A modified approach for eminectomy for temporomandibular joint dislocation under local anaesthesia: report on a series of 50 patients

Conventional eminectomy for habitual dislocation of the temporomandibular joint is usually performed under general anaesthesia. This technique was modified for use under local anaesthesia to treat medically compromised patients. Fifty elderly patients (90 joints) were treated, for whom general anaesthesia was considered a serious risk due to systemic diseases; the dislocation was habitual in 39 and long-standing in 11. Following intravenous sedation and local anaesthesia, a 2-cm superficial vertical skin incision was made directly above the articular eminence. Careful and gentle dissection of the subcutaneous tissue was performed until the lateral joint capsule was exposed. The superior compartment was entered, followed by shaving of the articular eminence in a conventional manner. The surgery was successful in all patients, with a mean operative time of 47 ± 12 minutes. Intraoperative events occurred in 10 patients (20%). Postoperative complications affected 25 patients (50%), varying from severe (two deaths, due to cardiopulmonary arrest and accidental fall) to mild (local infection, etc.). Eleven patients (22%) had facial nerve palsy limited to the temporal branch; all recovered after 6 months. This approach is useful when general anaesthesia is contraindicated due to existing medical conditions. However, prudent consideration may be required to avoid serious complications when local anaesthesia is used.     

Recurrence rate of basal cell carcinoma in patients submitted to skin flaps or grafts

BackgroundBasal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer. Although the literature provides a great deal of information on the recurrences of basal cell carcinoma, studies about these indices addressing only the cases in which flaps and/or grafts have been performed for surgical reconstruction of the excision of this tumor are still lacking.ObjectivesTo evaluate rates of recurrence of basal cell carcinoma submitted to conventional surgery with pre-established margins and reconstruction by flaps or grafts.MethodsA retrospective and observational study was performed through the analysis of 109 patients, who met inclusion criteria with 116 basal cell carcinomas submitted to conventional surgery and pre-established safety margins, requiring reconstruction through a graft or cutaneous flap. This work was performed the small surgeries sector of Dermatology of the Specialty Outpatient Clinic of the University Hospital of the State University of Londrina, between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2015. The following data were collected and inserted in an Excel worksheet: name, registration number of the hospital patient, sex, age, tumor location, histopathological type of BCC, procedure performed (type of flap and/or graft), follow-up time, recurrence.ResultsOf the 116 procedures, there were recurrences in 3 cases (2.6%) that were located in the nasal region and related to sclerodermiform or micronodular histological types.Study limitationsRetrospective nature of the study.ConclusionThe present study of the dermatology department of this university hospital showed a low rate of recurrence of basal cell carcinoma in cases where flaps and/or grafts were used in the surgical reconstruction.     

Brief overview of selected approaches in targeting pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Introduction: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has the worst prognosis of any major malignancy, with 5-year survival painfully inadequate at under 5%. Investigators have struggled to target and exploit PDAC unique biology, failing to bring meaningful results from bench to bedside. Nonetheless, in recent years, several promising targets have emerged.

Areas covered: This review will discuss novel drug approaches in development for use in PDAC. The authors examine the continued efforts to target Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRas), which have recently been successfully abated using novel small interfering RNA (siRNA) eluting devices. The authors also discuss other targets relevant to PDAC including those downstream of mutated KRas, such as MAPK kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase.

Expert opinion: Although studies into novel biomarkers and advanced imaging have highlighted the potential new avenues toward discovering localized tumors earlier, the current therapeutic options highlight the fact that PDAC is a highly metastatic and chemoresistant cancer that often must be fought with virulent, systemic therapies. Several newer approaches, including siRNA targeting of mutated KRas and enzymatic depletion of hyaluronan with PEGylated hyaluronidase are particularly exciting given their early stage results. Further research should help in elucidating their potential impact as therapeutic options.     

联合干预治疗剖宫产产后出血的临床疗效分析

目的分析宫腔填纱配合米索前列醇局部给药治疗剖宫产产后出血临床疗效。方法选取我院收治的90例剖宫产产后出血患者的资料,其入院时间为2018年1月—2019年6月。按照其入院时间的先后来进行分组—对照组(n=45,常规治疗干预)和观察组(n=45,采取宫腔填纱配合米索前列醇局部给药治疗)。对两组患者不同时间点的出血状况进行统计,且观察其血红蛋白水平治疗前后的变化。结果在两组产后2 h、24 h、48 h出血量上比较,观察组低于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05);在治疗前,两组患者的血红蛋白水平差异无统计学意义(P>0.05);在治疗后,观察组优于对照组(P<0.05)。结论宫腔填纱配合米索前列醇局部给药治疗剖宫产产后出血的疗效显著。     

Obstetric emergencies

For more than 60 years the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths triennial reports and later reports from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) have helped build a picture of maternity care within the UK highlighting not only our successes but failures in caring for women within the puerperal period. Despite most obstetric emergencies being well described and having clear management strategies and guidance, there continues to be substandard management with poor outcomes recorded. This article describes some common obstetric emergencies with which the anaesthetist will become involved. It emphasizes management related to some deficiencies identified in the MBRRACE-UK report as well as highlighting a multidisciplinary approach throughout. Good communication between team members is paramount in all aspects of medical care but this approach should be fostered routinely to ensure that rapid and appropriate decisions are made in a safe and timely manner.     

Extended Synchronous Variational Integrators for Wave Propagations on Non-Uniform Meshes

This paper is concerned with the classical problem of wave propagation in discrete models of nonuniform resolution. We extend the traditional asynchronous variational integrators (AVIs) method to higher order and couple different spatial elements to adapt to nonuniform meshes. We show that the extension of AVIs method is stable, convergent and may reduce the spurious inter-grid reflection across meshes with different sizes. Numerical experiments are provided to verify the stability and convergence of the extended AVIs. The total energy is numerically conserved in our experiments.