Use of standard musculoskeletal ultrasound to determine the need for fasciotomy in an elevated muscle compartment pressure cadaver leg model.

INTRODUCTION: Acute compartment syndrome (ACS) is a limb-threatening condition often associated with leg injury. The only treatment of ACS is fasciotomy with the purpose of reducing muscle compartment pressures (MCP). Patient discomfort and low reliability of invasive MCP measurements, has led to the search for alternative methods. Our goal was to test the feasibility of using ultrasound to diagnose elevated MCP. METHODS: A cadaver model of elevated MCPs was used in 6 cadaver legs. An ultrasound transducer was combined with a pressure sensing transducer to obtain a B-mode image of the anterior compartment, while controlling the amount of pressure applied to the skin. MCP was increased from 0 to 75 mmHg. The width of the anterior compartment (CW) and the pressure needed to flatten the bulging superficial compartment fascia (CFFP) were measured. RESULTS: Both the CW and CFFP showed high correlations to MCP in the individual cadavers. Average CW and CFFP significantly increased between baseline and the first elevated MCP states. Both Inter-observer and intra-observer agreements for the ultrasound measurements were good to excellent. DISCUSSION: Ultrasound indexes showed excellent correlations in compartment pressures, suggesting that there is a potential for the clinical use of this modality in the future.

The thickness of the anterior compartment does not indicate compartment syndrome in acutely traumatised legs?

BACKGROUND: The study was conducted to achieve early detection of increased compartment pressure by comparing the changes between the thickness and pressure within the musculofascial compartments after lower leg injury. METHODS: We included cases of a lower-leg fracture between January and December 2007. Bilateral lower leg compartment pressure and thickness were measured before the surgery and post-anaesthesia, and the surgery was performed within 12 h after the initial trauma. The intracompartment pressure (ICP) was measured with a Wick catheter pressure monitor. The thickness (width) of the anterior compartment of lower leg was measured using ultrasound. RESULTS: All data were measured within 4-6h of the injury. The average thickness in injured legs versus uninjured was 30 mm (15-46 mm) versus 20.4 mm (13-30 mm), P<0.001. The average intracompartment pressure (ICP) in injured leg versus uninjured was 45.3 mmHg (26-80 mmHg) versus 17.5 mmHg (15-20 mmHg), P<0.001. The thickness and ICP were significantly increased for injured lower legs compared to the uninjured legs, but the increase in ICP did not show a significant relationship with the change in thickness of the injured lower leg. CONCLUSION: In this study, the results of ICP and thickness changes of injury lower leg compared with uninjured leg revealed no statistically significant correlation. Some injuries showed a high ICP with only mild changes in thickness, while some showed a high ICP with significant changes. Although ultrasound has many advantages for the evaluation of soft tissue changes after trauma, this study revealed that thickness changes are not a predicable parameter for determining pressure on the acute fracture of lower leg.

The validity of the diagnostic criteria used in chronic exertional compartment syndrome: a systematic review.

Chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) of the lower limb is part of a group of overuse lower limb injuries with common presenting features. It is commonly diagnosed by the measurement of raised intramuscular pressures in the lower limb. The pathophysiology of the condition is poorly understood, and the criteria used to make the diagnosis are based on small sample sizes of symptomatic patients. We carried out a systematic review to compare intramuscular pressures in the anterior compartment of healthy subjects with commonly used criteria for CECS. Thirty-eight studies were included. With the exception of relaxation pressure, the current criteria for diagnosing CECS, considered to be the gold standard, overlap the range found in normal healthy subjects. Several studies reported mean pressures that would prompt a positive diagnosis for CECS, despite none of the subjects reporting any symptoms. The intramuscular pressure at all time points has also shown to vary in relation to a number of other factors other than the presence of CECS. Taken together, these data have major implications on the ability to use these published criteria for diagnosis and question the underlying pathophysiology. Clinicians are recommended to use protocol-specific upper confidence limits to guide the diagnosis following a failed conservative management.

