Rupture of the posterior tibial tendon: CT and surgical findings

Computed tomography (CT) was performed in 42 patients with 49 clinically suspected tears of the posterior tibial tendon. Twenty-eight of the 49 suspected tears were subsequently surgically explored and repaired. Three patterns of tendon abnormalities were recognized on CT scans: type I-intact, hypertrophied, heterogeneous tendon; type II-attenuated tendon; and type III-absence of a portion of a tendon. Types I and II correlated with partial rupture seen during surgery, and type III correlated with complete rupture of the tendon. CT findings were accurate in 96% of the patients who underwent surgery. In four cases (14%), tendon rupture was seen on CT scans, but the extent of the injury was underestimated and the rupture was misclassified. Reactive periostitis of the distal tibia was seen in 71% of diseased tendons and may represent an important factor in the diagnosis of tendon rupture.     

The clinical significance of thought disorder across time in psychiatric patients

The occurrence and clinical significance of thought disorder, as measured by general abstraction ability and idiosyncratic abstractions, remains a complex and ambiguous area of inquiry. We studied 49 subjects in a longitudinal design in which the effects of general psychopathology and depression on abstraction function were assessed. Results indicate that a) depressive patients have a generalized abstraction dysfunction not limited to specific content areas, b) some depressive patients have a residual abstraction deficit on discharge from the hospital, c) idiosyncratic abstractions are a characteristic but not pathognomonic marker for schizophrenia, and d) across all subjects, abstraction difficulties represent a seemingly state-dependent "final common pathway" that significantly correlates with general psychopathological impairment rather than level of depression.