Baker's cyst

Ba·ker's cyst

noun \ˈbā-kərz-\

Definition of BAKER'S CYST

: a swelling behind the knee that is composed of a membrane-lined sac filled with synovial fluid and is associated with certain joint disorders (as arthritis)

Biographical Note for BAKER'S CYST

Baker, William Morrant (1839–1896), British physician. Baker spent most of his career at London's St. Bartholomew's Hospital, serving as lecturer in anatomy and physiology and rising to the rank of full surgeon. He also served as examiner in surgery at St. Bart's and at the universities of London and Durham. In 1877 he published the first of two reports on synovial cysts of the knee joint. His 1885 follow-up report added six new cases and extended the affected sites to other major joints. Baker's other major contribution was an original description, published in 1873, of a kind of infective dermatitis now known as erysipeloid.