Proximal humeral reconstruction using nail cement spacer in primary and metastatic tumours of proximal humerus

Limb salvage surgery for malignant tumours of proximal humerus is an operative challenge, where the surgeon has to preserve elbow and hand functions and retain shoulder stability with as much function as possible. We treated 14 consecutive patients with primary malignant or isolated metastasis of proximal humerus with surgical resection and reconstruction by nail cement spacer. There were 8 females and 6 males, with a mean age of 28.92 years (range 16–51 years) and a mean follow-up of 30.14 months (range 12–52 months). The diagnosis was osteosarcoma in 8 patients, chondrosarcoma in 4 patients and metastasis from thyroid and breast carcinoma in 1 patient each. One of our patients had radial nerve neuropraxia, 1 developed inferior subluxation and 3 developed distant metastasis. Two patients died of disease and one developed local recurrence leading to forequarter amputation, leaving a total of 11 patients with functional extremities for assessment at the time of final follow-up which was done using the Musculoskeletal Tumour Society (MSTS) score. Though we were able to preserve the elbow, wrist and hand functions in all patients, the abductor mechanism, deltoid muscle and axillary nerve were not salvageable in any of cases. The mean MSTS score at the time of final follow-up was 19.09. Thus, proximal humeral reconstruction using nail cement spacer is a technical simple, cost-effective and reproducible procedure which makes it a reliable option in subset of patients where the functions around the shoulder cannot be preserved despite costlier prosthesis.     

Multisystem disorder and limb girdle muscular dystrophy caused by LMNA p.R28W mutation

Primary laminopathies caused by mutations in the LMNA gene typically display an extremely pleiotropic clinical presentation including cardiac, muscular and metabolic phenotypes. Additionally, many atypical laminopathies have been described combining features of two or more of the distinctive disorders or syndromes associated with LMNA mutations. We report on a 46-year-old female patient with a heterozygous p.R28W LMNA mutation, who presented with a novel clinical phenotype comprising severe limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, pronounced partial lipodystrophy, cardiac conduction defect, polycystic ovary disease and a metabolic syndrome with insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus and hypertriglyceridemia. On examination, her 23-year old daughter solely showed early signs of a LGMD phenotype.     

The need for fundamental reforms in the pain research field to develop innovative drugs

Introduction: Chronic pain is a major healthcare issue owing to its high prevalence, significant physical and emotional burden on the patients, and huge financial burden on the society. The efficacy of currently available medications is unsatisfactory owing to their limited effect size and the low responder rate (less than 50%). Thus, there is a large unmet need for innovative therapies for chronic pain.

Areas covered: In this review, the author points out the need for fundamental reforms in pain research. For the last several decades, drug discovery research has extensively focused on designing new therapies using animal models of chronic pain. It has, however, made insufficient progress with respect to the launch of innovative analgesic drugs, because the translation from preclinical to clinical stages has not been satisfactory. Thus, the strategies for developing innovative analgesic drugs are discussed.

Expert opinion: Points to be considered in the discovery of drugs for pain relief include: (1) the exclusion of bias incorporation and the alignment of clinical and preclinical endpoints in the assessment of analgesic efficacy; (2) the understanding of primary unmet needs; (3) the assessment of new therapies by biomarker-prioritized frameworks, and (4) the stratification of chronic pain sufferers.     

Evaluation of Sagittal Spinopelvic Balance in Spinal Cord Stimulator Patients

ObjectiveSpinal cord stimulation (SCS) has become a popular nonopioid pain intervention. However, the treatment failure rate for SCS remains significantly high and many of these patients have poor sagittal spinopelvic balance, which has been found to correlate with increased pain and decreased quality of life. The purpose of this study was to determine if poor sagittal alignment is correlated with SCS treatment failure.Materials and MethodsComparative retrospective analysis was performed between two cohorts of patients who had undergone SCS placement, those who had either subsequent removal of their SCS system (representing a treatment failure cohort) and those that underwent generator replacement (representing a successful treatment cohort). The electronic medical record was used to collect demographic and surgical characteristics, which included radiographic measurements of lumbar lordosis (LL), pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), and sacral slope (SS). Also included were data on pain medication usage including opioid and nonopioid therapies.ResultsEighty-one patients met inclusion criteria, 31 had complete removal, and 50 had generator replacements. Measurement of sagittal balance parameters demonstrated that many patients had poor alignment, with 34 outside normal range for LL (10 vs 24 in removal and replacement cohorts, respectively), 30 for PI (12 [38.7%] vs 18 [36.0%]), 46 for PT (18 [58.1%] vs 28 [56.0%]), 38 for SS (18 [58.1%] vs 20 [40.0%]), and 39 for PI-LL mismatch (14 [45.2%] vs 25 [50.0%]). There were no significant differences in sagittal alignment parameters between the two cohorts.ConclusionsThis retrospective cohort analysis of SCS patients did not demonstrate any relationship between poor sagittal alignment and failure of SCS therapy. Further studies of larger databases should be performed to determine how many patients ultimately go on to have additional structural spinal surgery after failure of SCS and whether or not those patients go on to have positive outcomes.     

