Metastatic Adenocarcinoma to the Wrist Presenting as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Report of anUnusual Cause

Secondary metastases to the hand are rare, accounting for 0.1% of all metastases, and commonly involve bones 1,2. Soft tissue involvement is extremely unusual although it is significantly more common in carcinoma than sarcoma. Metastatic lesions of adenocarcinoma of the rectum to the liver, lung and vertebrae are well known. Here we report an unusual site of metastatic deposit of primary adenocarcinoma of the rectum to the soft tissues of the wrist causing carpal tunnel syndrome, which if correctly diagnos

The effects of autologous human serum on the growth of tissue engineered human articular cartilage

Culture media supplemented with animal serum e.g. fetal bovine serum; FBS is commonly used for human culture expansion. However, for clinical application, FBS is restricted as its carry a risk of viral or prion transmission. Engineering autologous cartilage with autologous human serum supplementation is seen as a better solution to reduce the risk of transmitting infectious diseases and immune rejection during cartilage transplantation. The purpose of this study is to establish and compare the effects of 10% autologous human serum (AHS) and 10% FBS on the growth of chondrocytes and the formation of tissue engineered human articular cartilage.

In vitro development of autologous tissue engineered human articular neocartilage for orthopaedic surgery

Treatment of articular cartilage lesions remains a clinical challenge. The uses of prosthetic joint replace allograft and/or autograft transplant carry a risk of complications due to infection, loosening of its component, immunological rejection and morbidity at the donor site. There has been an increasing interest in the management of cartilage damages, owing to the introduction of new therapeutic options. Tissue engineering as a method for tissue restoration begins to provide a potential alternative therapy for autologous grafts transplantations. We aimed to evaluate how well a tissue engineered neocartilage implant, consist of human articular chondrocytes cultured with the presence of autologous serum and mixed in a fresh fibrin derived from patient, would perform in subcutaneous implantation in athymic mice.