This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Letters to the Editor: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Letters to the Editor are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by JONES, J. P.
Right arrow Articles by SAKOVICH, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by JONES, J. P., JR.
Right arrow Articles by SAKOVICH, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1966;48:149-164.
© 1966 by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc

Fat Embolism of Bone

A ROENTGENOGRAPHIC AND HISTOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION, WITH USE OF INTRA-ARTERIAL LIPIODOL, IN RABBITS

JOHN PAUL JONES JR. M.D.1 and LEO SAKOVICH 1

1 From the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Rheumatic Disease Group, Department of Medicine, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco

In an attempt to produce fat embolism of bone experimentally, a catheter was inserted retrograde into the left common femoral artery of twenty-six adult rabbits, with its tip just proximal to the aorto-iliac bifurcation. An average total amount of 1.3 milliliters of Lipiodol (an iodinated neutral fat which has caused fat embolism in human patients when inadvertently introduced intravascularly) was infused continuously for twenty-two minutes.

Magnification of the roentgenograms of the right femur and tibia of undissected animals and also of the decalcified bones revealed minute intraosseous accumulations of embolic fat globules (radiopaque Lipiodol), demonstrable from ten minutes to seven and one-half days after infusion.

A technique was developed to permit fat staining of bone decalcified without dissolving marrow or embolic fat. Sections of the bones were also prepared with a differential Lipiodol stain, since with routine fat stains marrow fat and Lipiodol neutral fat appear identical.

Intraosseous Lipiodol fat emboli were histologically demonstrated for five weeks; they had obstructed subchondral arteries and capillaries of the femoral head especially. Although rare fat emboli were detected at six and eight weeks, they had disappeared at ten weeks.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 JBJSHome page
D. A. Frank, R. A. Gallo, G. T. Altman, and D. T. Altman
Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head After Retrograde Intramedullary Nailing of a Femoral Shaft Fracture in an Adolescent. A Case Report
J. Bone Joint Surg. Am., September 1, 2005; 87(9): 2080 - 2085.
[Full Text] [PDF]