Convalescence from Saturday Night Palsy

PURPOSE: Saturday night palsy is a transient form of nerve palsy that occurs after a prolonged period of direct pressure on the course of radial nerve by one's own or spouse's head. Although commonly encountered, there have been only few studies concerning its convalescence. The purpose of this study is to predict the prognosis of Saturday night palsy based on the causes, time to recovery and degree of recovery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective study of 20 patients who were diagnosed compression radial nerve palsy was performed. The average age was 36.7 years old and the mean follow-up period was 19.6 months. We investigated sleeping hours as an indirect measure of nerve compression time, recovery of wrist and finger extension, DASH score on the monthly based follow up. RESULTS: The mean sleeping hours was 5.8 hours and all patients showed full recovery of wrist and fingers extension with the mean duration of symptom for 3.2 months. DASH score was an average 1.53 at the last follow up and we found no statistical significance between the time to recovery and the sleeping hours. CONCLUSION: Complete natural recovery can be expected in compression radial nerve palsy in this study without correlation with sleeping time. Accurate diagnosis is important in order to avoid unnecessary therapeutic intervention and further study should be accomplished for clarifying the related prognostic factors in larger scale of the cases.

Comparison of Proximal Metatarsal Osteotomy andDistal Chevron Osteotomy for Correction of Hallux Valgus / 대한족부족관절학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is comparison of radiological and clinical outcomes between proximal metatarsal osteotomy and distal chevron osteotomy for the correction of hallux valgus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, we included subjects who underwent the correction of hallux valgus in our institution between March 2001 and August 2006, with a minimum follow-up of 12 months. The group of proximal metatarsal osteotomy was 23 patients (34 feet); the group of distal chevron osteotomy was 20 patients (26 feet). The group of proximal metatarsal osteotomy was composed of 26 severe cases (76.5%) and 8 moderate cases (23.5%); the group of distal chevron osteotomy was composed of 13 severe cases (50.0%) and 13 moderate cases (50.0%). RESULTS: Compared to preoperative values, the hallux valgus angle, the first-second intermetatarsal angle and the distance of first-fifth metatarsal head were significantly decreased in two groups (p<0.05). In each parameter, the hallux valgus angle was decreased 66.3% (proximal metatarsal osteotomy) versus 49.6% (distal chevron osteotomy), which were significant (p=0.037). The first-second intermetatarsal angle and the distance of first-fifth metatarsal head were not significant. Mayo clinic forefoot scoring system (FFSS) score was significantly improved in two groups (p<0.05). The ratio of improvement was not significant (p=0.762). In severe group, hallux valgus angle and the first-second intermetatarsal angle was significantly decreased in proximal metatarsal osteotomy group compared to distal chevron osteotomy group (p<0.05), but the difference of the distance of first-fifth metatarsal head and FFSS score was not significant in both groups. In moderate group, the difference of all parameters was not significant in both groups. CONCLUSION: Although both proximal metatarsal osteotomy and distal chevron osteotomy showed satisfactory result in FFSS, proximal metatarsal osteotomy was more proper operative technique than distal chevron osteotomy in severe group, because of superiority of correction in radiological parameters.

Comparison of Influenceon Displaced Femoral Neck Fractures in Young Adults : Fracture Level and Comminution, Time to Operation and Reduction / 대한정형외과학회잡지

PURPOSE: To analyze the influences of fracture level and comminution, time to operation and reduction quality on the results of displaced femoral neck fractures in young adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 1996 to January 2003, 39 of 51 cases of displaced femoral neck fractures that were treated with closed reduction and percutaneous internal fixation using cannulated screws, were evaluated after at least two years of follow-up with respect to the fracture level, comminution, time to operation, and reduction quality. RESULTS: The incidence of AVN and non-union were 6/39 (15.4%) and 3/39 (7.7%), respectively. The differences in the incidences of complications among subcapital, transcapital, and subcapital fractures was not significant (p=1 & p=1). There was a higher incidence of AVN (p=0.0066) and non-union (p=0.0219) with posterior comminutions than anterior ones. The time to operation was not an important factor in influencing the development of complications (p=0.4984 & p=1). Between acceptable and poor reductions, the differences in the incidences of AVN was significant (p=0.0105), but not in the incidences of non-unions (p=0.1011). CONCLUSION: We concluded that good quality of reduction is more important than the time to operation for achieving good results, and that comminution is a more important prognostic factor than is the fracture level.

Thoracic Fracture-Dislocations Without Spinal Cord Injury: Two Cases Reports / 대한척추외과학회지

Thoracic fracture-dislocations reportedly lead to an 80% incidence of complete paraplegia. Thus, thoracic fracture-dislocations without cord injury are uncommon. There are a few cases of thoracic fracture-dislocations in which the neural sparing status was associated with separation of the posterior spinal structures, such as the pedicles and laminae. The authors experienced two cases of thoracic fracture-dislocations without spinal cord injury: one was a 50-year-old man who fell from the fourth floor of a building and sustained a T6-7 fracture-dislocation; and the other was a 43-year-old man who was involved in motorcycle accident and sustained a T12 fracture-dislocation. Segmental spinal instrumentation and fusion without open reduction was performed in each of the two cases and there has not been any abnormality detected on neurological examination at a minimum follow-up period of 2 years.