Chronic osteomyelitis of the pelvis in children and adolescents

Osteomyelitis of the pelvis is rare in children as well as in adults. This explains why the diagnosis is often missed, so that the infection becomes chronic. The authors report five chronic paediatric cases, seen between 1993 and 2003. The diagnosis was initially missed in two patients. In two others, the osteomyelitis was recognised but insufficiently treated, so that it also became chronic. The fifth patient developed exogenous osteomyelitis 6 months after an open pelvic fracture. The bone scan was useful for the differential diagnosis, but laboratory and radiographic findings were not. Treatment was the same for all patients, including wide surgical debridement, antibiotic therapy and prolonged immobilisation. Four patients were free of symptoms at the last clinical evaluation, after an average follow-up period of 7 years. Only one patient had a recurrence 3 months postoperatively and was re-operated. This study demonstrates that surgical treatment of chronic pelvic osteomyelitis in children and adolescents yields encouraging results.     

Hollow viscus injury in children: Starship Hospital experience

Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, serves a population of 1.2 million people and is a tertiary institution for pediatric trauma. This study is designed to review all cases of abdominal injury (blunt and penetrating) that resulted in injury of a hollow abdominal viscus including the stomach, duodenum, small intestine, large intestine and urinary bladder. The mechanism of injury; diagnosis and outcome were studied. This was done by retrospective chart review of patients admitted from January 1995 to December 2001. Thirty two injuries were found in 29 children. The age ranged from 7 months to 15 years with boys represented more commonly. Small bowel was the most frequently injured hollow viscus. Computerized Tomography (CT scan) is an extremely useful tool for the diagnosis of HVI.     

Chronic renal failure in Kuwaiti children: an eight-year experience

Over an 8-year period (January 1996 to December 2003), a total of 171 patients below the age of 15 years were diagnosed with chronic renal failure. The mean incidence rate of CRF in Kuwaiti children was found to be 38.2 per million children per year, with a peak incidence of 55 per million children per year. While the mean age at diagnosis was 33±12 months (range: 1 month to 15 years), the male:female ratio was 2.7:1. Etiological factors for chronic renal failure included congenital urological malformation (61.9%), chronic glomerulopathies (5.2%), hereditary nephropathies (21%), multi-system disease (0.5%), chronic pyelonephritis (without VUR) (4.6%), tumors (0.6%), ischemic renal disease (1.1%) and unknown etiology (1.7%). Thirty percent of patients reached end-stage renal disease within a mean of 18 months following diagnosis. The overall mortality before reaching ESRD was reported to be 4%. Kuwait has one of the highest incidence and prevalence rates of CRF in children. It is likely that genetic and hereditary factors are the cause of these high rates.     

Facial resurfacing at Shriners Burns Institute: a 16-year experience in young burned patients

The records of 1,220 pediatric and adolescent patients admitted with a diagnosis of facial burns or facial burn scars were reviewed. Four hundred fifty patients underwent resurfacing of the face with skin grafts or flaps. One hundred ten patients underwent resurfacing performed in aesthetic units and were followed for an average of 5.75 years. Our experience in managing the patients in the latter group suggests that donor sites from above the clavicle give an optimum color and texture match regardless of whether grafting is full or split thickness.     

Chronic osteomyelitis in pin tracks

We reviewed the cases of fourteen patients with chronic osteomyelitis involving a pin track (twelve tibial, one ulnar, and one radial) after either external fixation (thirteen patients) or skeletal traction (one patient). In general, the involved pins had been inserted into cortical bone; in no patient was the pintrack infection in cancellous bone. Treatment consisting of débridement, curettage, open packing, and administration of antibiotics successfully eradicated seven of the eight Staphylococcus aureus infections but failed to cure four of the six gram-negative-rod infections. Repeat curettage with delayed fresh autogenous cancellous bone-grafting was successful in treating the more resistant infections.     

Liver transplantation for children: Red Cross Children's Hospital experience

BACKGROUND: The liver transplant program for infants and children at the Red Cross Children's Memorial Hospital is the only established pediatric service in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1985, 250 infants and children have been assessed and 155 accepted for transplantation. METHODS: Since 1987, 76 children (range 6 months to 14 years) have had 79 liver transplants, with biliary atresia being the most frequent diagnosis. The indications for transplantation include biliary atresia (n = 44), metabolic (n = 7), fulminant hepatic failure (n = 10), redo transplants (n = 3), and other (n = 15). Three combined liver/kidney transplants have been performed. Forty-nine were reduced-size transplants with donor: recipient weight ratios ranging from 2:1 to 11:1, and 29 children weighed < 10 kg. RESULTS: Fifty-six (74%) patients survived 3 months to 12 years posttransplant. Cumulative 1- and 5-year patient survival data are 79% and 70%, respectively. However, with the introduction of prophylactic intravenous gancyclovir and the exclusion of hepatitis B virus (HBV) IgG core Ab-positive donors, the projected 5-year pediatric survival has been >80%. Early (<1 month) post-liver-transplant mortality was low, but included: primary malfunction (n = 1); inferior vena cava thrombosis (n = 1); bleeding esophageal ulcer (n = 1); and sepsis (n = 1). Late morbidity and mortality was mainly due to infections: de novo hepatitis B (5 patients, 2 deaths); Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease (12 patients, 7 deaths); and cytomegalovirus disease (10 patients, 5 deaths). Tuberculosis (TB) treatment in three patients was complicated by chronic rejection (n = 1) and TB drug-induced subfulminant liver failure (n = 1). CONCLUSIONS: Despite limited resources, a successful pediatric program has been established with good patient and graft survival figures and excellent quality of life. Shortage of donors due to HBV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) leads to significant waiting list mortality and infrequent transplantation.     