Etiologic factors in the development of medial tibial stress syndrome: a review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Medial tibial stress syndrome is a type of exercise-induced leg pain that is common in recreational and competitive athletes. Although various studies have attempted to find the exact pathogenesis of this common condition, it remains unknown. METHODS: Various theories in literature from 1976 to 2006 were reviewed using key words. RESULTS: Until recently, inflammation of the periosteum due to excessive traction was thought to be the most likely cause of medial tibial stress syndrome. This periostitis has been hypothesized by some authors to be caused by the tearing away of the muscle fibers at the muscle-bone interface, although there are several suggestions as to which, if any, muscle is responsible. CONCLUSIONS: Recent studies have supported the view that medial tibial stress syndrome is not an inflammatory process of the periosteum but instead a stress reaction of bone that has become painful.

Transplantation of adult myoblasts or adipose tissue precursor cells by high-density injection failed to improve reinnervated skeletal muscles.

We previously showed that transfer of adult myoblasts (MB) into cardiotoxin-damaged muscle improved the properties of reinnervated tibialis anterior muscle of rabbits. However, this cell therapy protocol cannot be applied to humans because of the hazardous effects of the myotoxin. To circumvent this approach, we used the recently developed high-density injection technique to autotransplant cultured cells 1 mm from each other into the tibialis anterior muscle without previous cardiotoxin-induced damage. Two months after transection and immediate suture of the common peroneal nerve, we transferred by this technique two types of precursor cells, MB or cells isolated from the adipose tissue stromal vascular fraction. In contrast to our previous results, muscles studied at 4 months showed no benefits in terms of function or morphology, whatever the transferred cells. These results, together with the results of earlier studies, emphasize the importance of delivery methods and the muscle environment in supporting cell integration into host tissues.

[Exertion-induced compartment syndrome of the peroneal space after bowling : correction by transfer of the posterior tibialis muscle]. / Belastungsinduziertes Kompartmentsyndrom der Peronealloge nach Bowling : Korrektur mit Tibialis-posterior-Transfer.

A 30-year-old man presented several times with pain in the calf after twisting his foot and injuring it during bowling. It was some time before the diagnosis of acute exertion-induced compartment syndrome was made, and an immediate fasciotomy could no longer prevent necrosis of the peroneal muscles. Because of the patient's drop-foot, we performed a tibialis posterior tendon transfer, fixing it to the cuneiform bone. The sort of compartment syndrome observed after engagement in various sports is a recognised, albeit uncommon, variant of acute compartment syndrome. A high level of suspicion and observation is required to make the diagnosis when any leg pain has no definite diagnosis. Fasciotomy should be performed early.

Long-term MRI and clinical follow-up of symptomatic and presymptomatic carriers of dysferlin gene mutations.

We report the results of a longitudinal study involving MRI and clinical follow-up in nine siblings from four families with Miyoshi myopathy (MM). All individuals carried pathogenic dysferlin gene (DYSF) mutations with six of them suffering from symptomatic disease and three being presymptomatic. In presymptomatic subjects, MRI was sensitive to detect alterations in muscle tissue years before disease onset. The first MRI alteration to disclose was evidence for myoedema in dorsal compartment muscles of the legs followed by fatty degeneration. Moreover, MRI changes anticipated the topography of subsequent clinical muscle involvement and progressed from distal to proximal dorsal leg muscles. In symptomatic subjects, MRI changes reflected the pattern and severity of clinical muscle involvement. MRI evidence, however, suggests that muscle involvement is much more prominent in early disease stages than clinically seen. Clinical follow-up up to 8 years made evident that MM onset occurs at a mean age of 18.4 years. The most prominent initial deficit was impaired tiptoe gait due to muscle plantarflexor dysfunction followed by impaired dorsiflexor function. Dorsal compartments were predominantly affected not only in distal but also in proximal leg muscles, and a more rapid progression was noticed during the early phase of the disease. Our data suggest that MRI is a helpful diagnostic tool for an early diagnosis of MM and other distal myopathies since it provides sensitive and topographic information about initial and even preclinical muscle involvement. This is of particular relevance in Miyoshi myopathy because distinct CK elevation is present long before its clinical onset and often misdiagnosed as "idiopathic".

