There was the usual depression immediately above the
upper margin of the patella, and the other distinctive signs of
the accident. In three months both tendons had united to such an
extent that the patient was able to walk slowly. Gibney records a
case in which the issue was not so successful, his patient being
a man who, in a fall ten years previously, had ruptured the right
quadriceps tendon, and four years later had suffered the same
accident on the opposite side. As a result of his injuries, at
the time Gibney saw him, he had completely lost all power of
extending the knee-joint. Partridge mentions an instance, in a
strong and healthy man, of rupture of the tendon of the left
triceps cubiti, caused by a fall on the pavement. There are
numerous cases in which the tendo Achillis has recovered after
rupture,--in fact, it is unhesitatingly severed when necessity
demands it, sufficient union always being anticipated. None of
these cases of rupture of the tendon are unique, parallel
instances existing in medical literature in abundance.
Marshall had under his observation a case in which the femoral
artery was ruptured by a cart wheel passing over the thigh, and
death ensued although there were scarcely any external signs of
contusion and positively no fracture.
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