Tubular sequestrum of a femur

Photo via McGill.ca from the  Maude Abbott Medical Museum

Photo via McGill.ca from the Maude Abbott Medical Museum

This isn’t part of an ancient weapon or a stake dug out of a  vampire burial.  This is actually a sequestrum of a femur removed from a private who served during the Civil War.   A sequestrum is a piece of dead (necrosed) bone that lacks blood supply and becomes separated from healthy, normal bone.   The private was wounded and suffered a musketball injury to his knee on May 22, 1864, and the leg was amputated a week later.  In July a surgeon at his hospital observed the large piece of necrosed bone in the amputated leg.  Subsequently a tubular sequestrum was removed and it measured almost nine inches long!  The smooth part of the bone at the bottom is where the leg was originally amputated.

Read more at:

The Maude Abbott Medical Museum



Categories: Archaeology, History

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