Dynamic correction of ulnar claw hand deformity with a simple insertion into the lumbrical muscle.

Numerous methods of tendon transfers are available to correct claw hand deformity. In this article, we describe a simple insertion of the transferred flexor digitorum superficialis tendon, into the lumbrical muscle and proximal tendon. Sixty patients underwent surgery for claw hand correction. These were equally divided into three groups undergoing; modified Stiles Bunnell procedure; 'lasso' insertion into A1 pulley and the lumbrical insertion procedure. Evaluation was done with proximal interphalangeal joint angle measurements, grip strength and using the Brand's criteria, 1 year after surgery. The improvements were comparable among the three groups. Insertion into the lateral bands has been a standard method of claw correction. In addition to correcting the hyperextension of the metacarpophalangeal joint, it transmits force for interphalangeal joint extension and restores the sequence of flexion of fingers, thus making the grasp effective. Insertion into the lumbrical muscle belly and proximal tendon shows similar results. It can be performed via a single incision in the palm, reducing operative time.

Recurrent Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Case Series and a Review of the Literature.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a peripheral neuropathy characterized by intermittent episodes of severe facial pain originating in the sensory nucleus of the trigeminal nerve. The most commonly involved area is the mandibular division with a higher prevalence on the right side. Advances in the field of MRI have played an important role in its diagnosis, especially in presurgical assessment, to probe into any secondary causes of nerve compression and/or neurovascular conflict. The condition is primarily managed medically, although many patients may require surgical or radiotherapeutic intervention. A recurrence rate ranging from 6 to 41% has been postulated. Reasons for recurrence are mainly attributed to improper operative techniques, dislocation of the Teflon implant, or granuloma formation. MRI serves as a powerful tool in the segmental evaluation of the trigeminal nerve. A proper diagnosis with a structured treatment protocol is critical for managing such cases of trigeminal neuralgia. In this report, we present a series of two cases of recurrent trigeminal neuralgia.

Autologous Fat Grafting with or without Processing: A Study in an Indian Clinical Context.

BACKGROUND: Although fat grafting has become an attractive method of correction of soft tissue deficiencies, variability in results exists. As the understanding of mechanism of survival of graft improves, the concepts regarding fat grafting change. There are many ways to process the aspirated fat with no clear method superior. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of processing during autologous fat transfer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The patients were serially divided into two groups, namely, A and B. Harvesting of lipoaspirate and injection of fat were same in both the groups. In group A, no processing was done. In group B, the fat was processed by sedimentation and injected. Patient satisfaction was assessed following the procedure and statistical analysis was done using the Mann-Whitney U-test. RESULTS: Young females between 21 and 30 years formed the majority of patients who opted for fat grafting procedure. Most of the procedures were performed for defects in the face (93.3%). The most common indication of fat grafting was contour deformities, with abdomen being the most preferred donor site. The mean patients' satisfaction following fat grafting without processing is 2.2 ± 0.68. The mean patients' satisfaction following fat grafting with processing is 2.53 ± 0.99. CONCLUSION: There was not a statistically significant difference in patient outcomes following fat grafting, with or without processing, in terms of patient satisfaction. Autologous fat grafting was found to be a safe procedure with no significant complications.

The Unusual Impalement Injuries of the Hand.

Impalement injuries are relatively rare. The most common anatomical site of involvement is the extremities. Impalement injuries are defined as penetrating injuries where traumatic agent remains impaled in the human body. 1 Foreign body penetration of hand and wrist usually present as emergency cases. Due to their rarity, the management of this clinical condition remains controversial. Here we report A case of impalement injury of the hand and their successful management. The patient even though injured by such an object had minimum injuries. Case: 42 years old male presented with history of slipping while trying to cross a fence. He sustained penetrating injury over left hand by iron fence finial 7 hours prior to presentation.

Epidemiological Profile of Femoral Head Osteonecrosis in the North Indian Population.

