[Non-surgical treatment of Dupuytren disease using needle fasciotomy]. / Traitement non chirurgical de la maladie de Dupuytren par aponévrotomie à l'aiguille.

Short-term and five-year outcomes after nonsurgical treatment of Dupuytren's contracture by needle fasciotomy were studied. Among the 138 patients who were evaluated, 90 (123 hands) were seen five years after the procedure. Outcome was excellent or good in 81% of cases in the short term and 69% of cases after 5 years. Adverse events included skin breaks (20 hands, 16% of cases), digital dysesthesia due to nerve damage (3 patients, 2% of cases), and local infection (3 patients, 2% of cases). Five-year recurrence rate was 50.4%. These findings demonstrate the value of needle fasciotomy especially in the early stages of Dupuytren's disease.

[Treatment of rheumatic polyarthritis with levamisole in 26 patients]. / Traitement de la polyarthrite rhumatoïde par le lévamisole chez 26 patients.

Twenty-six patients with rheumatic polyarthritis (serologically positive) were treated with levamisole at a daily dosage of 150 mg. Treatment was continuous for 3 months and 2 days weekly afterwards. Although improvement may appear from the 1st month onwards, it is more frequent between the 1st and 3rd month (13 good or very good results among the 16 patients still treated) and may even improve afterwards (11 good or very good results among the 11 patients still treated in the 6th month). However, the value of levamisole, which appears to be an active drug against rheumatic polyarthritis, is limited by the frequency of side-effects. In 17 cases the trial had to be discontinued for this reason. The most serious side-effects were of haematological nature (2 leukopenias, 1 thrombocytopenia), but in these patients agranulocytosis was not found.

A double-blind study of the analgesic action of benorylate suspension in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee.

This study compared benorylate suspension and placebo in a double-blind randomised cross-over design to investigate their analgesic effect in osteoarthritis of the hip and the knee. Benorylate and placebo were each given for 7 days. Assessment of efficacy and tolerance was carried out on the 7th day of each period. The results were subjected to sequential analysis and the analgesic effect of benorylate suspension was significantly demonstrated after 8 case reports. Mild digestive side effects appeared in 30% of patients. In addition, benorylate suspension was well tolerated in an open trial carried on for 30 to 90 days in 7 patients.