Fractures of the phalanges of the hand are very common. Many are minor and likely to have a good result. However many other phalangeal fractures cause significant and prolonged disability. Non-union of the tubular bones of the hand are uncommon occurrence, but are often associated with functional deficits. The authors have reviewed 7 cases of non-union of the phalanges which were treated in the department of orthopaedic surgery, National Medical Center from 1978 to 1985. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The non-union of phalangeal bone was defined by clinical symptoms and signs and roentgenological examination. 2. The incidence of non-union of phalangeal bone fractures was 0.9% (7/771 cases.) 3. of 7 patients, there were 6 in male and 1 in female. 4. Non-union occurred more commonly in the second decade and the group between 10 and 30 years of age. 5. Seven cases, all were the right handed, but injury was developed in the left hands except two cases. 6. The causes of non-union were thought as open wound (7 cases), type of fracture (simple or comminution:3 cases), inadequate immobilization (4 cases) and overtraction (1 case). 7. of 7 cases, 4 cases were treated with bone peg graft and K-wire fixation and 2 cases with excision of distal fragment. 8. The clinical union was 9 weeks in average.
Clinical Study ; Female ; Fractures, Bone ; Hand ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Incidence ; Male ; Transplants ; Wounds and Injuries

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to assess the efficacy of a bioabsorbable polylactide (PLA) plate and screw for treating injuries of ankle fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS:24 patients who underwent an open reduction and internal fixation operation for ankle fractures from July 2005 to March 2007 were enrolled into the study. There were 15 men and 9 women. The average age of the patients was 44 years and the average follow-up period was 16 years and two months (16.2 months). All cases were divided into low grade fracture patient (11) who belongs in type A and B of Danis-Weber classification and high grade fracture patient (13) who belongs in type C1, C2 of Danis-Weber classification, and each groups were analyzed by clinical (Meyer score) and radiological finding at the time of their last follow-up evaluation. RESULTS:The clinical results according to Meyer scoring system, showed that all patient with low grade fracture had good to excellent result, but only 54% of patient with high grade fracture had good to excellent result. According to Cedell's radiologic finding, there were 91% cases above fair in low grade fracture. But there were 62% of patient above fair result in high grade fracture, the reduction losses were seen in 38% of patient with high grade fracture. CONCLUSION: Bioabsorbable PLA plate and screw is good internal fixation device which doesn't have additional operation for removal of implant because of slow absorption within the human body. It showed sufficient strength for acquisition and maintenance of reduction in low grade fracture, but need attention to use because of many cases of reduction loss in high grade fracture. So, it seems to be safe and effective when used in heeling of low grade fracture under considering about type of fracture sufficiently.
Absorption ; Animals ; Ankle ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heel ; Human Body ; Humans ; Internal Fixators ; Male ; Polyesters

PURPOSE: Study was to evaluate the operative results for tarsal coalition with tarsal tunnel syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From Jan. 2005 to Mar. 2006, among a number of patients who were diagnosed with tarsal tunnel syndrome caused by tarsal coalition and treated surgically, 5 patients were closely observed for more than 12 months. All cases were talocalcaneal coalition and there were two male and three female patients with a mean age of 36 years (22-50 years). We used the Takakura rating scale as clinical evaluation. RESULTS: All five patients had a burning pain in the sole or extended to toes and showed positive Tinel's sign. Sensory disturbances were observed in the distribution of the medial plantar nerves in four patients and in the area of the medial and lateral plantar nerves in one. Atrophy and weakness of the plantar muscles were seen in two patients. The mean Takakura scale in preoperative and postoperative was 3.4 points (1 to 5 points), 8.6 point (6 to 10 points). The mean follow up was 14.4 months (12 to 16 months). The postoperative results were excellent in two patients, good in two and fair in one. As postoperative complications, there were persistent swelling in one patient and a flexion disturbance of Hallux in one. CONCLUSION: The coalition resection performed on tarsal tunnel syndrome caused by tarsal coalition could improve a level of pains and neurological symptoms significantly. However, since there were some undesirable complications, a detailed explanation to patients is required prior to surgical treatment and study of such complications may be required.
Atrophy ; Burns ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hallux ; Humans ; Male ; Muscles ; Postoperative Complications ; Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome* ; Tibial Nerve ; Toes

