Patterns of meniscal injury with acute anterior cruciate ligament tears

One hundred two patients underwent an arthrotomy for the primary repair of an acute ACL tear with or without an associated collateral ligament injury. The mean age was 23 years. Forty-seven patients (46%) had meniscal injuries. Meniscal injuries were found in 41% of Group I patients (isolated ACL injuries) and in 54% of Group II patients (injured ACL/collateral ligaments). Twenty-eight medial and 22 lateral meniscal tears were noted. Twenty-six of the 50 meniscal tears (52%) were sutured in an attempt to repair the menisci. Of these, 20 of the medial (71%), and 6 of the lateral (27%) meniscal injuries were sutured. No patients in this series required a total meniscectomy. A thorough evaluation of the menisci is mandatory in knees with an acutely injured ACL.     

Intervention program for obese school children.

The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate a program for obese school children. A pretest-posttest design was utilized. Data was collected related to weight status, skinfold measurements, self-esteem, and nutritional knowledge. A convenience sample of 26 children, in the fourth to sixth grades, completed this 9-week program. The results indicate that self-esteem increased significantly (p less than .001) between the pretest and posttest interval. Weight status and nutritional knowledge showed no improvement. Exercise was difficult to assess on self-report, therefore no conclusions were were drawn in relation to this variable. Future research will be directed toward refining this intervention program.     

The perioperative management of the arthroscopic patient

This article has described the perioperative management of the arthroscopic patient. As emphasized, preoperative planning requires a precise diagnosis, patient education, and selective procedures. The operative management is sophisticated, exacting, and challenging, as discussed in other articles of this issue. Finally, the postoperative management is specifically directed toward pathology and procedure. Recovery times are variable, and complications are not insignificant and can lead to prolonged patient morbidity and financial loss. It is important to consider patient goals versus reality, patient willingness to opt for acceptable versus optimal results, and if the procedure is necessary versus justified versus contraindicated. If all of these factors are kept in mind by the surgeon and conveyed to the patient, arthroscopic surgery can be extremely rewarding to both.     

Digital radiography of subtle pulmonary abnormalities: an ROC study of the effect of pixel size on observer performance

Forty conventional radiographs with examples of mild interstitial infiltrates and subtle pneumothoraces and 40 normal studies of the chest were selected and digitized, with pixel sizes of 1.0, 0.5, 0.2, and 0.1 mm. Observer performance tests were carried out using receiver operating characteristic analysis. Conventional radiographs and digitized images were compared. The results indicate that, in such cases, diagnostic accuracy increases significantly as the pixel size is reduced, at least to the 0.1-mm level. We conclude that, for digital systems using screen-film or similar image receptors, use of a pixel size substantially larger than 0.1 mm may result in some loss of diagnostic accuracy.