(iii) Minimal invasive techniques in the management of tibial plateau fractures

Intra-articular fractures of the proximal tibia present a wide spectrum of injury patterns with associated soft tissue injury. The last two decades have seen the techniques of management evolve from extensive open reduction and rigid internal fixation to arthroscopy-assisted minimal invasive surgery (MIS) and biologically benign internal fixation. The ultimate aim is to prevent the occurrence of late degenerative arthritis. This could be achieved in selected patients using minimal invasive surgery, which offers the advantages of better visualisation and management of intra-articular soft tissue injuries, confirmation of fracture reduction viewed from the joint surface, faster rehabilitation and fewer wound complications.     

RETROPERITONEAL SCHWANNOMA: A CASE SERIES AND REVIEW

Schwannomas account for only a small percentage of retroperitoneal tumours. Presentation is typically varied and non-specific and pre-operative diagnosis is difficult. Herein are described five cases of retroperitoneal schwannoma. Presentation was varied, ranging from abdominal pain, abdominal mass, obstructed labour or an incidental finding. All patients had either an abdominal computed tomography scan and/or ultrasound performed. Pre-operative biopsy either by fine needle aspiration (in one patient) or core biopsy in two patients was unhelpful. In four patients with smaller tumours, complete excision was possible with no apparent long-term morbidity and no clinical evidence of recurrent tumour with follow up from 3.5 months to 11 years. For the largest tumour, complete surgical excision was not attempted as it would have entailed significant morbidity.     

Clinical course and outcome of cycloid psychotic disorder: a three-year prospective study

The course and outcome of cycloid psychotic disorder was explored by means of a prospective three-year follow-up of a sample of patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for the disorder provided by Perris & Brockington, compared to patients with a diagnosis of affective or schizoaffective disorder. The most striking difference between cycloids and affectives was the lack of manic episodes during the follow-up period in the former group. Moreover, the mean age at onset was lower in cycloids. No difference between these patient groups was observed with regard to outcome. Compared to schizoaffectives, cycloids showed several differences in the clinical picture during the index episode, and their symptomatological pattern was more consistent from one episode to another during the follow-up. Moreover, the outcome of cycloids was significantly more favourable than that of schizodepres-sives.     

A Bayesian approach to subvoxel tissue classification in NMR microscopic images of trabecular bone

NMR microscopy is currently being used as an investigational tool for the evaluation of micromorphometric parameters of trabecular bone as a possible means to assess its strength. Since, typically, the image voxel size is not significantly smaller than individual trabecular elements, partial volume blurring can be a major complication for accurate tissue classification. In this paper, a Bayesian segmentation technique is reported that achieves improved subvoxel tissue classification. Each voxel is subdivided either into eight subvoxels twice the original resolution, or up to four subvoxels along the transaxial direction and the subvoxels optimally classified as either bone or marrow. Based on a statistical model for partial volume blurring, the likelihood for the number of marrow subvoxels in each voxel can be computed on the basis of its measured signal. To resolve the ambiguity of the location of the marrow subvoxels, a Gibbs distribution is introduced to model the interaction between the subvoxels. Neighboring subvoxel pairs with the same tissue label are encouraged, and pairs with distinct labels are penalized. The segmentation is achieved by maximizing the a posteriori probability of the label image using the block ICM (iterative conditional mode) algorithm. The potential of the proposed technique is demonstrated in real and synthetic NMR microscopic images.     

Colonoscopic classification of internal hemorrhoids: Usefulness in endoscopic band ligation

Background:  Bleeding is one of the main symptoms of internal hemorrhoids. However, the conventional Goligher's classification of internal hemorrhoids does not consider the severity of bleeding. We intended to establish a useful method for evaluating internal hemorrhoids using a colonoscope that reflected the severity of the symptoms.
Methods:  Using a colonoscope in the retroflexed and forward viewing position, 104 patients with symptomatic internal hemorrhoids were evaluated based on the criteria of range, form and red color signs (RCS). Range was determined by the circumferential distribution of internal hemorrhoids and scaled from 0 to 4. Form was determined by size and scaled from 0 to 2. The presence of RCS was also evaluated. Symptoms were determined by interview and scaled from 0 to 3. Patients were treated by endoscopic band ligation (EBL) and were examined endoscopically before and 4 weeks after the treatment.
Results:  Before the treatment, range, form and RCS were significantly correlated to bleeding ( P <  0.01), and form was significantly correlated to prolapse ( P <  0.05). The endoscopic classification scores at 4 weeks after EBL improved significantly (range from 3.25 ± 0.05–0.56 ± 0.08 [ P <  0.01] and form from 2.81 ± 0.04–0.56 ± 0.07 P <  0.01).
Conclusion:  The new endoscopic classification of internal hemorrhoids proved to be closely correlated to symptoms, particularly bleeding, and thus highly useful in evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment.     

