The Effect of Cold Spray on Reducing Pain during Needle Electromyography

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of cold spray (Ethyl chloride) on reducing pain during needle electromyography (EMG). METHOD: Seventy-six adults, who had experienced needle electromyographic examination, were studied. They were randomly assigned to either experimental or control group. In experimental group, cold spray was applied to needling point of examining muscles before each needle examination. In control group, needle examination was performed without pre-treatment. The intensity of pain was assessed by the Visual analogue scale (VAS) and Verbal rating scale (VRS). Denial to re-examination was evaluated after EMG study. RESULTS: The VAS, VRS and denial to re-examination were significantly lower in experimental group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The application of cold spray before needle examination decreased the intensity of pain and denial to re-examination.

The Effects of Hyperosmolar Dextrose and Autologous Serum Injection in the Experimental Articular Defect of Rabbit

OBJECTIVE: Although the clinical effects of prolotherapy on osteoarthritis has been reported, there have been few previous studies showing the effects as a proliferant on articular cartilage. Also the autologous blood has been reported to used as a growth factor stimulant recently, we were trying to use dextrose and autologous serum for tissue regeneration respectively and evaluated the proliferative effect of autologous serum comparing with that of dextrose. METHOD: Twenty four rabbits were used for this study. The rabbits were divided into three groups. Group A did not get any special treatment. Group B was treated with 10% dextrose and group C with autologous serum. Six weeks later, gross appearance and histologic findings were evaluated. RESULTS: After sacrifice, the gross inspection of the knee joints revealed that group B and C were filled with the translucent tissue in defective cartilage. Group A still had defective cartilage. Histologic evaluation revealed increase of cellularity in the defect of the injected specimens when compared with the control. There was no morphological difference between group B and C. CONCLUSION: The repair process of the articular cartilage defects using dextrose and autologous serum were shown to be more effective than that of control group.

The Response of the Injured Articular Cartilage of Rabbit Knee after Injection of Autologous Blood

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of proliferant by injecting blood into the articular cartilage defect. METHOD: The patella of rabbits were dislocated laterally and 2 mm circular and 2 mm depth full-thickness defect was made in the articular cartilage. We injected 0.2 cc autologous blood to the right defect and normal saline to the left one at 1 week after operation for six times with a 1 week interval. After injection for six weeks, the articular cartilage defect were obtained and stained with H-E and S-100. RESULTS: The surface of the saline-injected group was easily distinguishable from the surrounding articular cartilage. But the blood-injected group had similar appearance to the surrounding cartilage, with the margin of the defect barely discerptible. Strong S-100 stained immune cartilage cells were observed in the blood-injected group. CONCLUSION: The repairing process of the injured articular cartilage using autologous blood was shown to be much better than that of saline-injected group although the observation period was short and the number of animal was small. So we found that autologous blood effectively repaired osteochondral defects.

Essential Osteolysis: A case report

Essential osteolysis is very rare, slowly progressive disease. Its etiology and pathophysiology is still unknown. Only one case has been reported in Korea. We experienced one case of essential osteolysis associated with renal insufficiency involving bilateral carpal, metacarpal, tarsal, metatarsal bones, elbow, ankle. We report a case of 24-year-old female who had manifestations of essential osteolysis with renal insufficiency with brief review of literatures.

Study for Acromial Type, Acromial Tilt and Subacromial Distances in Subacromial Impingement Syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To study the acromial type, acromial angle, acromial tilt and subacromial distances which known as extrinsic factors of subacromial impingement syndrome in groups of subacromial impingement syndrome and normal control. METHOD: The radiography of shoulder named shoulder series composed of AP view, arch view and impingement view was performed in thirty patients with subacromial impingement syndrome and ninety persons with normal adult and we measured the acromial type, acromial angle, acromial tilt, subacromial distances and subacromial spur. RESULTS: Mean subacromial distances of impingement group were 11.3+/-2.4 mm in AP view, 11.1+/-2.5 mm in arch view and those of normal control group were 11.1+/-2.2 mm in AP view, 10.4+/-1.9 mm in arch view. Incidences of acromial type I,II,III in impingement group were 15 (50%), 10 (33.3%), 5 (16.7%) respectively and those in normal control group were 20 (22.2%), 46 (51.1%), 24 (26.7%) respectively. Incidence of subacromial spur was 19 (63.3%) in impingement group and 52 (57.8%) in normal control group. Mean subacromial spur size was 10.0+/-5.4 mm in impingement group and 12.4+/-4.5 mm in normal control group. Mean acromial angle was 27.1+/-8.3 degree in impingement group and 29.1+/-8.7 degree in normal control group. Mean acromial tilt was 28.0+/-6.39 degree in impingement group and 31.8+/-3.4 degree in normal control group. CONCLUSION: No significant statistical difference between subacromial impingement syndrome group and normal control group in acromial type, acromial angle, acromial tilt and subacromial distance known as extinsic factors of subacromial impingement syndrome.