Objective:To investigate the efficacy of the posterior axillary approach in the treatment of some scapular fractures.Methods:Retrospectively analyzed were the data of 41 patients with scapular fracture who had been treated through the posterior axillary approach at Department of Traumatology, The Second Hospital of Jilin University from April 2018 to July 2021. There were 32 males and 9 females, aged from 24 to 83 years (average, 52.4 years). Of them, 7 were complicated with multiple injuries, 16 with other fractures, and 4 with brachial plexus injury. Recorded were length of surgical incision, intraoperative blood loss, operation time, and range of shoulder motion, Disability of Arm Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score, Constant shoulder score and postoperative complications at the last follow-up.Results:In this cohort, length of incision ranged from 7 to 12 cm (average, 9.3 cm), intraoperative blood loss from 80 to 150 mL (average, 110.5 mL), exposure time of the posterior axillary approach from 5 to 10 min (average, 7.9 min), and fracture operation time from 85 to 140 min (average, 110.8 min). The 41 patients were followed up for 6 to 36 months (mean, 14.3 months) after surgery. At the last follow-up, the average ranges of shoulder motion were 177° (from 150° to 180°) in flexion, 175° (from 140° to 180°) in abduction and 47° (from 30° to 50°) in extension, the average DASH score was 36.4 points (from 34 to 46 points), and the average Constant score 96.0 points (from 84 to 100 points). There were no complications like loss of fracture reduction, loosening or breakage of plate or screw during follow-up. Incision healing was delayed in 2 patients and mild heterotopic ossification occurred in 2 patients.Conclusion:As a new surgical approach for some scapular fractures, the posterior axillary approach allows internal fixation of the fractures of the scapular glenoid, neck and body under direct vision, leading to good-looking postoperative wound and reliable curative effects.

The male patient of middle-age was admitted to Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University on September 5, 2020, due to wear and rupture of the left foot hallux for more than 10 days, gradually developed swelling and blackening of the left foot and accompanied by drowsiness for 1day. Results from etiological examination of his wound secretions suggested the mixed infection of Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica and Enterococcus faecalis. The disease progressed rapidly and the patient still died of septic shock after anti-infective treatment. The infection of W. chitiniclastica is rare and has a great relationship with poor hygiene and chronic open wounds. It is necessary to use matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry or 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing for strain identification. Moreover, it is recommended to use cephalosporins or carbapenems as first-line drugs due to the poor prognosis of patients with bloodstream infections.

Objective:To investigate the clinical effect and safety of reduction and fixation for the anterior glenoid fracture through an axillary approach.Methods:Two autopsy specimens (a total of 4 shoulder joints) were used to simulate the surgery of open reduction and internal fixation to treat anterior glenoid fracture through an axillary approach. Specimens were placed in the lateral decubitus position. An incision was made in the posterior axillary line to expose the lateral side of the scapula through the interval ahead of the latissimus dorsi muscle. Attended to the separation and protection of the axillary nerve, posterior humerus artery, thoracic dorsal nerve, and scapular artery. The surgical area of the axillary approach was divided into the upper "quadrilateral area" and the lower "trilateral area", which exposed the anteroinferior glenoid, neck, and the full length of lateral border of the scapula. Thirteen cases (7 males and 6 females) were involved in this study, all patients were diagnosed with anterior glenoid fracture and treated by open reduction and internal fixation through the axillary approach between April 2018 and December 2020. Constant-Murley score and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) were used to evaluate the clinical efficacy.Results:Thirteen patients were enrolled for final analysis, which included 12 right cases and 1 left case. The average age was 50.38±13.74 years (range 24-67 years). All 13 patients were classified as Ideberg type Ia fracture. Anatomical buttress plates were used in 5 cases, cannulated screws combined with metacarpal plates in 7 cases, and distal radius plate in 1 case. The average length of follow-up was 13.00±5.97 months (range 6-26 months). No delayed union or malunion in all cases at the last follow-up visits. The average of Constant-Murley score was 62.46±10.26 points (range 45-83) and the DASH score was 27.56±9.76 points (range 14.14-43.33) at the three months follow up visits. At 6 months postoperatively, the Constant-Murley score was 80.85±8.32 points (range 65 to 90) and the DASH score was 11.47±8.56 points (range 0 to 35.00). Constant-Murley score at the final patient's follow-up visit was 84.54±8.95 points (range 70-95), and the DASH score was 10.94±8.67 points (range 1.67 to 33.33 points). The joint function gradually recovered with time. The functional scores at 3 months, 6 months after surgery, and final follow-up visit had significant differences ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The axillary approach is a safe and feasible approach for the treatment of the anterior glenoid fracture. This approach exposes the anteroinferior glenoid and the lateral border of the scapula, which reduces rotator-cuff injury and achieves anatomic reduction and strong fixation of the fracture. The axillary approach surgery also allows early functional physiotherapy after surgery.

OBJECTIVES: With the increasing detection rate of lung nodules, the qualitative problem of lung nodules has become one of the key clinical issues. This study aims to evaluate the value of combining dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI based on time-resolved imaging with interleaved stochastic trajectories-volume interpolated breath hold examination (TWIST-VIBE) with T₁ weighted free-breathing star-volumetric interpolated breath hold examination (T₁WI star-VIBE) in identifying benign and malignant lung nodules. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 79 adults with undetermined lung nodules before the operation. All nodules of patients included were classified into malignant nodules (n=58) and benign nodules (n=26) based on final diagnosis. The unenhanced T₁WI-VIBE, the contrast-enhanced T₁WI star-VIBE, and the DCE curve based on TWIST-VIBE were performed. The corresponding qualitative [wash-in time, wash-out time, time to peak (TTP), arrival time (AT), positive enhancement integral (PEI)] and quantitative parameters [volume transfer constant (Ktrans), interstitium-to-plasma rate constant (Kep), and fractional extracellular space volume (Ve)] were evaluated. Besides, the diagnostic efficacy (sensitivity and specificity) of enhanced CT and MRI were compared. RESULTS: There were significant differences in unenhanced T₁WI-VIBE hypo-intensity, and type of A, B, C DCE curve type between benign and malignant lung nodules (all P<0.001). Pulmonary malignant nodules had a shorter wash-out time than benign nodules (P=0.001), and the differences of the remaining parameters were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). After T₁WI star-VIBE contrast-enhanced MRI, the image quality was further improved. Compared with enhanced CT scan, the sensitivity (82.76% vs 80.50%) and the specificity (69.23% vs 57.10%) based on MRI were higher than that of CT (both P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS T₁WI star-VIBE and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI based on TWIST-VIBE were helpful to improve the image resolution and provide more information for clinical differentiation between benign and malignant lung nodules.
Adult ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Plasma ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Lung