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) an lateral epicondylitis of the elbow. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four patients with refractory lateral epicondylitis were treated with shock waves. The patients were evaluated by assessing of pain using visual analog scale (VAS) and a simple elbow test (SET). Overall clinical outcomes were evaluated using Roles and Maudsley scores at 12 months after ESWT. RESULTS: Significant symptom improvement were observed in 20 (83%) patients at the 12 months follow up according to the Roles and Maudesley scores. Average SET and VAS scores were also significantly improved after ESWT (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that shock waves therapy could be considered as an effective and noninvasive treatment modality for refractory lateral epicondylitis of the elbow.
Elbow ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Shock ; Tennis Elbow* ; Tennis* ; Visual Analog Scale

We present a case of medial plantar nerve injury by screw tip after open reduction and internal fixation of intraarticular calcaneus fracture. We reviewed the risk and prevention technique of medial plantar nerve injury in fixing the calcaneus fracture.
Calcaneus* ; Tibial Nerve*

It has been proposed that Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels play an essential role in maintaining vascular tone during stretch of blood vessel. However, the underlying mechanism of stretch-induced change of Ca(2+)-activated K+ channel activities are still unknown. The present experiment was designed to investigate the effect of membrane stretch on these channels whose activity was measured from rabbit coronary smooth muscle cells using a patch clamp technique. Ca(2+)-activated K+ channel were identified by their Ca2+ and voltage dependencies and its large conductances as in other preparations. Perfusion of cells with a hypotonic solution, which mimics stretching the cell membrane by making a cell swelling, produced an increase in channel activity in cell-attached patch mode. The similar increase was observed when negative pressure was applied into the patch pipette for stretching the cell membrane within a patch area. In inside-out patch, stretch still increased channel activity even under the conditions which exclude the possible involvement of secondary messengers, or of transmembrane Ca2+ influx via stretch-activated cation channels. Pretreatment of arachidonic acid or albumin showed no effect on stretch-induced channel activation, excluding the possibility of fatty acids mediated channel activation during membrane stretch. These results indicate that the stretch may directly increase the activity of Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels in our experimental condition.
Animal ; Arachidonic Acid/pharmacology ; Calcium/pharmacology* ; Calcium/metabolism ; Cell Membrane/physiology ; Coronary Vessels/physiology* ; Hypotonic Solutions/pharmacology ; Membrane Potentials ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/physiology* ; Potassium Channels/physiology* ; Rabbits

We describe a case of 43-year-old man who had a pseudoaneurysm of the medial superior genicular artery after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy with standard anterolateral and anteromedial portals. Pseudoaneurysm of the medial superior genicular artery has been reported at the previous superomedial portal site after arthroscopy. Described herein is a unique case that involved the medial superior genicular artery at the previous anteromedial portal site after arthroscopy. The pseudoaneurysm was successfully treated with transcatheter embolization.
Adult ; Aneurysm, False/*etiology ; Arteries ; Arthroscopy/*adverse effects/methods ; Humans ; Knee/*blood supply ; Male ; Menisci, Tibial/*surgery

