Clinical and demographic profile Volkmann's ischemic contracture presenting in Tigray (Ethiopia).

OBJECTIVE: Volkmann's ischemic contracture (VIC) represents the outcome of a compartment syndrome, not adeguately managed during the acute phase. It is still to be found in the developing contries, while it is rarely present in the developed countries. In this report we refer on our african experiences on VIC, because we beleive might be useful for last generation of italian orthopaedics which rarely have a chance to see Volkmann's cases. MATHERIALS AND METHODS: AA report their 2-years experience of 16 patients aged 7 to 17, presenting various entities of Volkmann's in Tigrai. RESULTS: in all patients there has been an aceptable recovery of hand function, also although the difficulty to verify the outcomes because of the scarce overlapping of the clinical status and different operations. CONCLUSIONS: attention shall be drawn to the outcomes and a healthcare education is necessary in those villages where cures are entrusted to the so called "traditional doctors" who are nothing more than "bone-setters".

Clinical evaluation of a hyaluronan-based gel following microsurgical reconstruction of peripheral nerves of the hand.

A controlled clinical trial was performed to investigate the safety and efficacy of the hyaluronate-based gel polymer Hyaloglide after microsurgical reconstruction of peripheral nerves of the hand. Thirty patients were randomized to receive either no postsurgical treatment (n = 16) or Hyaloglide (n = 14) and were clinically evaluated at various intervals for 1 year. The application of Hyaloglide posed no safety concerns. Efficacy was assessed by the recovery of sensitivity, measurement of pain, and progression of Tinel's sign. The Hyaloglide-treated group showed better improvement in recovery from pain, approaching statistical significance during the first 3 months postsurgery. Likewise, recovery of sensitivity was also higher in the Hyaloglide-treated group throughout the entire follow-up period, and the distance of Tinel's sign was longer in the Hyaloglide-treated group (P < 0.05 at day 30). The application of Hyaloglide may improve recovery of sensitivity and decrease pain following microsurgical repair of the peripheral nerves of the hand.