Construction and feasibility study of the SOFMER Activity Score (SAS), a new assessment of physical and cognitive activity.

OBJECTIVES: For hospitalizations in rehabilitation centers (RCs) in France, the quantification of healthcare givers' activity is based on the dependency of the patients, defined as a total or partial inability to perform activities required for daily living without help. The tools currently used to quantify dependency are not sufficiently precise. Here we describe the construction of a new tool, the SOFMER Activity Score (SAS scoring), which allows for a good description of the level of activity of patients hospitalized in RCs, and a feasibility study of the tool. METHODS: After a study group proposed the first version of the SAS, the validity of its content was studied by the Delphi consensus method: 26 physicians or healthcare professionals known for their expertise in PMR responded to the first round. The feasibility study was prospective and involved multi-site professionals. Data related to the SAS determined by a multidisciplinary team were collected and compared to the Activité de la Vie Quotidienne (AVQ) scale, which is administered to all patients and included in medical and administrative data. RESULTS: We included 81 patients in the feasibility study. The mean (SD) time to obtain the SAS was 4.5 (3.3) min. For 97.5% of scorings, the participating professionals judged that the SAS was compatible or fairly compatible with clinical practice. The internal structure of the SAS scale seemed better than that of the AVQ scale, for which the present study confirmed a floor effect for all items. CONCLUSIONS: The SAS allows for measuring the level of physical and cognitive activity of a patient hospitalized in an RC. If validation studies for the SAS, exploring its reliability, construct validity or criterion validity, confirm the tool's good metrological qualities, the SAS will allow for a good quantification of the burden of care.

Haematoma of pectineus muscle after total hip arthroplasty.

The complications of total hip arthroplasty (THA) during the immediate postoperative period consist mainly in dislocation of the prosthesis, haematomas under antocoagulants, early infections, dismantling of osteotomy, neurological injury, heterotopic ossification and delayed restoration of the range of motion of the hip joint. We present here an infrequently described case of haematoma of the pectineus muscle following THA. Haematomas are not described in literature except in rare cases of compressive haematoma associated with neurological injury. In our case, the intraoperative blood losses were not particularly massive, there were no anticoagulation accident or postoperative trauma and no secondary deglobulinization. The question to be considered is that of a possible stretching of the pectineus during hip dislocation, and possibly during the surgical procedures for the implementation of the prosthesis with increased length, as it is the case here. Haematomas of the pectineus are probably underdiagnosed as they imitate other, more known, symptomatologies.

Suprascapular nerve entrapment in a patient with a spinal cord injury.

STUDY DESIGN: Case report. OBJECTIVES: To describe a case of suprascapular nerve entrapment (SNE) in a patient with a spinal cord injury (SCI) as a cause of shoulder pain. SETTING: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Institute, Nancy, France. REPORT: Six months after the occurrence of acute paraplegia T9 ASIA, a 45-year-old man complained of pain in the posterior and lateral areas of the left shoulder. A clinical assessment found an atrophy of the infraspinatus muscle and a muscular weakness during external shoulder rotation. SNE was suggested as a cause of pain and confirmed by nerve conduction recording. Magnetic resonance imaging excluded any compressive cyst. SNE at the spinoglenoid notch, related to upper limb overuse, was suggested. A gluco-corticoid injection in the proximity of the suprascapular nerve eliminated the pain in a few hours. Two months after the injection, the pain had not reappeared, the infraspinatus muscle atrophy was resolved, and supraspinal nerve conduction was normalized. CONCLUSION: Shoulder pain is common in individuals with paraplegia, but this is the first time that SNE has been reported as a cause of pain. This micro-traumatic pathology, well known in athletes, is probably under-diagnosed in patients with SCI who overuse their upper limbs for wheelchair propulsion and body transfers.

[Rehabilitation of war disabled people in the tropics: example from Colombia]. / Problématique de la rééducation du blessé de guerre en zone tropicale: exemple de la Colombie.