BACKGROUND: There are limited studies on the epidemiology of femoral head osteonecrosis in Indian population. This study was designed to look for the risk factors of osteonecrosis hip and to assess the severity as per radiological staging (Association Research Circulation Osseous [ARCO]) and clinical score (Harris hip score [HHS]). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 249 patients (382 hips) of osteonecrosis femoral head (ONFH) who were evaluated at our center between January 1, 2005, and June 30, 2013, were included in this retrospective study. The details of history, clinical examination, radiological grading, and HHS were entered into a proforma. RESULTS: The mean age was 34.71 years (range 14-70 years) and 70.28% (n=175) patients were between 20 and 40 years. Male to female ratio was 5:1. Bilateral ONFH was observed in 53.41% (n=133) patients. In atraumatic conditions, bilateral involvement was seen in 61.61% (130/211) patients. Steroid administration (37.3%, 93/249) was most commonly observed in the patients followed by idiopathic in 21.3% (53/249) patients, chronic alcohol consumption in 20.1% (50/249) patients, and trauma in 15.3% (38/249) patients. There were 48% (185/382) hips in ARCO Stage 2 followed by 33% (125/382) in Stage 3 and 16% (61/382) in Stage 4. The mean HHS was 80.97 ± 14.35 in unilateral ONFH. The mean HHS was 72.79 ± 14.43 and 80.07 ± 13.52 in more involved hip and in less involved hip, respectively, in bilateral ONFH. The ARCO staging had statistically significant correlation with HHS (Pearson's correlation coefficient r = -0.783, P < 0.01) in unilateral ONFH patients and more severely affected hip in bilateral (Pearson's correlation coefficient r = -0.654, P < 0.01) ONFH, but it did not show any association with less involved hip in bilateral cases. CONCLUSION: ONFH in the North Indian patients is a disease of young individuals with male predominance. Steroid intake is most commonly observed in these patients followed by idiopathic, chronic alcohol consumption, and trauma.

Sample preparation method considerations for integrated transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of tumors.

Sample processing protocols that enable compatible recovery of differentially expressed transcripts and proteins are necessary for integration of the multiomics data applied in the analysis of tumors. In this pilot study, we compared two different isolation methods for extracting RNA and protein from laryngopharyngeal tumor tissues and the corresponding adjacent normal sections. In Method 1, RNA and protein were isolated from a single tissue section sequentially and in Method 2, the extraction was carried out using two different sections and two independent and parallel protocols for RNA and protein. RNA and protein from both methods were subjected to RNA-seq and iTRAQ-based LC-MS/MS analysis, respectively. Analysis of data revealed that a higher number of differentially expressed transcripts and proteins were concordant in their regulation trends in Method 1 as compared to Method 2. Cross-method comparison of concordant entities revealed that RNA and protein extraction from the same tissue section (Method 1) recovered more concordant entities that are missed in the other extraction method (Method 2) indicating heterogeneity in distribution of these entities in different tissue sections. Method 1 could thus be the method of choice for integrated analysis of transcriptome and proteome data.

Efficacy of Epidural Perineural Injection of Autologous Conditioned Serum in Unilateral Cervical Radiculopathy: A Pilot Study.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective randomized pilot study. OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the efficacy of epidural perineural injection of autologous conditioned serum (ACS) versus methylprednisone (MPS) in unilateral cervical radiculopathy patients. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Cervical radiculopathy is often treated by nonoperative and operative means. Guided injections of steroids have been used previously. We used ACS, an orthobiologic derived from patients' own blood in patients of unilateral cervical radiculopathy. METHODS: Forty patients were equally allocated into ACS and MPS groups and were injected with 2.5 to 3 mL of ACS or MPS, respectively, under image guidance into the perineural area of the affected nerve root. They were followed up for 6 months with visual analogue scale for pain, neck pain disability scale in Hindi language, neck disability index, and Short Form of Health Survey-12 (SF-12). RESULTS: Patients who had received injections of ACS and MPS both had improvements in the scores of the evaluation tools. The improvement in the ACS patients was gradual and sustained during the entire study period whereas that in the MPS group had some deterioration over time. No major complications were noted among the 2 groups. Minor complications were noted in both the groups. CONCLUSION: ACS can be considered an equally good or better modality of nonoperative management in patients of unilateral cervical radiculopathy as MPS. The safety profile is good and the improvement seen is sustained over time. Thus, it may be offered to affected patients before offering them surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 2.

