RESUMO
The side-to-side difference in bone mineral content and soft tissue composition of extremities and their associations have been observed in patients with stroke and the results are inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to investigate the interaction between bone mineral content (BMC), lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) in the paretic extremities in patients following stroke and to determine the effectiveness of electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) following sciatic neurectomy (SN) in rats. BMC, LM and FM were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in 61 hemiplegic patients following stroke. In the rat model study, groups of 10 Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into EMS and non-EMS subgroups. Myostatin expression and tetracycline interlabel width were measured. There were significant decreases in BMC, LM and FM in paretic limbs compared to non-paretic limbs. Compared to non-EMS, downregulated myostatin mRNA, and upregulated mechano growth factor (MGF) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) mRNA expression levels were observed in the EMS subgroup (P<0.05). In conclusion, muscle may have an important role in maintaining BMC. EMS-induced muscle contraction effectively downregulated myostatin mRNA, upregulated MGF and IGF-1 mRNA expression in muscle fiber, and mitigated amyotrophy and cortical bone loss from SN.
RESUMO
The bones are the most common location for metastases, which may cause severe pain and damage, including osteolytic destruction and fractures. Pathological fractures of the spine are extremely painful and cause significant disability and morbidity in patients. Traditional open surgery has numerous complications, and radiation therapy may take weeks to become effective. To avoid the trauma and complication of open surgery, percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) is a minimally invasive procedure that has played a great role in the treatment of spinal metastases over the past several years. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the treatment of spinal metastasis using PKP, the present study evaluated 282 patients who had received PKP between April 2009 and June 2014. The efficacy of PKP was evaluated using the visual analog scale for pain (VAS), Karnofsky performance score (KPS) and quality of life (QOL) score (short form with 36 questions). The KPS and QOL were measured pre-operatively and 3 months post-operatively. In addition, radiographical data, including the degree of restoration of the kyphotic angle and the anterior vertebral height, and leakage of bone cement, were measured. The safety of the surgery was assessed by complications and side effects reported during or subsequent to surgery. The present study measured the parameters prior to the surgery and at 24 h, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year post-surgery, as well as at the last follow-up date. The range of the follow-up time was between 105 days and 15 months (mean, 401 days). The 282 patients underwent successful operations and the pain felt by the patients prior to the surgery was significantly alleviated. In addition, the analgesic intake of patients greatly decreased following PKP. KPS improved prior to and 3 months after the surgery. QOL also improved prior to and 3 months after the surgery. Radiographical data demonstrated that the kyphotic angle decreased following PKP, and the anterior vertebral height increased. Paravertebral leakage of bone cement occurred in 10 patients through a cortical defect, but without spinal cord compression or pulmonary embolism. Therefore, as a minimally invasive procedure, PKP may not only rapidly relieve the pain and disability experienced by patients, but it may also restore the kyphotic angle observed at the 1-year follow-up. Notably, PKP may safely improve the QOL of patients.
RESUMO
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has a rapid onset and rarely occurs with exclusive prodrome of general osteoporosis and vertebral compression fractures. However, Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) ALL has a poor prognosis, even when patients are treated with intensive chemotherapy, and the first-line effective treatment requires further elucidation. The present study focused on a 56-year-old Chinese male patient who initially presented with spontaneous bone fractures and was ultimately diagnosed as Ph+ ALL after 6 months, which required to preliminarily exclude a working diagnosis of myeloma. Apart from intensive chemotherapy, the patient successfully completed an imatinib-based regimen and achieved complete remission (CR) 2 weeks later. Subsequently, the patient was subjected to consolidation treatment using the same imatinib regimen combined with interferon-α 2b for 9 courses. In November 2013, the patient had achieved persistent hematological and molecular genetic normality for ~16 months after the initial CR. In conclusion, Ph+ ALL must be considered in the differential diagnosis of adults experiencing unexplained bone disease.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether the combination coating of a novel "prohealing coating" hyaluronan-chitosan (HC) and anti-CD34 antibody applied on an SES (HCASES) can reduce neointimal formation while promoting endothelialization compared to either agent alone. BACKGROUND: Drug-eluting stents have considerably reduced the incidence of in-stent restenosis compared with bare metal stents. However, the beneficial effect of drug elution is overshadowed by delayed re-endothelialization as well as later "catch-up" proliferation related to the drug. METHODS: Three different stents: Sirolimus-eluting stents (SES), Genous anti-CD34 antibody stents (GS), and the combination of HC-anti-CD34 antibody with sirolimus-eluting stents (HCASES) were deployed in 54 normal porcine coronary arteries and harvested for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and histological analysis at 60, 90, and 120 days. RESULTS: At 60 and 90 days, SEM analysis showed stent surface endothelial coverage was nearly completed in the HCASES (87 ± 3%, 95 ± 3%) compared with that in the SES (68 ± 6%, 77 ± 8%, P = 0.03). Histological examination at 90 days showed that the HCASES group had less percentage of stenosis than the GS group (P < 0.05). At 120 days, SEM showed a significantly higher extent of endothelial coverage above struts in the HCASES (96 ± 2%) and the GS (95 ± 3%) as compared with the SES group (66 ± 3%; P = 0.02). The HCASES group showed less stenosis than that in the GS group (P < 0.05), but it was not significantly different from the SES group (P = 0.063). CONCLUSIONS: Histological and SEM analyses demonstrate that the HCASES can reduce neointimal formation and inflammation while promoting endothelialization in the long term.