膝骨关节炎单髁置换术后下肢冠状位力线对早期临床效果的影响

目的 探讨单髁置换术（unicompartmental knee arthroplasty,UKA）后不同的下肢冠状位力线对早期临床效果的影响。方法 2018年8月至2019年6月,对93例（102膝）UKA术后病人进行回顾性分析,根据术后下肢力线将102膝分为三组,轻度内翻组（0°~3°）36膝、中等内翻组（3°~6°）37膝和重度内翻组（6°以上）29膝。比较三组术前及末次随访时的西安大略和麦克马斯特大学（the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities,WOMAC）骨关节炎指数及膝关节功能活动度,评估病人术后满意度。结果 随访24~34个月,平均27.1个月。末次随访时各组WOMAC评分以及轻度内翻组、中等内翻组的活动度均显著优于术前,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。轻度内翻组、中等内翻组末次随访的活动度值均显著优于重度内翻组,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）,但轻度内翻组和中度内翻组比较,差异无统计学意义（P＞0.05）。中度内翻组中有更多的病人（70%）认为非常满意（P=0.028）。结论 UKA术中将力线调整至内翻0°~6°均可获得不错的膝关节功能评分及活动度,但UKA术后力线在3°~6°范围内的病人较0°~3°组可有更好的早期满意度。     

腰后路减压复位环形融合治疗腰椎双节段椎体滑脱的临床疗效评估

目的 ：探讨腰椎后路减压复位环形融合治疗腰椎双节段椎体滑脱后临床疗效及腰椎-骨盆矢状位拟合关系的变化。方法：回顾性纳入2014年1月至2018年1月海南医学院第一附属医院关节创伤外科收治的接受腰椎后路减压复位环形融合内固定术且资料完整的67例双节段腰椎滑脱症患者。记录患者术前和末次随访时腰腿疼痛视觉模拟（visual analogue scale,VAS）评分及腰椎功能障碍指数（Oswestry disability index,ODI）评分,计算腰椎前凸角（lumbar lordosis,LL）、骶骨倾斜角（sacral slope,SS）、骨盆倾斜角（pelvic tilt,PT）及骨盆入射角（pelvic incidence,PI）并进行分析比较。结果 ：术后12个月,患者腰痛VAS评分由（5.1±0.6）分降至（2.1±0.5）分,ODI评分由（44.5±2.2）分降至（18.6±1.0）分,两者变化差异均具有统计学意义（P<0.001）。腰椎LL由47.3°±5.1°降至32.1°±6.0°,SS由40.3°±3.3°降至26.8°±7.5°,PT由34.5°±3.0°...     

“S”形截骨术用于肢体延长的疗效及并发症观察

目的：观察“S”形截骨术在肢体延长中的应用疗效及常见并发症。方法选择我院2011年1月至2014年12月收治的行肢体延长术患者79例作为研究对象,按随机数表法分为观察组(n=40)和对照组(n=39)。观察组采取“S”形截骨术,对照组采取横行截骨术,比较两组的治疗情况（延长长度、延长幅度、牵伸时间）、术后恢复情况（外固定时间、骨愈合时间、骨愈合指数）、并发症发生情况（轴线偏移、疤痕挛缩、延迟愈合、筋膜室综合征、关节僵硬、针道感染）。结果观察组患者的肢体延长长度与延长幅度分别为(7.8±1.3) cm、(21.8±3.3)%,对照组患者分别为(8.2±1.6) cm、(22.1±4.2)%,两组比较差异均无统计学意义(P>0.05);观察组患者的牵拉时间为(111.4±20.1) d,明显短于对照组的(140.2±23.7) d,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);观察组患者的外固定时间、骨愈合时间及骨愈合指数分别为(158.3±30.4) d、(347.5±46.1) d、(46.6±5.1) d/cm,均低于对照组(179.1±38.8) d、(379.4±43.9) d、(59.8±20.1) d/cm,差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05);观察组患者的并发症发生率为17.5%(7/40),低于对照组的38.5%(15/39),差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论应用“S”形截骨术进行肢体延长在取得满意肢体延长幅度基础上还可缩短牵拉时间、加快骨愈合速度,骨愈合指数低、术后并发症少,具有较高的临床应用价值。     

Lower limb immobilization is associated with increased corticospinal excitability

Temporary immobilization of the leg serves as a useful model for the brain’s adaptive responses to casting, long-term confinement to bed rest and possibly to trauma. As part of a larger program using TMS to investigate changes associated with bed rest, we sought to determine whether casting of the leg causes brain excitability changes measurable with TMS, and the time course of resolution of these changes. In this study, eight adults wore a full leg cast for 10 days. TMS measures of motor cortex excitability were gathered before the cast was placed, and then immediately after cast removal, and 24 and 48 h later. A control group did not wear a cast and underwent the same TMS sessions. Significant excitability changes occurred and peaked at 24 h post cast removal in the TMS experimental group but not the non-casted group.