Lunate Excision with Partial Bicolumnar Wrist Fusion: A New Alternative for Isolated Radiolunate Arthritis?: A Report of 2 Cases.

CASE: We report the case of 2 patients presenting with advanced isolated radiolunate arthritis with limited wrist strength and range of motion (ROM). After failure of conservative therapy, both patients underwent lunate excision and scaphocapitate and triquetrohamate joints fusion using compression headless screws. Improved functional outcomes are reported at 4 years of follow-up with painless wrists and increased grip strength and ROM. CONCLUSIONS: Lunate excision and partial bicolumnar wrist fusion lead to increased grip strength and wrist ROM. This is a unique alternative for people suffering isolated radiolunate osteoarthritis, for which no standard surgical care exists.

Vertebral Augmentation: State of the Art.

Osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVF) are an increasing public health problem. Cement augmentation (vertebroplasty of kyphoplasty) helps stabilize painful OVF refractory to medical treatment. This stabilization is thought to improve pain and functional outcome. Vertebroplasty consists of injecting cement into a fractured vertebra using a percutaneous transpedicular approach. Balloon kyphoplasty uses an inflatable balloon prior to injecting the cement. Although kyphoplasty is associated with significant improvement of local kyphosis and less cement leakage, this does not result in long-term clinical and functional improvement. Moreover, vertebroplasty is favored by some due to the high cost of kyphoplasty. The injection of cement increases the stiffness of the fracture vertebrae. This can lead, in theory, to adjacent OVF. However, many studies found no increase of subsequent fracture when comparing medical treatment to cement augmentation. Kyphoplasty can have a protective effect due to restoration of sagittal balance.

Tumoral calcinosis of the cervical spine and its association with Caffey disease in a 4-month-old boy: case report and review of the literature.

Tumoral calcinosis (TC) is a rare condition involving large joints and rarely the spine. It is characterized by calcification and swelling of periarticular tissues. Caffey disease (CD) is defined by recurrent episodes of painful soft tissue swelling and cortical thickening of the underlying bones. It is a self-limited disease that occurs in the first year of life. We report the first association of CD and TC of the cervical spine in a 4-month-old boy. We suggest that TC occurred as a consequence of the repetitive reparative process that takes place in CD, adding the latter to the list of diseases that may secondarily produce TC.