[Arthroscopic removal of an intraarticular projectile from the knee]. / Extracción de proyectil intraarticular en rodilla mediante artroscopía.

OBJECTIVE: We present the case of a patient who sustained a gunshot wound; the projectile was located in the knee and was arthroscopically removed. CLINICAL CASE: A 31 year-old patient sustained a gunshot wound in the right thigh, right hand and left knee. X-rays revealed the presence of a projectile in the knee, thigh and hand. The projectile was arthroscopically removed. DISCUSSION: Traumas causing articular wounds of the knee are infrequent. Excluding the most frequent causes of articular wounds, a small percentage of them are due to gunshot wounds. There is consensus around arthroscopy as a technique useful to remove articular foreign bodies; it has advantages over open surgery. This procedure minimizes surgical morbidity, reduces the risk of septic arthritis, synovitis, arthropathy or systemic lead toxicity, and it also hastens the patient's functional recovery. Knee arthroscopy allows physicians to provide a definitive treatment of these injuries, explore the joint, diagnose associated injuries and perform debridement and articular lavage. CONCLUSION: Arthroscopy is an effective tool for the extraction of articular projectiles; it also allows diagnosing and treating associated lesions.

[Spine cord descompresion and instrumentation in a case of solid aneurysmal bone cyst in the lumbar spine]. / Descompresión medular e instrumentación en un caso de variante sólida de quiste óseo aneurismático en raquis lumbar.

We report a 8-year-old boy with two month history of pain and stiffness in his left lower extremity. On x-ray, MRI and scintigraphy examinations a lytic lesion affecting the body and posterior arc of his third lumbar vertebral become evident. The tumour was excised through a double, anterior and posterior approach; spinal fusion with posterior transpedicular instrumentation was also performed in the same procedure; in order to achieve solid fusion tricortical liofilized graft was also inserted. Histological studies evidenced finding compatible with aneurysmal bone cyst solid variant. Five years after surgery the patient is pain free and no recurrence is evident under diagnostic images tools. For the treatment of aneurysmal bone cyst of the spine we recommend complete excision of the tumour in a combined anterior and posterior one staged procedure, together with hardware instrumentation and bone graft, no recurrence or instability is seen after five years followup.