Illness Perceptions are Associated with Quality of Life in Patients with Fibrous Dysplasia.

Fibrous dysplasia (FD) is a rare bone disorder in which normal bone is replaced by fibrous tissue resulting in pain, deformities, pathological fractures or asymptomatic disease. Illness perceptions are patients' cognitions and emotions about their illness and its treatment, which may impact on Quality of Life (QoL). Here, we explore illness perceptions in patients with FD compared to other disorders, identify factors associated with illness perceptions and evaluate their relationship with QoL. Ninety-seven out of 138 eligible patients from the LUMC FD cohort completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36). Age, Gender, Skeletal Burden Score (SBS), FGF-23 levels, type of FD and SF-36 scores were analysed for an association with illness perceptions. We observed significant (p < 0.01) differences in patients' illness perceptions between FD subtypes in the domains: identity, timeline acute/chronic and consequences. Patients with craniofacial FD reported to perceive more consequences (p = 0.022). High SBS was associated with perceiving more negative consequences and attributing the cause of FD to psychological factors (p < 0.01), and high FGF-23 levels with attributing more symptoms to the disease and perceiving more consequences (p < 0.01). The IPQ-R domain identity, timeline acute/chronic, timeline cyclical, consequences, emotional representations and treatment control were significantly associated with impairments in QoL. Illness perceptions in patients with FD relate to QoL, differ from those in patients with other disorders, and are associated with disease severity. Identifying and addressing maladaptive illness perceptions may improve quality of life in patients with FD.

The Uncommon Trapezium Fracture: A Case Series.

Background Isolated trapezium fractures are rare and account for only 1 to 5% of all carpal fractures but are still the third most common carpal fracture. Trapezium fractures are hard to detect and easily missed on standard radiographs. Trapezium fractures can be treated conservatively, as well as operatively, the best treatment is still debatable. Damage of the joint surface between the trapezium and the base of the first metacarpal or scaphoid could cause pain and restriction of movements. Therefore, it is important to diagnose and treat the fracture at early stage, so that articular congruence is guaranteed. Case description We present four cases of the uncommon trapezium fracture. All four cases are conservatively treated with good results, there was no need for operative treatment in all the cases. Literature review The literature describes the possibility to use fixation techniques, only when it is not possible to reduce the displaced fracture or the residual articular step-off is too high a fixation technique should be used. Clinical relevance Primarily, we would recommend navicular cast immobilization for 4 to 6 weeks as initial treatment.