Chemical meningism after lumbar facet joint block with local anaesthetic and steroids

A case is reported in which chemical meningism occurred after lumbar facet joint block with methylprednisolone acetate and bupivacaine. This complication was probably due to inadvertent dural puncture. The use of steroids in facet joint injections is questioned.     

Meniscus tears of the knee: prospective evaluation with CT

A total of 209 patients underwent prospective axial computed tomography (CT) examinations of the knee to evaluate the ability of this technique to identify and characterize knee menisci in patients believed to have meniscus tears. Of the 359 knees examined, 105 subsequently underwent arthrography, arthroscopy, or arthrography and arthroscopic surgery. In this group, the sensitivity of CT was 88.5%, specificity was 95.5%, and accuracy was 91.5%. Although axial CT is a sensitive and effective method for the detection and characterization of tears involving the medial and lateral menisci, purely horizontal or nondisplaced peripheral tears may be difficult to demonstrate.     

Brain Injury after Cerebral Arterial Air Embolism in the Rabbit as Determined by Triphenyltetrazolium Staining

Background: Microscopic cerebral arterial air embolism (CAAE) occurs commonly during cardiac surgery and causes acute and chronic nonfocal neurologic dysfunction. Nevertheless, most neuroimaging studies do not detect brain injury after cardiac surgery. Using a rabbit model, the authors hypothesized they could detect and quantitate severe brain injury and infarction 24 h after microscopic CAAE using the vital stain triphenyltetrazolium chloride.

Methods: Experiments were conducted in methohexital anesthetized New Zealand white rabbits. Surgical shams (n = 5) underwent surgery but had no neurologic insult. Positive controls (n = 3) received 200 [micro sign]l/kg of intracarotid air. Other animals were randomized to receive either 50 [micro sign]l/kg intracarotid air, which produces microscopic CAAE (n = 18), or 300 [micro sign]l intracarotid saline (control, n = 18). Outcomes included somatosensory evoked potential amplitude at 90 min, neurologic impairment score at 4 and 24 h (0 [normal] to 99 [coma]), and percentage of nonstaining brain at 24 h using color-discrimination image analysis. Severely injured or infarcted brain does not stain with triphenyltetrazolium chloride.

Results: Surgical shams had little neurologic impairment and a small amount of nonstaining brain at 24 h (5.2 +/- 2.4%; mean +/- SD). Positive controls had profound neurologic impairment and large amounts of nonstaining brain (40-97%). Ninety-minute somatosensory evoked potential amplitude was less in animals receiving 50 [micro sign]l/kg air versus saline: 38 +/- 28% versus 102 +/- 32%, respectively, P < 1 x 10-7. Neurologic impairment scores were greater in animals receiving 50 [micro sign]l/kg air versus saline: at 4 h, 43 +/- 16 versus 23 +/- 9, P < 1 x 10-7; at 24 h, 24 +/- 12 versus 15 +/- 8, P = 0.013. Nevertheless, there was no difference between 50 [micro sign]l/kg air and saline in nonstaining brain: 5.5 +/- 2.9% versus 6.8 +/- 5.4%, P = 0.83.     

1H HR‐MAS spectroscopy for quantitative measurement of choline concentration in amniotic fluid as a marker of fetal lung maturity: Inter‐ and intraobserver reproducibility study

Purpose

To determine the intra‐ and interobserver reproducibility of human amniotic fluid metabolite concentration measurements (including potential markers of fetal lung maturity) detectable by MR spectroscopy.

Materials and Methods

¹H high‐resolution magic angle spinning (HR‐MAS) spectroscopy was performed at 11.7T on 23 third‐trimester amniotic fluid samples. Samples were analyzed quantitatively using 3‐(trimethylsilyl)propionic‐2,2,3,3‐d₄ acid (TSP) as a reference. Four observers independently quantified eight metabolite regions (TSP, lactate doublet and quartet, alanine, citrate, creatinine, choline, and glucose) twice from anonymized, randomized spectra using a semiautomated software program.

Results

Excellent inter‐ and intraobserver reproducibility was found for all metabolites. Intraclass correlation as a measure of interobserver agreement for the four readers ranged from 0.654 to 0.995. A high correlation of 0.973 was seen for choline in particular, a major component of surfactant. Pearson correlation as a measure of intraobserver reproducibility ranged from 0.478 to 0.999.

Conclusion

Quantification of choline and other metabolite concentrations in amniotic fluid by high‐resolution MR spectroscopy can be performed with high inter‐ and intraobserver reproducibility. Demonstration of reproducible metabolite concentration measurements is a critical first step in the search for biomarkers of fetal lung maturity. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008;28:1540–1545. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

An undergraduate dental education program providing care for children with disabilities

In 1981, the School of Dental Medicine at Stony Brook provided treatment for disabled children as part of the regular clinical rotation in the Department of Children's Dentistry. In 1988, 64% of the graduates of this program responded to a questionnaire survey (157 questionnaires sent, 97 returned). Forty-eight percent stated that they regularly treat this population in their current practices. Of those not regularly treating this population, 40% attributed this to specialty practice limitation. The majority of those responding (62%) reported that the experience this training provided was relevant to their current practice of dentistry     

A survey of local anaesthesia use in cataract surgery in Australia

A survey of the use of local anaesthesia in cataract surgery by ophthalmologists in Australia is presented. The main conclusions drawn from the survey were: 1. A marked trend towards the use of local anaesthesia in cataract surgery during the years 1983–88 throughout Australia. A less marked trend in country areas and in Western Australia. 2. The use of local anaesthesia did not correlate with the number of cataract operations performed by an ophthalmologist. 3. Day case cataract surgery was more often performed under local anaesthesia in private than in public hospitals. 4. Throughout Australia retrobulbar local anaesthesia was preferred to the peribulbar technique. 5. The most commonly used local anaesthetic mixture was 2% lignocaine and 0.5% marcaine with or without adrenaline and/or hyalase.