Acute carpal tunnel syndrome secondary to pyogenic tenosynovitis.
We report a case of acute carpal tunnel syndrome related to a spontaneous pyogenic tenosynovitis and a review of this clinical condition.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Doursounian.
We report a case of acute carpal tunnel syndrome related to a spontaneous pyogenic tenosynovitis and a review of this clinical condition.
Thumb reconstruction following amputation is usually performed in order to restore function. Nevertheless, the reconstruction should be cosmetically acceptable in order to be fully functional, and, in some cases, reconstructive surgery may be justified for purely aesthetic reasons. The most satisfying aesthetic results in adults are obtained with microsurgical partial great-toe transfer. The technique that we use for thumb reconstruction is illustrated by two case reports: that of a 26-year-old female patient and that of a 35-year-old male patient. Both patients had a distal thumb amputation with destroyed nail apparatus, and both sought thumb reconstruction for cosmetic reasons. Aesthetic reconstruction was performed in both cases with a partial ipsilateral great-toe transfer, composed of nail apparatus, underlying bone and custom-made pulp tissue. The vascular anastomosis was done at the snuff-box, through a small incision, with an exteriorised pedicle. The result was satisfactory in both cases, with minimal donor-site sequelae. Partial toe transfer has proven to be a reliable technique for thumb reconstruction. It is an evolving technique. Many modifications have been introduced to optimise the aesthetic result and to reduce donor-site morbidity. Our technique allows us to restore thumb length, replace the missing nail and reconstruct the pulp, with acceptable sequelae at the donor toe. The exteriorised-pedicle technique prevents pedicle compression and twisting and reduces scarring and stiffness. It does, however, require delicate postoperative care and a second procedure for pedicle division.
The recent introduction of bone-ligament-bone grafts for ligament reconstruction in hand surgery has led to a search for suitable graft donor sites. The extensor retinaculum had been suggested, but harvesting details were still lacking. We therefore studied the anatomy of the extensor retinaculum, with radiography and morphometric measurements. Ten cadaver wrists were dissected; the thick portion of the retinaculum and its insertions on the radius in the different extensor compartments were studied. The compartments were wire-marked, and AP radiographs taken of each specimen. The retinaculum spanning the first three compartments was removed with the bony ridges it inserted on, and the inter-ridge retinaculum length was measured. A comparison of our dissections with the radiographs showed that only the radial compartments 1, 2 and 3 had constant bony insertions on both ridges, making them suitable for bone-ligament-bone grafting. The mean compartment length was 11.7 mm (compartment 1), 17 mm (compartment 2) and 7.3 mm (compartment 3) respectively. Thus, the extensor retinaculum can be relied upon to provide bone-ligament-bone grafts from the first three compartments, for possible use in ligament reconstructions in the hand and wrist.
INTRODUCTION: The use of cannulated screw without protrusive head in Colles fractures could avoid some of the drawbacks of conventional pinning. In order to compare the mechanical resistance of Kirshner wires versus cannulated screws we designed a animal model of Colles fractures and tested three types of osteosynthesis: A: K-wires, B: Herbert cannulated screw, C: specific cannulated screws. METHOD: After creating a 10 mm defect in three sets of 10 fresh turkey tibia, 3 types of osteosynthesis were done and tested in compression with an Adamel Lhomargy machine: set A: K-wire fixation, set B: Herbert screws fixation and set C: specifics screws fixation. RESULTS: The compression strength needed for failure of the fixations were: for the K-wires (set A): 52 N +/- 17; for the Herbert screws (set B): 93 N +/- 39; for the specifics screws (set C): 160 N +/- 48; (p < 0.0001). DISCUSSION: The use of an animal model makes the experimentation easier and the sampling more homogeneous. In this model, resistance to compression of the cannulated screw was better than K-wires and the specific cannulated screw better than Herbert screw. Therefore clinical trial of osteosynthesis with cannulated screw in Colles fracture could be considered.
