50 Years Ago in CORR: The So-called Osteochondritis Dissecans of König Shigeo Nagura, MD CORR 1961;18:100-122

Excerpt

Loose bodies (“joint mice”) in joints have long been recognized. According to Nagura [4], Monroe described “pea-sized arthrophytes in the knee and in a cavity corresponding to the arthrophyte in the lateral condyle of a female corpse, (and) ascribed the origin of the arthrophytes to trauma.” He also stated that Laennec, writing on joint mice in 1817, espoused the view that loose bodies were not related to trauma, but a “proliferation of the cartilage of the periarticular synovial tissue.” On the other hand, Broca, in 1854, suggested loose bodies arose from spontaneous necrosis of a part of the articular surface. (I have been unable to confirm these three references and they are not cited among Nagura’s 104 references.) Regardless of the cause, it is clear loose bodies were well recognized in the first half of the 19th Century [1]. Perhaps König best described and established Broca’s theory that loose bodies arose from pieces of articular cartilage that broke loose from articular surface, and coined the term “osteochondritis dissecans” [2]. His observations came from operations on three patients. …