Free medial plantar artery flap for the reconstruction of great toe pulp.

The great toe is an important body structure both functionally and cosmetically. The defect over the great toe is very challenging to treat. Our patient was a 9-year-old boy, presenting with posttraumatic loss of partial right great toe pulp. The mode of injury was the toe getting caught in the cycle wheel and sustaining amputation of the plantar aspect of the great toe. The great toe with exposed bone was reconstructed with a free medial plantar artery flap, harvested from the same limb. To our best knowledge, this was the first reported case of free medial plantar artery flap used for the reconstruction of great toe defects.

Asymptomatic obese hypertensives and need of routine echocardiography for left ventricular mass assessment and treatment.

BACKGROUND: Echocardiographic determination of Left Ventricle Mass (LVM) - an important marker of cardiovascular disease, has been given a lot of importance in clinical diagnosis and in planning of treatment. Clinically asymptomatic compensated hypertensives show some pathological findings which are indicative of left ventricular dysfunction. METHODS: The study population of 106 males, after a detailed clinical examination, were evaluated by echocardiography and were classified as per the body mass index classification of WHO Western Pacific Region in 2000 for Asian population. Fasting blood samples were taken to estimate blood sugar and lipid profile. RESULTS: It was observed that subjects in normal range of body mass index <45 years (23.68%) and >45 years (16.1%), subjects of overweight <45 years (15.7%) and >45 years (10.29%) and obese I and II<45 years (60.52%) and >45 years (73.52%). The comparison between left ventricular mass which was indexed to height(2.7) in subjects who were <45 years and >45years was observed to be statistically significant (p<0.03). On comparing LVM/ht(2.7) of normal BMI group with that of those with higher BMIs, it was noted to be significantly different (p<0.009), which was suggestive of adverse effects of increasing BMI on LVM. It was also observed that persons with increased BMIs showed changes in left ventricular geometry - 30.13% had concentric hypertrophy, 17.80% had concentric remodeling, 8.21% had eccentric hypertrophy and that 38.35% had normal left ventricle geometry. CONCLUSION: The present study therefore, indicated that it was better to do an echocardiographic screening of asymptomatic subjects who had even a marginal increase in blood pressure and BMI, to diagnose potential cardiac dysfunction.

Prevalence of nutrient canals in diabetes mellitus and hypertension: A radiographic study.

AIM: The present study is undertaken primarily to determine if a correlation in the appearance of nutrient canals with hypertension and diabetes exists and to determine whether the presence of nutrient canals can be used as a clue for the detection of hypertensive and diabetic patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 300 subjects were selected from the out-patient department comprising of 100 diabetic patients, 100 hypertensive patients and 100 patients without any systemic diseases as control group. Intraoral periapical radiograph of all these patients were taken for evaluation. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Statistical analysis of the data was done using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS 15.0) using Chi-square analysis. Differences were considered as significant when P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: Of all these 300 patients, 162 patients exhibited nutrient canals whereas 118 patients didn't have nutrient canals. Of the 100 patients in Group I, 62 patients exhibited nutrient canals which accounts to 62% prevalence, 64 out of 100 patients in Group II, exhibited nutrient canals which account to 64% prevalence and 72 out of 100 patients in control group exhibited nutrient canals which account to 36% prevalence. CONCLUSION: As the study showed positive correlation, we conclude same that presence of nutrient canal can be used as an aid to rule out systemic diseases like diebeeis mellitus and hypertension.