STUDY DESIGN: A total of 208 consecutive coccydynia patients were examined with the same clinical and radiologic protocol. OBJECTIVES: To study radiographic coccygeal lesions in the sitting position, to elucidate the influence of body mass index on the different lesions, and to establish the effect of coccygeal trauma. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: A protocol comparing standing radiographs and radiographs subsequently taken in the painful sitting position in coccydynia patients and in controls has shown two culprit lesions: posterior luxation and hypermobility. Obesity and a history of trauma have been identified as risk factors for luxation. METHODS: Dynamic radiographs were obtained. The body mass index was compared with the coccygeal angle of incidence, sagittal rotation of the pelvis when sitting down, and the presence and time of previous trauma. The patients with the newly described lesions were examined after an anesthetic block under fluoroscopic guidance. RESULTS: Two new coccygeal lesions are described (anterior luxation and spicules). Obesity was found to be a risk factor. The body mass index determines the way a subject sits down, and lesion patterns were different in obese, normal-weight, and thin patients (posterior luxation: 51%, 15.2%, 3.7%; hypermobility: 26.5%, 30.3%, 14.8%; spicules: 2%, 15.9%, 29.6%; normal: 16.3%, 32.6%, 48.1%, respectively; P < 0.0001). Trauma affected the type of lesion only if it was recent (<1 month before the onset of coccydynia), in which case the instability rate increased from 55.6% to 77.1%. Backward-moving coccyges were at greatest risk of trauma. CONCLUSIONS: This protocol allows identification of the culprit lesion in 69.2% of cases. The body mass index determines the causative lesion, as does trauma sustained within the month preceding the onset of the pain.
Coccygectomy is a controversial operation. Some authors have reported good results, but others advise against the procedure. The criteria for selection are ill-defined. We describe a study to validate an objective criterion for patient selection, namely radiological instability of the coccyx as judged by intermittent subluxation or hypermobility seen on lateral dynamic radiographs when sitting. We enrolled prospectively 37 patients with chronic pain because of coccygeal instability unrelieved by conservative treatment who were not involved in litigation. The operation was performed by the same surgeon. Patients were followed up for a minimum of two years after coccygectomy, with independent assessment at two years. There were 23 excellent, 11 good and three poor results. The mean time to definitive improvement was four to eight months. Coccygectomy gave good results in this group of patients.
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STUDY DESIGN: The utility of the Tokuhashi score was assessed in a retrospective study in 71 patients with vertebral metastases. OBJECTIVES: To study the importance of the site of the primary tumor as a parameter in the preoperative prognostic Tokuhashi score. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: A preoperative score composed of six parameters, each rated from zero to two, has been proposed by Tokuhashi for the prognostic assessment of patients with metastases to the spine. METHODS: Seventy-one patients with vertebral metastases were studied. There were 34 cases of thyroid cancer metastases, 28 cases of renal cancer metastases, and nine cases of metastases of unknown origin. In each patient, a local and a systemic tumor search were performed. Patients were divided into groups based on the primary site of the tumor, and each group was analyzed separately. RESULTS: In cases of vertebral metastases of thyroid cancers, surgery to excise single metastases was found to provide good results, as was palliative surgery of multiple metastases. Vertebral metastases of renal tumors were rarely single, and the results of palliative surgery were less satisfactory. Vertebral metastases of unknown primary tumors had a poor outcome, regardless of whether surgery was excisional or palliative. The median survival period in patients with metastases of unknown primary tumors was significantly shorter than that in patients with renal or thyroid cancer metastases. CONCLUSION: The Tokuhashi preoperative score is successful as a prognostic tool. However, it attributes the same one-point rating to metastases of renal cancer and to those of unknown primary tumors. In the case of metastases of unknown primary tumors, this rating is too high and should be reduced to 0.
STUDY DESIGN: In this study, the authors analyzed the results of the release of the medial superior cluneal nerve in a prospective series of 19 patients with suspected entrapment. OBJECTIVES: To ascertain, in selected patients with low back pain, medial superior cluneal nerve entrapment compromise at the posterior iliac crest crossing site, and to evaluate the results of nerve release. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: A cadaveric study had shown that the medial superior cluneal nerve may be compressed at its transit site through an osseofibrous orifice at the posterior iliac crest. METHODS: Nineteen patients suffering from unilateral low back pain projecting in the territory of the medial superior cluneal nerve, with a trigger point at the posterior iliac crest and with a positive block test at this level, underwent surgery. RESULTS: Results were excellent in 13 cases (7 of which had suffered from severe compression), and unsatisfactory in 6 cases (including 4 cases in whom no compression could be demonstrated). CONCLUSION: Entrapment neuropathy of the medial superior cluneal nerve is a rare and easily treatable cause of unilateral low back pain.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The authors describe a new internal fixation device, and report on 17 proximal humeral fractures managed with this technique. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The fracture patterns, using Neer's classification were: 9 displaced three-part fractures, 4 displaced four-part fractures and 4 interior fracture dislocations (mean age of the patients: 70 years). The device is a two-part titanium device. The humeral component has a long vertical stem cemented in the humeral shaft; and a short proximal portion set at an angle of 135 degrees on the stem, with a neck and a Morse taper cone. The other part is a crown-shaped stapple, whose base is a perforated disk with a central Morse taper socket. The rim of the crown has five prongs which, together with the central socket, are impacted in the cancellous bone of the humeral head. The taper of the humeral component is inserted into the central socket of the stapple to provide fracture fixation. Tuberosities are reattached to the shaft with non absorbable sutures. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 29 months. The global ratings were as follows: 4 excellent results, 6 good results, 4 fair results, 3 poor results. Mean active forward flexion: 100 degrees, and mean active external rotation 22 degrees. After exclusion of the 4 fracture-dislocations, the global rating became: 4 excellent results, 5 good results, 3 fair results, 1 poor result. Mean active forward flexion: 110 degrees and mean active external rotation: 31.5 degrees. There were no case of avascular necrosis in 13 patients. Complications requiring surgery occurred in one case: an upper protrusion of the stapple which required replacement of the stapple by a prosthetic humeral head. Other complications included: 2 asymptomatic partial protrusions of the stapple, 2 complete and two partial avascular necrosis in fracture-dislocations. DISCUSSION: Except for the fracture-dislocations our device confers several major benefits. The humeral head is preserved. Typical problems associated with joint replacement (dislocations, loosening, glenoid degeneration) are avoided. Humeral head conservation enhances healing of the tuberosities. Fixation could always be obtained, regardless of the complexity of the fracture pattern. An hemiarthroplasty (e.g. in case of avascular necrosis) is possible by the modular design of the device.
