeon that postulated the existence of an additional ligament located on the anterior of the human knee.
That postulation turned out to be correct: the Belgian doctors are the first to identify the previously unknown ligament after a broad cadaver study using macroscopic dissection techniques. Their research shows that the ligament, which was given the name anterolateral ligament (ALL), is present in 97 per cent of all human knees. Subsequent research shows that pivot shift, the giving way of the knee in patients with an ACL tear, is caused by an injury in the ALL ligament.
Some of the conclusions were recently published in the Journal of Anatomy. The Anatomical Society praised the research as "very refreshing" and commended the researchers for reminding the medical world that, despite the emergence of advanced technology, our knowledge of the basic anatomy of the human body is not yet exhaustive.
‪The research questions current medical thinking about serious ACL injuries and could signal a breakthrough in the treatment of patients with serious ACL injuries. Dr Claes and Professor Bellemans are currently working on a surgical technique to correct ALL injuries. Those results will be ready in several years.
‪ACL tears are common among athletes in pivot-heavy sports such as soccer, basketball, skiing and football.

And btw, these idiots are raking in over 200k a year where I'm from.

A Revolutionary Tool
6th November 2013, 01:55
I can't believe someone found it in the 1800's and then it was just forgotten or not looked into.

adipocere
6th November 2013, 01:57
I can't believe someone found it in the 1800's and then it was just forgotten or not looked into.

It is highly possible that this ignorance has been restricted to Western medicine.

RedGuevara
6th November 2013, 02:25
O.O Wow I'm amazed when things like this are discovered. Not surprised it was ignored and doctors are usually more focused on profit and patient turn over then helping patience and developing sound theory and anatomy.

bcbm
6th November 2013, 03:48
maybe that is why my knee is so fucked up

Danielle Ni Dhighe
6th November 2013, 03:58
So 3% of knees don't have the ligament? Interesting.

xxxxxx666666
6th November 2013, 04:06
Wow! Thank you so much! These type of information is why I've joined revleft!!

By the way I did a quick search for it and found this: (unfortunately, that capitalist website requires membership to access the full article, which I can't:mad:)

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.12087/abstract

Oh, well, I'll quote the abstract so everyone can see the "primary source"
"Abstract

In 1879, the French surgeon Segond described the existence of a ‘pearly, resistant, fibrous band’ at the anterolateral aspect of the human knee, attached to the eponymous Segond fracture. To date, the enigma surrounding this anatomical structure is reflected in confusing names such as ‘(mid-third) lateral capsular ligament’, ‘capsulo-osseous layer of the iliotibial band’ or ‘anterolateral ligament’, and no clear anatomical description has yet been provided. In this study, the presence and characteristics of Segond's ‘pearly band’, hereafter termed anterolateral ligament (ALL), was investigated in 41 unpaired, human cadaveric knees. The femoral and tibial attachment of the ALL, its course and its relationship with nearby anatomical structures were studied both qualitatively and quantitatively. In all but one of 41 cadaveric knees (97%), the ALL was found as a well-defined ligamentous structure, clearly distinguishable from the anterolateral joint capsule. The origin of the ALL was situated at the prominence of the lateral femoral epicondyle, slightly anterior to the origin of the lateral collateral ligament, although connecting fibers between the two structures were observed. The ALL showed an oblique course to the anterolateral aspect of the proximal tibia, with firm attachments to the lateral meniscus, thus enveloping the inferior lateral geniculate artery and vein. Its insertion on the anterolateral tibia was grossly located midway between Gerdy's tubercle and the tip of the fibular head, definitely separate from the iliotibial band (ITB). The ALL was found to be a distinct ligamentous structure at the anterolateral aspect of the human knee with consistent origin and insertion site features. By providing a detailed anatomical characterization of the ALL, this study clarifies the long-standing enigma surrounding the existence of a ligamentous structure connecting the femur with the anterolateral tibia. Given its structure and anatomic location, the ALL is hypothesized to control internal tibial rotation and thus to affect the pivot shift phenomenon, although further studies are needed to investigate its biomechanical function."




If anyone has the full work by the French surgeon Segond in 1879, or have full access to this article, or other primary works, please contact or send it to me so I may read it!!