The purpose of this report is to describe collaboration between the health services of the Colombian and French armed forces. Colombia is a democratic country that has been undergoing a long period of insurrection resulting in a significant number of deaths and injuries. Permanent functional disabilities have taken high toll at both the individual and community level. Due to the use of landmines, civilians pay a heavier price than military personnel. In Columbia, a country of eternal snows and rain forests, disabilities are often compounded by concurrent diseases such as malaria or leishmaniasis. Otherwise, rehabilitation of soldiers wounded during a combat is fundamentally the same in tropical zones and Europe. Management of wounded servicemen takes place in teaching hospital where therapy is carried out at the same time as training in mine clearance. Reinsertion begins with job apprenticeship in conjunction with psychological support and prosthetic training. Current focus is on developing disability rights legislation modeled on the 2005 French law.

[Functional outcome of tuberculous arthiritis of the knee in a male Moroccan patient]. / Regard fonctionnel sur l'arthrite tuberculeuse de genou, chez un homme d'origine marocaine.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to present a case of tuberculous arthritis of the knee and discuss the importance of early diagnosis and rehabilitatin in management outcome. CASE REPORT: A 57-year-old Moroccan man with no medical history presented with a mass in the left knee associated with pain and fever. Analysis of aspirated fluid demonstrated sterile inflammatory liquid. Presumptive antibiotic therapy was ineffective. Diagnosis of tuberculous arthritis was made based on positive tuberculin skin test and interferon-release assays. Diagnosis was confirmed by arthroscopic biopsy. Physiotherapy allowed improvement in both function and analytical test findings. DISCUSSION: Tuberculous arthritis is rare occurring in only 2 to 5% of people with tuberculosis. It can be very destructive. Diagnosis is often delayed leading to joint pain, tissue damage, and functional disability (e.g. inability to walk). Since prompt treatment (antibiotics then physiotherapy) can limit complications, early diagnosis is necessary and often requires deep biopsy, except endemic zones. In the acute phase, immobilization of the extremity in a functional position is necessary. When inflammatory signs subside, physiotherapy can be undertaken in short but frequent sessions without excessive weight or resistance. CONCLUSION: The functional outcome of tuberculous arthritis depends on early multidisciplinary care involving the rheumatologist, infectious disease specialist, orthopedic surgeon and attending physician.

A 24-year-old patient with paraplegia and acquired urethral diverticulum: a case report.

Urethral diverticulum is a rare pathology in male patients. It is most often encountered in patients with paraplegia due to iterative catheterizations. The diagnosis of a large diverticulum is easy to make when faced with clinical symptoms, such as: repeated urinary tract infections, perineal pain and especially when there is penile swelling. We report the case of a 24-year-old patient with paraplegia and urethral diverticulum. In this case, the issue lies in the therapeutic possibilities.

The chronic neuropathic pain of spinal cord injury: which efficiency of neuropathic stimulation?

OBJECTIVE: Determine the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for treating neuropathic pain in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We proceeded with a data analysis of the French and English medical literature with the following keywords: chronic neuropathic pain, spinal cord stimulation. The quality of every selected article was analyzed according to criteria established by the French National Health Authority (HAS). RESULTS: Eighty-three articles were read, 27 of them report clinical studies on SCS on at least one SCI patient. No article had a level of proof lower than 4. CONCLUSION: There is no significant level of proof to recommend the use of this technique in this indication. Conducting further studies, either physiological or clinical, could help to promote this technique with very minor adverse effects in an indication which, to this day, has no gold standard.

What is the place of electroneuromyographic studies in the diagnosis and management of pudendal neuralgia related to entrapment syndrome?

Entrapment of the pudendal nerve may be at the origin of chronic perineal pain. This syndrome must be diagnosed because this can result in the indication of surgical decompression of the entrapped nerve for pain relief. Electroneuromyographic (ENMG) investigation is often performed in this context, based on needle electromyography and the study of sacral reflex and pudendal nerve motor latencies. The limits of ENMG investigation, owing to various pathophysiological and technical considerations, should be known. The employed techniques do not assess directly the pathophysiological mechanisms of pain but rather correlate to structural alterations of the pudendal nerve (demyelination or axonal loss). In addition, only direct or reflex motor innervation is investigated, whereas sensory nerve conduction studies should be more sensitive to detect nerve compression. Finally, ENMG cannot differentiate entrapment from other causes of pudendal nerve lesion (stretch induced by surgical procedures, obstetrical damage, chronic constipation...). Thus, perineal ENMG has a limited sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of pudendal nerve entrapment syndrome and does not give direct information about pain mechanisms. Pudendal neuralgia related to nerve entrapment is mainly suspected on specific clinical features and perineal ENMG examination provides additional, but no definitive clues, for the diagnosis or the localization of the site of compression. In fact, the main value of ENMG is to assess objectively pudendal motor innervation when a surgical decompression is considered. Perineal ENMG might predict the outcome of surgery but is of no value for intraoperative monitoring.

