Intervention for arch obstruction after the Norwood procedure: Prevalence,associated factors,and practice variability

Objective

Arch obstruction after the Norwood procedure is common and contributes to mortality. We determined the prevalence, associated factors, and practice variability of arch reintervention and assessed whether arch reintervention is associated with mortality.

Distal biceps rupture: Evaluation and management

Injury to the distal biceps occurs in certain high risk groups. Anatomical continuity of the lacertus fibrosus has bearing on the extent of retraction of the torn tendon stump. The objective of clinical and imaging evaluation is to discriminate between tendinosis, partial tear, acute complete tear and chronic complete tear. A complete tear of the distal biceps tendon can be diagnosed clinically with the Hook test. The traditional Hook test and the resisted Hook test are useful clinical tests. Though x-rays are routinely done, MRI remains the investigation of choice. Non-operative treatment has a role in selected patients with partial tear or patients with complete tear who have low functional demands. Operative treatment is the recommended treatment for complete tear of the distal biceps and is associated with good functional outcome and patient satisfaction.     

Charcot hindfoot deformity reconstruction using a hindfoot nail- surgical technique

Various techniques of reconstruction of deformed Charcot hindfoot using different internal fixation devices have been described in the literature. We present our surgical technique using specific principles that has resulted in improved outcomes to allow correction of deformity, obtain stability and allow progression to weightbearing in orthotic shoes. We describe our preoperative evaluation, planning and surgical timing. We also hope to share some technical pearls and details on the finer points to achieve a satisfactory correction and reduce the learning curve.     

骶骨肿瘤的分区切除与重建方式的选择

目的：探讨对骶骨肿瘤按其发生部位进行分区切除，选择相应重建方式的方法及疗效。方法：1988年2月-2005年1月手术治疗43例骶骨肿瘤患者，按肿瘤侵及部位（即上段骶骨、骶髂关节及骶髂关节水平向外的髂骨是否被破坏）对骶骨肿瘤进行分区切除并重建，相应的手术及重建方式包括单纯切除、钢针加塑形骨水泥（CPC）重建骶骨、钢板螺钉固定或骶骨螺钉固定重建骶髂关节、不同长度的Luque棒或髂骨棒加钢丝缠扎或TSRH或Isola或CGWS腰椎骨盆内固定。并给予相应的放疗与化疗。结果：术后出现脑脊液漏2例，切口感染及延期愈合3例，切口皮肤边缘坏死1例，下肢深静脉血栓形成1例，经积极处理后均治愈。随访1-17年，平均75个月，43例患者中39例（90．7％）术后疼痛得到缓解，视觉模拟疼痛评分由术前平均8．5分降低到术后3.4分（P〈0．01）。14例有神经功能损害的患者中，11例术后症状改善，3例无改善。20例行自体和或异体植骨的患者术后1年16例获得骨性融合。3例脊索瘤、3例恶性纤维组织细胞瘤和4例骨巨细胞瘤患者于术后1年因复发而进行1次或多次手术，其中有5例和1例骨髓瘤、1例转移癌患者于术后17-50个月因肺部和全身转移死亡。发生断棒2例，均再次手术更换断棒。结论：按肿瘤部位进行分区切除，选择相应的重建方式，达到尽可能广泛切除肿瘤组织和维持脊柱及骨盆稳定性的目的．是取得良好疗效的重要保证。     

Phase-constrained data extrapolation method for reduction of truncation artifacts

The authors present an improvement to a sigma-filter extrapolation method for the reconstruction of magnetic resonance (MR) images from symmetric discrete Fourier data. By making use of the phase information in the image data, the proposed method can overcome the data inconsistency problem of the original method for handling MR image data with large phase variations, such as those obtained in gradient-echo pulse sequences. Reconstruction results show that its performance is comparable with that of the modified complex sigma-filter method proposed previously to handle the inconsistency problem. However, the new approach has the advantage of reducing computation time by a factor of two with use of a sigma filter applied to real instead of complex images. It is expected that this method will be more practical for use in clinical MR imaging systems.