内镜活检对胃癌组织学分类术前诊断的价值

目的 探讨内镜活检对胃癌组织学分类术前诊断的价值。方法 术前对141例胃癌患的内镜活检标本分别根据Lauren分类和世界卫生组织（WHO）分类判断组织学分类，并与手术标本结果对照。结果 内镜活检对胃癌Lauren分类术前诊断的准确率为76.6%。对肠型胃癌诊断的敏感性和特异性分别为85.4%和80.6%。而对弥漫型胃癌则分别为82.7%和80.3%，在59例术前诊断为肠型胃癌的病例中，18例（30.5%)在手术标本中呈弥漫性行生长，而在75例术前诊断为弥漫型胃癌的病例中，仅6例（8.0%)术后诊断为肠型胃癌，内镜活检对胃癌WHO分类术前诊断的准确率为87.2%，其中对乳头状/管状腺癌，黏液腺癌和印戒细胞癌的敏感性分别为91.9%。33.3%和66.7%。结论 内镜活检对胃癌组织学分类的术前诊断具有较高的临床应用价值。     

The Hyperplantarflexion Ankle Fracture Variant

Various patterns of ankle fractures that are not accounted for by common classification systems have been the subject of case reports. The first difficulty with these variant patterns is recognizing all associated pathology, followed by the successful application of stable fixation. The purpose of this study was to describe the common morphologic features and ligamentous injuries of a unique variant fracture pattern, as well as the surgical treatment technique and the short-term functional and radiographic outcomes. Of 121 consecutive unstable ankle fractures over a 2-year period, 7 patients were found to have a similar constellation of injuries around the ankle. A vertical shear fracture of the posteromedial tibial rim was the main feature. Six of the 7 also had a fracture of the posterior malleolus. On magnetic resonance imaging, the deltoid and posterior tibiofibular ligaments were intact in all cases. Fractures were treated with open anatomic reduction of the posteromedial and posterior fragments with antiglide plate fixation. All fractures healed at 2 months without loss of reduction, fixation failure, or surgical complications. The average American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons lower extremity score was 79 at an average of 8 months' follow-up. The common radiographic and morphologic features associated with this posteromedial fracture indicate that it likely occurs through a common mechanism that involves hyperplantarflexion. The characteristics of this fracture pattern have not been fully described previously, but this ankle fracture variant may occur in up to 6% of cases. Unstable ankle fractures should be evaluated carefully for evidence of posteromedial involvement so appropriate treatment may proceed.     

Neural classifier construction using regularization, pruning and test error estimation

In this paper we propose a method for construction of feed-forward neural classifiers based on regularization and adaptive architectures. Using a penalized maximum likelihood scheme, we derive a modified form of the entropic error measure and an algebraic estimate of the test error. In conjunction with optimal brain damage pruning, a test error estimate is used to select the network architecture. The scheme is evaluated on four classification problems.     

云南省卫生资源配置标准的弹性系数研究

目的　在进行云南省区域分类基础上制定云南省区域卫生资源配置标准标志值后 ,根据云南省各个地区的特点增加不同弹性系数。方法　采用流行病学研究方法 ,收集和分析云南省不同地州市 1990～ 1999年有关人口、社会经济状况及卫生经费的投入、居民健康状况、居民文化、生活水平、少数民族状况、旅游地区、边境线长短及贫困状况等资料。结果　研究结果表明曲靖地区、玉溪市、保山地区增加弹性系数最少 ,分别为 0 67%、 1 5 8%和1 68% ,怒江州、迪庆州和西双版纳州增加弹性系数最多 ,分别为 11 15 %、 10 2 5 %和 9 84 %。其它地区的弹性系数分别为昆明市 5 88% ,昭通地区 2 3 1% ,楚雄州 2 3 0 % ,红河州 7 0 3 % ,文山州 5 5 3 % ,思茅地区 7 4 3 % ,大理州4 94 % ,德宏州 6 78% ,丽江地区 4 3 5 % ,临沧地区 6 13 %。结论　云南省区域卫生配置标准的弹性系数研究为云南省卫生资源区域分类配置标准提供了科学依据 ,不同弹性系数体现了云南省不同地区的卫生资源区域分类配置标准的公平性、合理性及实用性