Twelve cases of the pectoralis major muscle tendon rupture with surgical treatment-an average of 6.7-year follow-up / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Pectoralis major tendon rupture is a relatively rare injury leading to both functional and cosmetic deficiency. The peak torque of the pectoralis major is significantly decreased after conservational treatment of a total rupture. We suppose that surgical intervention is better choice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We retrospectively evaluated 12 patients who were diagnosed with distal pectoralis major muscle rupture and underwent operation in our institute from 1993 to 2007. All patients were male with a mean age of 32 (19 - 54) years. In 4 patients, tendon reconstruction was accomplished by fixing the tendon to the humerus using sutures passed through predrilled humeral bone tunnels. In 8 patients, tendon reconstruction was accomplished by directly suturing the muscle to the tendon. All patients followed an accelerated rehabilitation protocol. Treatment results were evaluated according to the following criteria: (1) visual analogue pain scale, (2) isokinetic strength measurements, (3) range of motion of shoulder joint, (4) cosmetic result, and (5) postoperative sports activity performance. In this study, we aimed to describe our surgical technique of reconstruction of the rupture of pectoralis major muscle and to summarize the clinical results of the operative treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At the final follow-up examination (6.5 years postoperatively), only nine patients were available for evaluation. Three of them had excellent results, and five had good results, while one had poor results. Eight of the patients were able to return to their preinjury level of sporting activity. In summary, 89% of the patients achieved excellent or good results.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Surgical treatment by anatomic tendon repair and accelerated rehabilitation can make recovery of strength and function of the pectoralis major muscle.</p>

Medial plica after reconstruction of anterior cruciate ligament / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The medial plica may be caused by direct trauma or joint degeneration, which also could be iatrogenic. There have been few reports in the literature discussing incidence of the medial plica caused by an operation on the knee joint, specifically after the reconstruction of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). In this study, we aimed to evaluate and analyze the relationship between the incidence of the medial plica and reconstruction of the ACL.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A retrospective case series study was conducted to review the findings of 1085 patients between 2003 and 2007, who underwent second-look arthroscopy after reconstruction of the ACL (between 2002 and 2006). The correlation of the incidence of medial plica with the stability of the knee joint, the time from onset of injury to reconstruction surgery, the associated injuries, and the rate of progress during postoperative rehabilitation were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>We found that 722 patients had the structure of a medial plica. The incidence after reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (66.5%) was significantly higher than usually reported. All these medial plica had avascular fibrotic and thickened edges. An excision of pathologic medial plica and fat pad synovial fringes were done. The incidences were significantly different between the two groups with their reconstruction operation time, from onset of injury to surgery (less than one month or over 2 years), and the progress rate of postoperative rehabilitation (knee flexion could not be over 90 degrees in four weeks). The incidence was not different between the groups with knee stable conditions.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Medial plica is more common in patients after reconstruction of ACL. More associated injuries and more rehabilitation difficulties can increase the medial plica incidence.</p>