Acquired fistula of the lacrimal sac and laisser-faire approach. Description of the natural history of acquired fistulas between the lacrimal sac and the skin occurring before planned endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) and without any treatment of the fistula.

INTRODUCTION: The formation of a fistula between the lacrimal sac and the skin is a classic outcome of resistant lacrimal sac abscesses. There is currently no consensus about treatment in such cases. The goal of this study was to describe the natural history of acquired fistulas between the lacrimal sac and the skin, occurring before planned endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) and without any treatment of the fistula. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study was only descriptive and included patients between 1999 and 2012. The patients included were adults with a nasolacrimal duct (NLD) obstruction that was planned to be treated with endonasal DCR. A resistant lacrimal sac abscess appeared a few days before the planned surgery, and fistulized spontaneously despite medical treatment. The surgery was not delayed. The DCR was endoscopic. Nothing was done for the fistula. Its healing was spontaneous. The exclusion criteria were the following: congenital fistulas, post-traumatic and/or iatrogenic fistulas, fistulas which had regressed by the day of the surgery, postoperative follow-up less than 5 months, post-traumatic and/or iatrogenic fistulas, any history of previous DCR or any other lacrimal surgery, children. RESULTS: Twenty adults (25 cases) were included in the analysis. Mean age was 79 years old (from 41 to 90). The mean follow-up was 41 months (from 5 to 108 months). The fistula spontaneously disappeared in all cases, less than one month after it had appeared and in a permanent fashion. No unsightly scar developed. DISCUSSION: Spontaneously acquired fistulas between the lacrimal sac and the skin may occur in the natural course of abscessed acute dacryocystitis. Our study showed spontaneous healing of the fistula post-endoscopic DCR. CONCLUSION: Fistula excision in fistulous acute dacryocystitis does not seem essential to its healing. The laisser-faire approach appears adequate for aesthetic outcomes as well as for functional outcomes of DCR.

Acute and old ruptures of the extensor apparatus of the knee in adults (excluding knee replacement).

Rupture of the extensor apparatus of the knee in adults is infrequent and dominated by patellar fracture, which in our experience is six times as frequent as quadriceps or patellar tendon tear. Patellar fracture poses few diagnostic problems and treatment is now well codified. Tension-band osteosynthesis is generally used, involving two longitudinal K-wires and wire in a figure-of-eight pattern looped over the anterior patella; sometimes, for more complex fractures, cerclage wiring is added to the tension band. Non-union is rare and generally well tolerated. Quadriceps tendon tear mainly affects patients over 40 years of age, in a context of systemic disease. Diagnosis is easily suggested by inability to actively extend the knee, but is unfortunately still often overlooked in emergency. In most cases, early surgical management is needed to reinsert the tendon at the proximal pole of the patella by bone suture. For chronic lesions, it is often necessary to lengthen the quadriceps tendon by V-Y plasty or the Codivilla technique. Patellar tendon tear, on the other hand, typically occurs in patients under 40 years of age, often involved in sports. Diagnosis is again clinically straightforward, but again may be missed in emergency, especially in case of incomplete tear. Surgery is mandatory in all cases. The procedure depends on the type of lesion: either end-to-end suture or transosseous reinsertion. In most cases repair is protected by tendon augmentation. Old lesions often require tendon graft or a tendon-bone-tendon-bone graft taken from the opposite side.