[Onset of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy in association with borreliosis]. / Révélation d'une neuropathie optique héréditaire de Leber dans un contexte de borréliose.

INTRODUCTION: The diagnosis of Lyme disease in the presence of an acute optical neuritis always raises a difficult diagnostic problem. We present a case of Lyme-associated Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). OBSERVATION: A 17-year-old Eurasian young man presented with left-eye visual impairment for 1 month. This loss of vision acuity in the left eye is related to an optic neuropathy. Mitochondrial DNA testing showed a G to A substitution at position 11778 confirming a diagnosis of LHON. The family history disclosed a case of LHON in a maternal cousin. The mother's family is Asian. Besides, serum examination of anti-Borrelia antibodies was performed and was positive against Borrelia burgdorferi garinii. The patient history indicated that he had been possessing a dog and was living in an endemic area of Lyme disease. But he did not recall receiving a tick bite nor having any erythema chronicum migrans. Initial examination showed bilateral green-red axis colour vision defects which made us fear bilateralisation of the optic neuropathy, which occurred 2 months later (that is 3 months after the onset of symptoms on the left eye). An antibiotic treatment by ceftriaxone was administered for 4 weeks all in all; and a long term ubidecarenone therapy was established. At present, after a 1-year follow up, the eyes' conditions remains unchanged. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this would be the first case reporting such an association, in which we can discuss the fortuitous character or the role of the infectious factor in the developing of the mitochondrial pathology. This observation also raises the problem of the positive diagnosis of Lyme disease when tick bite and erythema are absent or underestimated.

[Scurvy in intensive care despite vitamin supplementation]. / Scorbut en soins intensifs malgré un apport vitaminique.

INTRODUCTION: Scurvy can occur in hospitalized patients despite vitamin supplementation. OBSERVATION: A 63 Year-old patient who had spent several weeks in intensive care developed an unexplained anemia and ecchymoses. Despite daily administration of 130 mg/day of vitamin C since his admission, his ascorbic acid blood levels had collapsed. Administration of 1g/day relieved the symptoms within four weeks. DISCUSSION: Whether a deficiency had existed prior to admission or not, scurvy developed during the week of intensive care despite parenteral nutrition supplying a daily dose of 130 mg of vitamin C. Such deficiencies decompensated in surgical situations remain a reality in developed countries. CONCLUSION: In certain pathological contexts and in all the growing number of cases in elderly patients and many surgical indications, the need for vitamin C supplementation has to be defined. The needs at that particular time must be taken into account and the prior nutritional status.

Instability of the coccyx in coccydynia.

Coccygectomy is a controversial operation. Some authors have reported good results, but others advise against the procedure. The criteria for selection are ill-defined. We describe a study to validate an objective criterion for patient selection, namely radiological instability of the coccyx as judged by intermittent subluxation or hypermobility seen on lateral dynamic radiographs when sitting. We enrolled prospectively 37 patients with chronic pain because of coccygeal instability unrelieved by conservative treatment who were not involved in litigation. The operation was performed by the same surgeon. Patients were followed up for a minimum of two years after coccygectomy, with independent assessment at two years. There were 23 excellent, 11 good and three poor results. The mean time to definitive improvement was four to eight months. Coccygectomy gave good results in this group of patients.

[Clinical evaluation of female urinary incontinence]. / Evaluation clinique de l'incontinence urinaire de la femme.

EXAMINATION: Clinical evaluation of stress and urge incontinence is always necessary before therapeutic decisions. Full bladder examination may reveal stress incontinence during cough when cervico-urethral hypermobility is suspected, and leak during Vasalva manoeuvre when incontinence is due to intrinsic sphincter deficiency. OBJECTIVE SCORES: Pad test objectives the quantitative importance of incontinence. Symptom scores allow intra and inter individual comparisons. Psychosocial implications are studied with specific quality of life scales. They allow better therapeutic strategies in the management of urge and stress urinary incontinence. Objective evaluation of the different treatments and medico-economic approach of incontinence are thus possible.