A spontaneous compartment syndrome in a patient with diabetes.

A compartment syndrome is an orthopaedic emergency which can result from a variety of causes, the most common being trauma. Rarely, it can develop spontaneously and several aetiologies for spontaneous compartment syndrome have been described. We describe a patient with diabetes who developed a spontaneous compartment syndrome. The diagnosis was delayed because of the atypical presentation.

[Morphological changes in tissues of extremities in military personnel with overload disease]. / Morfologicheskie osobennosti iamenenii v tkaniakh konechnostei pri peregruzochnoi bolezni u voennosluzhashchikh.

Extremely high physical activity results in anatomic-functional discordance in muscle compartments of segments of extremities. It leads to compartment syndrome consisting in compromised microcirculation, blood plasma infiltration of intercellular space, increased subfascial pressure at the same time we see intraosseous microcirculation disturbance and pathological alterations of bone tissue (hyperostosis, pathological reorganization, fractures), muscles, nerves and fasciae, that is confirmed by morphological alterations. Facsiotomy is of pathogenetic nature in patients with this pathology. Connective tissue replaces the site subjected to facsiotomy thus enabling to extend muscle compartment, normalizing in them intracompartment pressure under exercise stress, improving muscles, nerves, bones microcirculation, that enables elimination of anatomic-functional discordance of blood circulation and size of a muscle compartment under physical load and speeds up reparative processes in bones.

The diagnostic value of MRI scans for the diagnosis of chronic exertional compartment syndrome of the lower leg.

OBJECTIVE: A prospective descriptive study to determine the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as an aid in diagnosing (chronic) exertional compartment syndrome. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: MRI was performed in 21 patients (41 anterior compartments) with chronic compartment syndrome at rest and following physical exercise. Median (T2-weighted) signal intensity on the MRI scan was determined in the anterior and the (superficial) posterior compartment of the lower leg before and after exercise. Postexercise increases in the signal intensity in these two compartments were compared. After fasciotomy, a second MRI scan was performed in 13 patients (25 anterior compartments) on the basis of the same protocol. MR studies were performed in 12 normal controls (24 anterior muscle compartments) on the basis of the same protocol. RESULTS: T2-weighted signal intensity increased by 27.5% (range 13.6-38.6%) following exercise in the anterior compartment of patients with a chronic compartment syndrome. In the posterior compartment this increase amounted to 4.25% (range 0-10.2%). Following fasciotomy, the increase in the anterior compartment was 4.1% (range 1.0-5.2%), while the increase in the posterior compartment amounted to 5.6% (range 0-11.0%), In normal controls, the increase in the anterior compartment was 7.6% (range 0-9. 1%), while in the posterior compartment it was 4.0% (range 0-7.2%). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with a chronic compartment syndrome, the affected (anterior) compartment shows a statistically significant increase in (T2-weighted) signal intensity during exercise compared with both the (superficial) posterior compartment and the anterior compartment of normal controls. This effect disappeared after fasciotomy. In view of the substantial increase in T2-weighted signal intensity, MRI can be used in diagnosing chronic compartment syndrome.

Distal anterior compartment myopathy: a dysferlin mutation causing a new muscular dystrophy phenotype.

We report a family with a new phenotype of autosomal recessive muscle dystrophy caused by a dysferlin mutation. The onset of the illness is distal, in the muscles of the anterior compartment group. The disease is rapidly progressive, leading to severe proximal weakness. Muscle biopsy showed moderate dystrophic changes with no vacuoles. Dysferlin immunostaining was negative. Gene analysis revealed a frameshift mutation in the exon 50 (delG5966) of the DYSF gene. This phenotype further demonstrates the clinical heterogeneity of the dysferlinopathies.

