COMPARISON THE EFFICACY OF DRY NEEDLING AND ISCHEMIC COMPRESSION METHODS IN MIYOFASCIAL PAIN SYNDROME: A RANDOMIZED TRIAL.

Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is the most common in the musculoskeletal disease. Dry needling techniques and ischemic compression are the most common applications. We aimed to compare the efficacy of dry needling and ischemic compression methods on pain, cervical range of motion and disability in myofascial pain syndrome. This is a randomized, controlled study. 98 patients with MPS were randomly assigned into three groups. Group1 received dry needling (n=33), group 2 (n=33) received ischemic compression and group 3 (n=32) received combined with dry needling and ischemic compression inventions. Additionally, all patients were given neck exercise programs including isotonic, isometric, and stretching. The severity of the pain was measured by visual analog scale (VAS). The pressure pain threshold (PPT) and cervical range of motion (ROM) were also recorded. Disability was assessed by the Neck Pain Disability Scale. All assessments were performed before the treatment and one month and three months after the treatment. There were statistically significant improvements in VAS, PPT, cervical ROM, and disability scores after one and three months in all groups compared to pre-treatment results (p<0.05). After three months of follow-up, statistically significant differences were observed in all parameters between the groups (p<0.05) except cervical ROM (p>0.05). Myofascial pain syndrome in patients with ischemic compression and dry needling effective treatment methods are shown separately in our study to be more effective when used together.

Influence of Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Mutation on the Aggressiveness and Recurrence in Meningiomas.

BACKGROUND:  Over 200 human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) polymorphism combinations have been implicated in the development of cancer. This study aimed to evaluate hTERT mutations in meningioma tissue and its association with meningioma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 90 patients who underwent surgery between 2006 and 2015 and were histopathologically diagnosed with meningioma (WHO 2016) were included. RESULTS: Among the 90 participants included herein, 50 (55.5%) and 40 (44.5%) were female and male, respectively, with an average age of 56.2 ± 14 years. Mean Ki-67 values were 10.56% (SD 12.41, range 0-60), while the mean follow-up duration was 39.1 months (SD 26.3). Low- and high-grade patients had a mean Ki-67 score of 4.31% (SD 3.58, range 0-16) and 19.92% (SD 14.91, range 2-60) (p = 0.0001). Our results showed a moderate positive correlation between Ki-67 score and the presence of hTERT mutation (Pearson correlation test, r = 0.5161; p = 0.0001). Patients with an hTERT mutation > 30% had significantly higher risk for reoperation than those with lower levels of mutation (p = 0.016, chi square test). None of the patients requiring reoperation had an hTERT mutation < 10%. Moreover, high-grade patients had a 7.2 times higher risk of reoperation than those with an hTERT mutation > 30%. CONCLUSION: The presence of hTERT mutation, in addition to high Ki-67, indicated a more aggressive meningioma disease course and potentially increased risk of recurrence.