Skin Adhesive Tapes: An Effective Wound Closure Method for Percutaneous Vertebral Body Stenting.

Background Skin adhesive tapes (SATs) are hypoallergenic adhesive tapes commonly used for wound closure in percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP). Vertebral body stenting (VBS) is a metallic balloon-expandable stent used to treat vertebral body fractures. Its balloon and stent deployment involves a larger stab incision and pedicle bore tract than PVP, increasing the risk of bleeding and wound complications. This study evaluated the outcome and complications of VBS wound closure with SAT and the reasons for conversion to conventional suture closure (SC). Material and methods A retrospective series of patients who underwent VBS from May 2019 to March 2021 were identified from review of computerized medical records. Data were collected for wound closure method, reason for SC, number of operative levels, postoperative wound complications of contact dermatitis, tension blisters, tape dislodgement, surgical site infection, wound dehiscence, symptomatic hematoma and return to operating theater. The wounds were assessed for complete healing and cosmesis at outpatient follow-up visits. Results A total of 36 patients were identified. SAT closure was performed in 33 (91.6%) patients, while SC was performed in three (8.3%) patients. Unplanned conversion to SC was required in two (5.5%) patients due to continued intraoperative wound bleeding, while one (2.7%) patient had planned SC as part of a staged operation. Uneventful closures occurred in 32 (97.0%) of SAT closures. One (3%) SAT closure patient developed postoperative blood-soaked dressings and tape dislodgement, requiring reapplication of the SATs at the ward with uneventful recovery thereafter. No patient with SAT closure developed contact dermatitis, tension blisters, surgical site infection, wound dehiscence, symptomatic hematoma, or required return to theater. All SAT closure patients had complete wound healing at outpatient follow-up at six weeks. No SAT closure was found to be cosmetically unacceptable or required wound revision for any reason at up to one year postoperatively. Conclusion SATs are a safe and reliable means of wound closure for VBS. Conversion to SC due to continued intraoperative wound site bleeding is rarely required.

Multiple Spinal Epidural Abscesses with Concomitant Multifocal Systemic Abscesses and Multi-joint Septic Arthritis:, A Case Report.

Introduction: Multiple spinal epidual abscesses with multifocal systemic abscess and multiple joint septic arthritis present with a large infective burden resulting in sepsis, systemic inflammatory dysregulation, and multi-organ failure. This requires pre-operative resuscitation and surgery of greater complexity, longer operative duration, and blood loss, creating challenges to surgical management. Case Report: A 69-year-old Chinese female presented with multilevel discrete spinal epidural abscesses along the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine, alongside concomitant multifocal systemic abscesses and multiple small joint septic arthritis. She received pre-operative resuscitation to restore organ function, reverse acidosis, and coagulopathy, prior tobefore surgical decompression of selected abscesses and joints under a multidisciplinary team. Remaining sites of infection without significant compression were undrained. The patient recovered well with no residual neurological deficits. Conclusion: Multifocal infections in critically ill patients require a multidisciplinary team for preoperative resuscitation, joint surgical planning, and prioritiszing surgical interventions to prevent excessive surgical stress to the patient.

Determining patient acceptable symptom states from patient reported outcome measures following reverse shoulder arthroplasty: Constant-murley, UCLA, Oxford Shoulder Scores.

Aims: To establish cut-off values for Patient-Acceptable Symptom States (PASS) in three Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), the Constant-Murley Score (CMS) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Shoulder Score and Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) at 3, 6, and 12-months following reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA). Methods: A retrospective study was conducted for individuals who were treated for massive rotator cuff tear, rotator cuff arthropathy or proximal humerus fractures with RSA from January 2011 and February 2020. This study included patients who have completed the patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and satisfaction questions preoperatively, and at 3, 6 and 12-months after the procedure. Functional outcome were evaluated by CMS, UCLA shoulder score and OSS, with one anchoring question regarding satisfaction. PASS thresholds for each PROM were obtained with the Youden method, by using the receiver operating characteristic analysis, and secondary analysis was performed with the 80% specificity and 75th percentile method. Results: 129 patients were included. 74.2%, 83.9%, and 89.3% of patients were found to have a satisfactory symptom state at 3, 6 and 12-months postoperatively. At 3, 6 and 12-month intervals, the respective PASS thresholds were 42, 39 and 52 for CMS, 17, 21 and 26 for UCLA score and 28, 25 and 18 for OSS. Conclusions: PASS thresholds for RSA at 3, 6 and 12-months were found for CMS (42, 39, 52), UCLA (17, 21, 26) and OSS (28, 25, 18). These thresholds suggest increasing expectations with a trend towards higher functional requirements at each time point.

The effect of tube quality on externally calibrated quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance analysis: How bad can it be?

Externally calibrated quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) approaches offer practical means to simultaneously evaluate chemical identity and content without the addition of calibrants to the test sample. Despite continuous advances in external calibration over the last few decades, adoption of these approaches has been slower than expected. Variations in NMR tube geometry are a commonly overlooked factor that can have a substantial effect on externally calibrated quantitation methods. In this report, we investigate the extent to which tube-to-tube volume variability can affect quantitative NMR outcomes. The results highlight the importance of considering tube quality during the development stages of externally calibrated quantitative methods. In addition, we propose a simple, yet effective volume correction strategy using the residual protonated solvent signal that, based on experiments with mixed NMR tubes of varying quality, alleviates the effect of tube-to-tube variability.

Toward the Development of Rapid, Automated Identification Tests for Neat Organic Liquids Using Benchtop NMR Instrumentation.

The advent of benchtop nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instrumentation has paved the way for the use of this technology away from traditional NMR facility settings. Still, a wider adoption of benchtop NMR systems for routine identification testing has been hampered by inherent instrumental limitations (including low sensitivity and reduced signal dispersion) and workflow automation challenges. The present study summarizes the results of a cross-company collaboration aiming at the development of rapid, automated identification tests for incoming materials in liquid form intended for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Potential scenarios that analysts may encounter during the development of identification tests using benchtop NMR instrumentation are described, and suitable strategies for data collection and analysis are discussed. Challenges and opportunities for benchtop NMR implementation are illustrated using common organic solvents and laboratory reagents in a neat form, for which reference NMR data are provided.