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Fifty-two displaced olecranon fractures in adults were treated over a 5-year period. Minimum follow-up was 6 months. Forty-eight fractures were operated and 38 were treated by tension band wiring technique. This technique, applied for all types of fractures, gave good functional results in 33 cases (87%) and fair functional results in 5 cases. Complications include 1 pseudarthrosis, 2 loss of reduction, 2 transient tourniquet palsy and 13 skin problems due to wire protrusion. Tension band wiring is a simple safe and effective technique for displaced olecranon fractures but often requires K-wire removal.
30 asymptomatic volunteer subjects and more than 400 patients with suspected rotator cuff lesions were examined by MRI at 0.5 T using T2*-PD weighted gradient echo (T2-GEI) sequences. Its superiority over T2 spin echo imaging was established in previous studies. The results were compared to those of surgery in 87 cases and arthrography in 233 cases (associated with CT arthrography in 70 cases). In the operated patients, T2-GEI and arthrography correctly diagnosed 49 complete ruptures (CR). T2-GEI was found to be superior to arthrography for defining the real extent of the rupture, the degree of tendon retraction and the local muscular trophicity, essential information to define the therapeutic indications. In contrast, among 22 lesions of the long biceps tendon, correctly demonstrated by arthrography or CT arthrography, 5 intracapsular lesions were not detected by MRI. MRI was able to detect 8 lesions of the anterior labrum associated with a CR not demonstrated by arthrography. Lastly, among the 18 cases of partial inferior rupture (PIR), 6 partial superficial ruptures and 14 cases of inflammatory changes, correctly diagnosed by MRI, only 8 PIR were also demonstrated by arthrography. For the non-operated patients investigated by the two modalities (146 cases), T2-GEI and arthrography were concordant in 43 cases. In contrast, 103 intact cuffs on arthrography showed features on T2-GEI compatible with tendinopathy without rupture, bursitis and degenerative changes. In the absence of very fine surgical or histological correlations for these small lesions, it is impossible, at the present time, to determine the real sensitivity and specificity of MRI.
Fifteen asymptomatic volunteers and 300 patients with suspected lesions of the rotator cuff were examined with T2*- and proton density-weighted gradient echo (T2*-Rho-GEI) MRI sequences (500-700 ms/30 ms/30 degrees) with a 0.5 T (GE-CGR) system and an adapted surface coil. For the patients, the findings were compared with those of arthrography in 130 cases and of surgery in 42 cases. For the operated patients, T2*-Rho-GEI and arthrography allowed correctly diagnosing 31 complete ruptures (CR). However, surgical exploration of the ruptures showed that T2*-Rho-GEI showed the actual extent of the rupture and the degree of tendon retraction better than arthrography. T2*-Rho-GEI also provides information about the thickness and trophicity of the remaining cuff and on local muscle trophicity. T2*-Rho-GEI allows directly evaluating the tendon of the long head of the biceps both in its extra-articular and its intra-articular parts. In 3 cases of complete cuff rupture, MRI allowed detecting 3 associated lesions of the anterior labrum, which had not been suspected on the clinical examination and had not been demonstrated by conventional arthrography. Lastly, out of 12 cases of deep incomplete rupture (n = 12) correctly diagnosed with MRI, 5 had been undetected on arthrography. Similarly, 8 cases of inflammatory alterations suspected with T2*-Rho-GEI and confirmed by surgery had not been recognized with arthrography. For the non-operated patients, T2*-Rho-GEI and arthrography had corresponding results for the diagnosis of CR (8 cases), of DIR (6 cases) and of intact cuff (6 cases).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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