title: Popliteal cyst before William Baker: first report in the Galenic Corpus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A popliteal cyst, also known as Baker cyst, is a benign fluctuant swelling of the gastrocnemius-semimembranosus bursa in the popliteal fossa at the back of the knee. The cyst is named after William Morrant Baker, who is considered to have first described this fluid collection with new sac formation outside of the knee-joint in 1877. We herein present a short description contained in the Galenic Corpus that appears to match to what we now call the Baker cyst.
  
  
  METHODS
  Α thorough survey of Kühn's Galenic Corpus was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 14th book of Kühn's edition contains a brief review of all the anatomical structures and pathologies. In the 17th chapter of this treatise, devoted to skin lesions, the author states that steatomas appear in the popliteal fossa. However, it is no more believed to reflect the Galenic teaching and is ascribed to Pseudo-Galen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With regard to the descriptions survived and the anatomy knowledge in the post-Galenic era time, the brief report of the ancient text of unknown origin, appears to match what we now describe as popliteal cyst.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Plastic Surgery, Helios Clinic , University Hospital Witten-Herdecke , Wuppertal , Germany.|b Department of History of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine , University of Crete , Heraklion , Greece.
authors.forename: Marios
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papadakis
authors.affiliation: c Department of Surgical Oncology , University Hospital of Crete , Heraklion , Greece.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manios
authors.affiliation: b Department of History of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine , University of Crete , Heraklion , Greece.
authors.forename: Constantinos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trompoukis
mesh_terms: D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D011151:Popliteal Cyst / Q000266:history* / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Galenic Corpus; History of surgery; William Baker; baker cyst; popliteal cyst; pseudo-Galen; synovial cyst