Rabdomiolisis asociada a torniquete en cirugía de rodilla: importancia del estrés oxidativo y el rol del alopurinol en su prevención / Rhabdomyolysis associated with tourniquet in knee surgery: importance of oxidative stress and the role of allopurinol in the prevention

Orthopedic knee surgery using a tourniquet has allowed surgeons to operate with a bloodless field. Nevertheless, tourniquet application produces an ischemia-reperfusion cycle in the skeletal muscle. As a consequence of the reoxygenation of the muscle, an enhancement on the production of reactive oxygen species leads to cell dysfunction, apoptosis and necrosis. A mild rhabdomyolisis is ascertained from the average 7-fold increase in plasma creatine phosphokinase and myoglobin in these patients, with release of intracellular content such as uric acid and phosphate. Altogether, these factors ascertain a distant response, determined by systemic inflammation and renal involvement by means of glomerular and tubular damage. In contrast, it is likely that acute kidney injury remains under diagnosed due to the recent change in acute kidney failure diagnostic paradigm. As a plausible evidence-based intervention, a diminution on the production of reactive oxygen species seems the pathophysiological treatment. Indeed, allopurinol supplementation constitutes a reasonable, innocuous and cheap alternative for these patients, because of inhibition of xanthine oxidase, the latter being the main source of reactive oxygen species in the setting of ischemia-reperfusion. This review focuses on the pathophysiology of rhabdomyolisis and acute kidney injury in the context of tourniquet knee surgery and therapeutics on allopurinol.

Comparación de la eficacia clínica de una inyección intraarticular o intralesional de dos preparados de betametasona en pacientes con artrosis o epicondilitis / Comparative effects of intra articular injections of two betametasone preparations in patients with osteoarthritis or epicondilytis

Background: Local infiltration with corticoids is a simple therapy for rheumatic disorders devoid of systemic adverse reactions. Aim: To compare the efficacy of two betametasone preparations from two different pharmaceutical laboratories in the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis or epicondilytis. Patients and methods: Fourty patients with knee osteoarthritis and 12 patients with epicondilytis were studied. Using a double blind protocol, one of the two betametasone preparations was used for local infiltration of the lesions. The change in a global score of clinical variables including pain and disability was assessed after 30 days of the infiltration. Results: In patients with osteoarthritis, the global score decreased significantly with both preparations, but no differences were observed between preparations (7.3ñ1.8 to 3.9ñ2.3 with preparation A and 7.8ñ1.9 to 3.6ñ2.3 with preparation B). In patients with epicondilytis, pain was also significantly reduced but no differences between preparations was observed (7ñ2.1 to 1.4ñ2.5 for preparation A and 4.6ñ2.8 to 1.2ñ1.6 for preparation B). Conclusions: Local infiltration with both betametasone preparations was equally effective in the treatment of patients with knee osteoarthritis or epicondilytis