Cervicalgias y lumbalgias mecanicodegenerativas. Tratamiento conservador. Actualización / No disponible

Durante su vida, el 70-80% de los adultos tendrá algún episodio de lumbalgia y el 30-40% presentará cervicalgia, tratándose en su mayoría de episodios autolimitados con evolución favorable, que se cronifican en un 10% apro x imadamente. La patología responsable más frecuente es la mecánico degenerativa, y las estructuras anatómicas implicadas son variadas: articulaciones interapofisarias, discos intervertebrales, raíces nerviosas, articulaciones sacroilíacas, músculos y ligamentos; pero el diagnóstico específico sólo se alcanza en un 10-15% de los casos. Es importante descartar patología grave como infección, neoplasia, fractura o enfermedades sistémicas que requieran tratamientos específicos, así como alteraciones psicológicas. Se estudian los síndromes más importantes desde una perspectiva topográfica vertebral (compartimento anterior, medio y posterior), así como la estenosis de canal y la articulación sacroilíaca. Se revisan los tratamiento conservadores, tanto los farmacológicos como los no farmacológicos y su vigencia actual a raíz de las últimas publicaciones, y se excluyen la infusión espinal, estimulación medular y la cirugía. El manejo mediante bloqueos se plantea en aquellos pacientes que no responden a medidas más conservadoras. Se discute el valor actual que se da a los esteroides epidurales y al bloqueo selectivo de la raíz nerviosa, en el dolor radicular segmentario; a los bloqueos de las articulaciones interapofisarias o de las ramas que las inervan, en el dolor del compartimento posterior; y a los discos intervertebrales en el dolor discogénico (rotura del anillo fibroso y síndrome de inestabilidad del segmento móvil). Su utilidad diagnóstica está más discutida que la terapéutica, y depende de una correcta ejecución con el uso de radioscopia y contraste para p revenir la difusión del anestésico a estructuras vecinas. Los bloqueos con anestésicos locales y corticoides benefician a un grupo de pacientes resistentes a otros tratamientos conservadores, facilitándoles la rehabilitación. Cuando el resultado es positivo, pero de corta duración, se puede realizar una denervación con radiofrecuencia del ramo medial en el dolor interapofisario, o del disco intervertebral en el dolor discogénico. Se revisan las técnicas de los bloqueos usados con más frecuencia (AU)

Throughout their lives, 70-80% of adults will suffer some low back pain event and 30-40% will suffer neck pain, most of which are self-limited events with a favorable course, but with chronicity in almost 10% of the cases. The most common etiopathology is the mechano degenerative, involving different anatomic structures: interapophysary joints, intervertebral disks, nerve roots, sacroiliac joints, muscle and ligaments. However, the specific diagnosis can only be established in 10-15% of the cases. Severe pathologies such as infection, neoplasia, fracture or systemic disease requiring specific therapies, as well as psychological disorders, must be ruled out. The most important syndromes are studied from a vertebral topographic perspective (anterior, medial and posterior compartment), in addition to channel stenosis and the sacroiliac joint. Conservative treatments, both pharmacological and non pharmacological, are reviewed, as well as their current validity at the light of the recent papers that have been published, and spinal perfusion, medullar stimulation and surgery are excluded. In patients without response to other more conservative measures, the use of blockades is suggested. Current value given to epidural steroids and selective blockade of the nerve root for patients with segmentary radicular pain; blockades of interapophysary joints or the branches innervating them in patients with pain at the posterior compartment; and intervertebral disks in patients with discogenic pain (break of the fibrous ring, syndrome of motile segment instability) is discussed. Its diagnostic value receives more attention than its therapeutic value, and it requires a proper execution with the use of radioscopy and contrast in order to prevent the diffusion of the anesthetic to adjacent structures. Blockades with local anesthetics and corticoids benefit a group of patients lacking response to other conservative treatments, since rehabilitation is facilitated. When a positive result is obtained, but it lasts for a short period of time, denervation with radiofrequency can be perf o rmed at the medial branch in patients with interapophysary pain, or at the intervertebral disk in patients with discogenic pain. The most common blockade techniques are also reviewed (AU)

Pyomyositis of the anterior tibial compartment.

