Non-invasive Surveillance of Leg Deep Vein Thrombosis ( DVT ) in Early Postopertive Period

Deep vein thrombosis is recognized as a common complication in surgical patients in western countries especially in patients with high risk factors. The purposes of this study were to detect leg DVTs in early postoperative period by non-invasive surveillance and to analyze the risk factors of DVT. One hundred seventy one patients who underwent major operations ( 67 curative resection of colorectal cancer, 64 total hip replacement, 38 femur operations for fracture, and 2 colon resections for benign colon disease) were included for the prospective surveillance of leg DVT within 2 weeks after the operations. For the surveillance of leg DVT, strain gauge plethysmography(SPG) and Duplex scanning of both legs were completed for all patients except 10 patients. These 10 patients were examined in only one leg. The patients with past history of leg DVT or under prophylactic anticoagulant therapy were excluded from this study. To determine the risk factors related with leg DVT formation, age and sex of the patients, indication of surgery or surgical procedures, duration of operation, position during the operation, duration of postoperative immobilization, and preoperative serum level of antithrombin III(AT-III) were analyzed using Chi-square test. After performing SPG of 342 legs, 38 legs showed abnormal on venous outflow/venous capacitance discriminant line chart, and 13 legs of 12 patients showed the finding(s) suggesting DVT on duplex scanning. Among the patients with abnormal duplex findings, 7 limbs(53.8%) were symptomatic, but the remaining 6 legs were silent. In 6(15.8%) patients of 36 femur operations, 3(4.7%) of 64 total hip replacements and 3(4.5%) of 67 curative resections of colorectal cancer developed DVT by duplex scanning in the iliac(5), femoral-popliteal(6), and isolated calf(2) veins. After analyzing the risk factors, we could not find any statistically significant(p<0.05) factor related with leg DVT.

A Diagnostic Value of C-Reactive Protein in Acute Bacterial Infection of Bone and Joint / 대한정형외과학회잡지

Acute bacterial infection of bone and joint presents a real challenge to orthopedist because early diagnosis and treatment are difficult and also essential. In almost all practices, fever and erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR) are widely used for monitoring the course, for estimating the effectiveness of treatment, and for the recovery of such illnesses. However, interpreting body temperature is difficult and ESR is nonspecific, is not not sensitive, normalizes slowly. Otherwise, C-reactive protein(CRP) is very sensitive and normalizes fast. CRP, body temperature, and ESR were sequentially measured until a normal value was reached in twenty seven patients in whom acute osteomyelitis (17 patients), acute exacerbation of chronic osteomyelitis(4 patients), and septic arthritis(6 patients) had been diagnosed by positive bacterial culture at Kyungpook National University Hospital from June 1984 to May 1985. The results were as follows: 1. CRP normalized within 8.8 days on average. 2. Fever lasted 4.5 days on average. 3. ESR normalized within 41.6 days on average. 4. Initial mean value of CRP was 4.2 positive in acute in acute osteomyelitis and septic arthritis and 3.5 positive in acute exacerbation of chronic osteomyelitis, therefore CRP can be considered as a very sensitive indicator for early detection of acute bacterial infection of bone and joint. Also sequential CRP determination can be used for monitoring the course, for estimating the effectiveness of treatment, and for the recovery of such illnesses.