Lippi, Donatella

Matucci-Cerinic, Marco

Albury, William Randall

Weisz, George M

2014

Reconstructing a medical condition which was existent centuries ago is limited by the lack of contemporaneous evidence-based descriptions in the accounts given by physicians and other observers. Despite these limitations modern paleopathological evidence, supplemented by techniques of historical investigation, have led to the conclusion that males in the Medici family typically suffered from a complex clinical entity with a triple pathology of stenotic spinal ankylosis, recurrent peripheral joint disease and erythematous skin disease; the Medici Syndrome. Examination of the knee joint is illustrative of recurrent joint disease both in the primary and secondary lines of the family. Pictorial and sculptural representations, if used cautiously, can assist in this retrospective process. The six cases presented here illustrate the involvement of the knee joint where the joint destruction ultimately led to an ankylosis.

The Knee, 21(1), p. 2-5

1873-5800

0968-0160

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/14401

en

Elsevier BV

Inherited knee disorders in the Medici family

Journal Article

Publication