Madelung's Deformity

Abstract

The recent occurrence in the writer's practice of two cases of spontaneous forward dislocation of the wrist joint, prompted him to review the literature on the subject. This task proved peculiarly interesting because at its conclusion the resume brought to light the fact that practically all that had been written on the subject came from the pens of French, German and Italian authors. Up to 1901, scarcely anything appeared in American literature with the exception of text-book references, which were only meager. In that year, however, Stetten wrote an illuminating article and reported the first case in America. In 1910, Stokes reported two cases. In March of the present year, Brown added the fourth case to the list and, to my knowledge, the two cases I wish to present, constitute the fifth and sixth in American literature. In 1825, Begin published a book in which a slight reference was made to the existence of such a disease. Most of the men who had written concerning this dislocation, even Madelung, gave...