Five oncology patients developed bacterial pyomyositis involving the anterior tibial compartment and resulting in compartment syndrome with ischemia and abnormalities of neuromuscular function. All patients were neutropenic and thrombocytopenic, and four were receiving or had recently received cancer chemotherapy. Three infections were due to gram-negative bacilli and two to Staphylococcus aureus. Appropriate antimicrobial therapy and surgical drainage in four patients resulted in the resolution of these infections with good residual muscle function. To our knowledge, primary pyomyositis has never previously been known to cause compartment syndrome.

[Malignant hyperthermia. An unusual course of a rare disease]. / Maligne Hyperthermie. Ungewöhnlicher Verlauf einer seltenen Erkrankung.

An account is given of unusual course of a hyperthermic crisis in a 23-year-old male who underwent repeated anesthetics. As yet little has been reported about Isoflurane, which we presume to have been the triggering agent. In this case only the surgically untreated lower extremity developed rigor, with which malignant hyperthermia is associated, whereas the surgically treated extremity, where circulation had been stopped with a tourniquet, remained unaffected. Rigor and contracture of the affected extremity were so severe that they led to a compartment syndrome, necessitating fasciotomy. No observation of this kind has been published before. In addition to a discussion of this dissociated effect in malignant hyperthermia, a detailed account of the course of the crisis is given.

The compartment syndrome. An experimental and clinical study of muscular energy metabolism using phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

In an experimental ischemic compartment syndrome in dogs, phosphorus (31P) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used to determine the tissue pressure threshold at which resting skeletal muscle begins to use anaerobic energy sources due to insufficient cellular oxygen delivery. The interactive effects of systemic perfusion pressure and moderate muscle trauma on this anaerobic threshold were also evaluated. The severity of cell injury produced by various degrees of compartment pressurization over an eight-hour period was concomitantly studied using muscle biopsy and electron microscopy. Clinical correlation of a preliminary patient series studied using 31P-NMR demonstrated that the threshold for cellular metabolic derangement in skeletal muscle subjected to increased tissue pressure was more closely associated with the difference between mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) and compartment pressure than with the absolute compartment pressure alone. The difference is termed MABP-compartment pressure, or delta P. The lowest delta P at which a normal cellular metabolic state can be maintained is approximately 30 mmHg in normal muscle and 40 mmHg in moderately traumatized muscle. It is imperative to interpret compartment pressure measurements in light of the degree of soft tissue trauma sustained and the patient's blood pressure, as well as the clinical signs and symptoms.

Repeat compartment decompression with partial fasciectomy.

After having had a standard decompression for anterior compartment syndrome, five patients presented with persistent symptoms and pressure values above normal. A repeat procedure combined with fasciectomy relieved their pain; postoperative pressure values were normal.

Delayed use of hyperbaric oxygen for treatment of a model anterior compartment syndrome.

This study examines the effect of delayed exposure to hyperbaric oxygen on muscle necrosis and edema development following compartment syndromes in the canine hindlimb. Compartment syndromes (100 mm Hg for 8 h) were generated in one anterolateral compartment of six anesthetized dogs. After a 2-h delay, three 1-h hyperbaric oxygen treatments (2 atm absolute pure oxygen) were given during the next 12 h. Two days later, technetium-99m stannous pyrophosphate (99mTc Sn-PYP) was injected intravenously; 3 h later, samples were obtained from the pressurized and contralateral control muscles, weighed for edema development, counted for 99mTC Sn-PYP uptake, and evaluated histologically. Hyperbaric oxygen treatments, even when delayed 2 h, reduced muscle necrosis and intramuscular edema to negligible levels (p less than 0.05) compared with untreated animals. In addition, muscle morphology remained essentially normal in all hyperbaric oxygen-treated animals. We conclude that even if hyperbaric oxygen treatments are delayed 2 h, edema and muscle necrosis are reduced significantly in a model compartment syndrome.