OBJECTIVE: To compare the differences of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and reproductive, life style characteristics in postmenopausal women with and without rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: A total of 360 women, 120 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 240 age matched healthy women were randomly selected from the health care center. Subjects were labeled as rheumatoid arthritis and normal menopausal women. Each group was compared for their HRT status, life style and reproductive characteristics. RESULTS: There were significantly less HRT received subjects in RA group (50.0% vs 76.1%, respectively, OR=0.30, p<0.05). More frequently alcohol consumed in RA group (26.7% vs 11.7%, respectively, p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the history of hysterectomy and smoking as well as body mass index (BMI) between the two groups. Women with serum follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) over 40 IU/L were more frequently observed in RA group (70.0% vs 57.5%, respectively, OR=1.75, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Increased FSH and history of alcohol drinking were more frequently observed in patients with RA, whereas history of HRT was lower in RA group comparing to that of the control. A prospective study should be designed to confirim the protective effect of HRT and reproductive characteristics on postmenopausal RA patients.
Alcohol Drinking ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Body Mass Index ; Delivery of Health Care ; Female ; Hormone Replacement Therapy* ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Life Style* ; Postmenopause ; Smoke ; Smoking

PURPOSE: The cartilage lesions of routine MRI (no cartilage-specific image sequences) compared with those of arthroscopy for detecting how much we can predict. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We made a retrospective study of 53 patients with cartilage lesions of medial femoral condyle in the knee arthroscopy from Nov. 2003 to Jan. 2006. We analyzed the extent of agreement in cartilage lesions between arthroscopy and routine MRI using modified Outerbridge classification. RESULTS: All patients were categorized by modified Outerbridge Grade I~IV. In arthroscopy, 3, 4, 24, 22 cases were reported in each category: on routine MRI, 3, 10, 12, 23 cases were reported in each category and there were 5 normal cases. The sensitivity of cartilage lesions on MRI was high (90.6%), however, the agreement of those was low (K=0.24). We found 24 cases (45.2%) that MRI levels and arthroscopy levels were matched. We found 29 cases (54.7%) that those two levels were not matched. CONCLUSION: It is important to make a close inspection of chondral surfaces even in routine MRI. And cartilage lesions in routine MRI should be considered as those of higher grade in arthroscopy.
Arthroscopy* ; Cartilage* ; Classification ; Humans ; Knee Joint* ; Knee* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To assess the usefulness of digital subtraction contrast-enhanced multi-phase magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) for evaluation of the vessels of the gastrointestinal system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-five patients who underwent abdominal MRA for evaluation of the vessels of the gastrointestinal system were included in this study. MRA was performed using a 1.5-T scanner and the 3-D turbo-FLASH sequence. Subtraction images of the arterial and portal venous phases were obtained by subtracting arterial phase images from mask images and portal venous phase images from arterial phase images, respectively. Each set of images was processed using a maximum-intensity projection (MIP) algorithm to produce three-dimensional angiograms. We compared overall image quality and the visibility of normal and abnormal vessels between subtraction and non-subtraction MRA. RESULTS: In terms of subjective image quality, subtraction and non-subtraction MRA was similar both the arterial and portal venous phases (p>0.05). During the arterial phase, subtraction MRA visualized more peripheral branches of the left gastric and superior mesenteric arteries than non-subtraction MRA (p<0.05), and during the portal venous phase, subtraction MRA demonstrated more peripheral branches of the superior mesenteric (p<0.01), splenic (p<0.05) and left portal vein (p<0.05) than non-subtraction MRA. In addition, overall visibility of the arterial and portal venous branches was superior with subtraction MRAs than with non-subtraction MRA. Both of these detected all anomalous arterial branching (n=5) and abnormal (encased or obstructed) portal veins (n=5). Subtraction MRA visualized 17 portal venous collaterals in six patients, whereas non-subtraction MRA visualized only seven collateral veins. CONCLUSION: In contrast-enhanced abdominal MRA, the digital subtraction technique permits visualization of more distal branches of the vessels of both the arterial and portal venous systems without significant degradation of image quality. The technique is particularly useful for the detection of portal venous collaterals in patients with portal hypertension.
Angiography* ; Angiography, Digital Subtraction ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; Magnetic Resonance Angiography ; Masks ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior ; Portal Vein ; Subtraction Technique* ; Veins