Clinical outcome of ultrasound-guided atelocollagen injection for patients with partial rotator cuff tear in an outpatient clinic: a preliminary study

Background@#Atelocollagen has been studied for restoration of rotator cuff tendon. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the clinical outcome of ultrasound-guided atelocollagen injection in an outpatient clinic for patients with partial rotator cuff tear. @*Methods@#We recruited 42 outpatients who visited our hospital from May 2019 to September 2019. Atelocollagen injection was performed in patients with partial rotator cuff tear diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound. American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES), Constant, Korean Shoulder Score (KSS) and Simple Shoulder Test (SST) scores, and range of motion were assessed before injection and after two months. Statistically, we analyzed the clinical results using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. @*Results@#Finally, 15 patients were enrolled for analysis. There was no significant difference between pre- and post-injection in terms of range of motion, ASES (57.0 vs. 60.4), Constant (56.4 vs.58.9), KSS (64.6 vs.68.5), and pain-visual analog scale (4.2 vs.3.7), except function-visual analog scale (F-VAS; 6.3 vs.7.1) and SST (6.6 vs.6.9). A significant difference was found in SST (P=0.046) and F-VAS (P=0.009). According to the ultrasound results at 2 months, we found hyperechoic materials in three of seven patients. The most common complication of atelocollagen injection was post-injection pain (53%, 8/15). @*Conclusions@#Ultrasound-guided atelocollagen injection for partial rotator cuff tear showed no significant change in terms of clinical outcomes, except for F-vas and SST score. Tendon regeneration was not clear due to the remnants of atelocollagen present at 2-month follow-up ultrasound. There seems to be alarming post-injection pain for 2 to 3 days in the patients who received atelocollagen injection in an outpatient clinic.

Clinical Manifestation of Necrotizing Pneumonia in Healthy Children

OBJECTIVE: Necrotizing pneumonia (NP) is a severe complication of lobar pneumonia caused by various pathogens. The immunopathogenesis and clinical characteristics of NP in children are not clearly understood. We wanted to evaluate the clinical characteristics and suggest in part the immunopathogenesis of NP. METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively the medical charts and radiographic materials of eight patients with NP, who were diagnosed by chest radiography and chest computed tomography at the Department of Pediatrics, Soonchunhyang University Hospitals at Cheonan and Bucheon from January 2002 to December 2011. RESULTS: They were previously healthy, 2.1 to 4.6 years of ages (mean, 2.8+/-1.0 years) and three boys and five girls. All of them had pleural effusion. Five patients had pneumonic consolidations in right upper lung field. Three patients had pneumatocele. They developed leukocytosis (mean, 19,400+/-6,400/mm3), higher C-reactive protein level (mean, 25.1+/-8.0 mg/dL). The etiologic agents were revealed in two patients; Streptococcus pneumonia (S. pneumonia) was revealed in one patient and S. pneumonia and Mycoplasma pneumonia in the other patient. Three patients were treated with additional intravenous immunoglobulin. Clinical improvement was prolonged: fever lasted 10 to 23 days, and length of hospitalization was 15 to 36 days. NP or pneumatocele were completely resolved on the follow-up radiographic studies in all of the patients. CONCLUSION: Although the previously healthy young children with NP had protracted clinical course, they recovered without any problematic sequelae. Our results suggest that the immunopathogenesis of NP in children may be associated with the exaggerated immune reaction of the host to insults from initial bacterial infections, rather than the pathogen-induced cytopathies.

Multiple Subcutaneous Abscesses Complicating Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia associated with BCG Vaccination

We report a case of 42-day-old girl with multiple abscesses in soft tissue sites and osteomyelitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus after an intradermal Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination. This may be an unusual complication of intradermal BCG vaccination.