United States or American Samoa ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The thickened synovial membrane is projected into the cavity of the joint, filling up its pouches and recesses, and spreading over the surface of the articular cartilage "like ivy growing on a wall." Wherever the synovial tissue covers the cartilage it becomes adherent to and fused with it.
This condition does not differ from a like affection involving other tendons except that the function of these tendons is such that large synovial sheaths are necessary, and when synovitis exists, the condition then becomes more serious. Infectious synovitis involving these tendons in the fetlock region is of more frequent occurrence than a like affection of carpal or tarsal sheaths.
The fusion of the cartilaginous surfaces is preceded by the spreading of a vascular connective tissue, derived from the synovial membrane, over the articular cartilage. It may follow upon fibrous or cartilaginous ankylosis, or may result from the fusion of two articular surfaces which have lost their cartilage and become covered with granulations.
Acute bursitis and thecitis is of frequent occurrence in horses because of direct injury from contusion, punctures and other forms of traumatism. These synovial membranes, with few exceptions, when inflamed occasion a synovitis that may be very acute, yet there is less manifestation of pain than in arthritis.
It has been shown experimentally that joints are among the most susceptible parts of the body to infection, and this would appear to be due to the viscid character of the synovial fluid, which protects organisms from bactericidal agents in the tissues and fluids.
Under such conditions the tension should be relieved and the exudate with its contained toxins removed by making an incision into the inflamed tissues, and applying a suction bell. When the exudate has collected in a synovial cavity, such as a joint or bursa, it may be withdrawn by means of a trocar and cannula.
Cystic distension of bursæ which communicate with the joint is most often met with in the region of the knee in cases of long-standing hydrops. It was suggested by Morrant Baker that cystic swellings may result from the hernial protrusion of the synovial membrane between the stretched fibres of the capsular ligament, and the name "Baker's cysts" has been applied to these.
When there is much connective tissue formed in relation to the synovial membrane, the joint is swollen, and as the muscles waste above and below, the swelling is spindle-shaped. Subacute exacerbations occur from time to time, with fever and aggravation of the local symptoms and implication of other joints.
Synovia is a good culture medium and the environment is ideal for multiplication of bacteria; consequently, the grave disturbances which may attend the introduction of pathogenic organisms into a synovial cavity as the result of a puncture wound are not to be forgotten.
The commoner pyogenic diseases are the result of infection of one or other of the joint structures with staphylococci or streptococci, which may be demonstrated in the exudate in the joint and in the substance of the synovial membrane. The mode of infection is the same as in the pyogenic diseases of bone, the metastasis occurring most frequently from the mucous membrane of the pharynx (J.
Word Of The Day