Chronic osteomyelitis after sternotomy

Two patients with chronic sternal osteomyelitis after an initially uncomplicated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) operation are described. Chronic osteomyelitis, caused in both cases by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, occurred six and four months after CABG respectively. Because chronic infection failed to respond to local wound care and medical therapy, more radical treatment was needed. Steel wires were removed and surgical debridement was performed. In one patient, an additional omental transposition was performed. In both cases radical debridement in combination with antibiotics successfully eradicated the infection.     

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO), also known as chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis, is an orphan disease that manifests as recurrent flares of inflammatory bone pain with or without a fever. The pain is related to one or more foci of nonbacterial osteomyelitis. To distinguish unifocal CRMO from a tumor or an infection, a bone biopsy is required in nearly all patients and a trial of antibiotic therapy in many. CRMO is now considered the pediatric equivalent of SAPHO syndrome, and recent data suggest that CRMO should be classified among the autoinflammatory diseases. The treatment of CRMO is not standardized. Although no randomized placebo-controlled trials are available, there is general agreement that nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs constitute the best first-line treatment and that bisphosphonates and biotherapies such as TNFα antagonists are effective in the most severe forms. Although CRMO is considered a benign disease, recent data suggest an up to 50% rate of residual impairments despite optimal management.     

Validation of the Shriners Hospital for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation (SHUEE) for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy

BACKGROUND: The Shriners Hospital for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation (SHUEE) is a video-based tool for the assessment of upper extremity function in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. This tool includes spontaneous functional analysis and dynamic positional analysis and assesses the ability to perform grasp and release. The purpose of the present study was to assess the reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity of this instrument. METHODS: The Shriners Hospital for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation studies for eleven subjects with hemiplegic cerebral palsy were selected for the evaluation of intraobserver and interobserver reliability. Concurrent validity was determined through analysis of the Shriners Hospital for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation, Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory, and Jebson-Taylor Test of Hand Function scores for twenty children. Construct validity was determined through analysis of Shriners Hospital for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation scores for eighteen children before and after flexor carpi ulnaris to extensor carpi radialis brevis tendon transfer. RESULTS: The absolute mean differences between the two scoring sessions for three raters were 1.2 and 1.0 for the spontaneous functional analysis and the dynamic positional analysis, respectively. Although the mean differences were significantly different from 0 (p < 0.001 and p = 0.003), the differences were small and not clinically important with regard to the total possible score. There was excellent intraobserver reliability between the two sessions with regard to both spontaneous functional analysis (r = 0.99) and dynamic positional analysis (r = 0.98). Assessment of interobserver reliability revealed absolute mean differences between four raters of 3.8 and 3.7 for the spontaneous functional analysis and the dynamic positional analysis, respectively. These differences were significantly different from 0 (p < 0.001); however, the magnitudes of these differences were not important with regard to total score or clinical interpretation. There was excellent interobserver reliability for both the spontaneous functional analysis (r = 0.90) and the dynamic positional analysis (r = 0.89). There was 100% agreement within and between examiners for the grasp-and-release section. The Shriners Hospital for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation showed fair correlation with the self-care scaled score from the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (r = 0.47) and good inverse correlation with the non-dominant total time section of the Jebson-Taylor test (r = -0.76). The Shriners Hospital for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation wrist score improved for all eighteen subjects after the flexor tendon transfer, and the mean improvement was significant (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The present study establishes the clinical reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity of the Shriners Hospital for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation for the assessment of upper extremity function in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.     

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is a rare, inflammatory, skeletal disease of unknown origin, which mainly affects children and adolescents in terms of cleido-spondylo-metaphysal skeletal inflammation. Only 10% of the patients are older than 20 years. To date, only about 200 cases have been reported in the literature. In the course of the disease, the initial radiological signs are osteolysis followed by sclerosis and hyperostosis in the end stage. The histological investigations reveal chronic inflammatory infiltrates with lymphocytes and hyperostosis. Although the prognosis of CRMO, to our current understanding, is self limiting, serious complications have been reported such as pathological fractures and compression fractures of the spine. A recently recommended therapy scheme is based on the administration of azithromycin combined with calcitonin. We present the case of a 25 year old female patient who has suffered from CRMO for 1.5 years with the cervical spine and the manubrium sterni being affected. The current state of diagnosis, therapy, and prognostic outlook of this rare disease are discussed.