SEQUENCES OF EXPERIMENTAL INFARCTION OF THE FEMUR IN RABBITS

A number of lesions, etiologically obscure but with certain characteristics in common, have been described in various bones. The onset and clinical progress are insidious and may or may not be associated with trauma. In these lesions there is a gradual and progressive destruction of the tissues of the bone, as demonstrated in roentgen films and by examination of tissue. The parts involved are almost always in an epiphysis or in epiphyseal cartilage, and ultimately a deformity of the bone results. These various lesions have been designated osteochondritis, anemic infarction, epiphysitis or aseptic necrosis of bone, terms which imply some vascular or nonspecific disorder not clearly understood. Among the more important specifically named disturbances of this group are: aseptic or anemic necrosis of the head of the femur, radius or humerus or distal epiphysis of the femur; König's osteochondritis dissecans of the medial condyle of the femur; osteochondritis deformans juvenilis