Medical abbreviation

[Alan Lines]

I have been asked by a friend what the medical abbreviation ITC stood for. They think it relates to the foot/leg area and are certain it is not used today. All help gratefully recieved.

[Jonathan Saunders]

I asked this many months ago and had two in depth responses:

Tom Morgan said ...

A doctor who is also a WW1 historian says:

"ICT Knee. I have not come across that particular acronym before but it

must stand for Internal Cruciate Tear of the Knee. There are two sets of

ligament to keep the knee joint stable, the internal ones which are

anterior and posterior and which cross over, hence their name, and the

external collateral ligaments, medial and lateral, which hold the joint

together from the sides.

An internal ligamentous tear is a major disturbance to the stability of the

knee joint which is an upper roller joint (the lower end of the femur),

which rolls in one plane on a lower flat plate (the upper end of the tibia).

During WW1 surgery was not very effective for an internal cruciate tear and

the soldier would be left with a major and permanent instability of the

knee, probably having to wear a metal brace to walk."

SueL said ...

The problem with abbreviations is that they are really only understood by the writer. 'ICT' seems to be used commonly in service records, particularly when describing feet, and refers to 'Inflamed Connective Tissue' - more commonly known as plantar fasciitis - very commonly caused by marching, or more marching than normal. Whether this can also refer to the knee is debateable, but perhaps was a quick and easy way for a MO to describe a condition that he could not otherwise diagnose without X-Ray etc.

I hope these help.

Sigs

[KILTY]

Alan,

I've been wanting the answer to a very similar abbrevation for quite a while with no luck. This one is taken from Casualty Form B103 & reads as follows-

" Adm I.C.T. f'arm & hip. "

Kilty

[KILTY]

I think Signals as answered my question.

Kilty

[Alan Lines]

Signals

Thanks for the information, it's very much appreciated.