Successful donor cell engraftment in a recipient of bone marrow from a cadaveric donor

A 12-year-old male with acute lymphocytic leukemia received donor bone marrow from his histocompatible father whose marrow was harvested 40 minutes postmortem after he suffered a myocardial infarction. The marrow was stored in liquid nitrogen for 17 days prior to infusion into the recipient. Trypan blue viability was greater than 99% for the fresh marrow. Progenitor cell assays revealed that 20% of the CFU-MIX, 16% of the BFU-E, 10% of the CFU-E, and 17% of the CFU-GM were spared during the cryopreservation period. Posttransplantation, the recipient had a leukocyte count greater than 10(3)/microL by day 26. Southern blotting analysis documented the donor origin of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells and granulocytes isolated 46 days posttransplantation. Unfortunately, the patient died of complications relating to graft-v-host disease 67 days following transplantation. This case demonstrates the feasibility of cadaveric marrow as a source of donor cells and is the first reported case of documented leukocyte engraftment in a recipient of cadaveric marrow.     

Mucoid degeneration of the anterior cruciate ligament: Management and outcome

Background:

Mucoid degeneration (MD) is a rare pathological affection of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Mucinous material within the substance of ACL produces pain and limited motion in the knee. This series describes the clinicoradiological presentation of patients with mucoid ACL, partial arthroscopic debridement of ACL and outcomes.

Materials and Methods:

During a period of 3 years, 11 patients were included based upon the clinical suspicion, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, arthroscopic features and histopathologic confirmation of MD of ACL.

Result:

Six patients were male and five were female with median age of 40 years (range 21-59 years). All patients complained of knee pain with median duration of 5 months (range 1-24 months). All patients had painful deep flexion with 63.6% (N = 7) reporting trivial trauma before the onset of symptoms. MRI revealed MD of ACL in all with associated cyst in three patients. Partial debridement of ACL was done in ten and complete in one patient. None of them required notchplasty. Histopathology confirmed the diagnosis in all of them. At the mean followup of 13.81 months (range 6-28 months), all patients regained complete flexion and none complained of instability.

Conclusion:

Prior knowledge of condition with high index of suspicion and careful interpretation of MRI can establish the diagnosis preoperatively. It responds well to partial debridement of ACL and mucinous material without development of instability.     

Fibrous dysplasia of the maxilla

Fibrous dysplasia is a rare disorder of the bone. It is seen in 2 main forms of presentation, monoostotic and the polyostotic form with café au lait spots and precocious puberty (McCune-Albright syndrome). Most of the cases present in the first 2 decades of life, and the lesions are rare in infants (Joseph E, Kachara R, Bhattacharya RN, et al. Fibrous dysplasia of the orbit in an infant. Pediatr Neurosurg 2000; 32: 205-208). Herein, we present a rare case of fibrous dysplasia in an infant.