ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Plantar fasciitis is a common and debilitating foot condition, with varying treatment options and inconsistent outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess and compare the effectiveness of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections and corticosteroid injections in treating persistent plantar fasciitis. METHODS: In this study, a total of 70 patients suffering from chronic plantar fasciitis were randomly divided into two groups, i.e., one receiving PRP injections (n=35) and the other receiving corticosteroid injections (n=35). The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess pain outcomes, while the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score was used to assess functional status. Patients were assessed before the injection and then followed up at 15 days, one month, three months, and six months after the injection. RESULTS: The baseline VAS and AOFAS scores were similar between the two groups. However, the PRP group showed significantly greater improvements in VAS and AOFAS scores compared to the corticosteroid group at the one-month, three-month, and six-month follow-ups (p<0.05). The PRP group had a higher proportion of patients with mild or moderate pain and better functional outcomes at later time points. CONCLUSIONS: Autologous PRP injections are superior to corticosteroid injections in terms of long-term pain alleviation and functional improvement for patients suffering from chronic plantar fasciitis. Platelet-rich plasma should be regarded as a feasible therapeutic choice for this condition, especially in individuals who have not shown improvement with conservative treatment.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The management of acetabular fractures is a complicated orthopedic procedure that has been advancing with time. Newer radiological tools like CT scans help surgeons to identify and manage these fractures more attentively. The study was conducted to evaluate the clinical and radiographic outcomes in patients with acetabular fractures managed either conservatively or by open reduction and internal fixation. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The study was done on 35 patients aged 18-60 years, with acetabular fractures treated either surgically or conservatively. Clinical scorings and radiological scoring were only taken and noted at three- and six-month intervals using Matta's radiographic scoring and modified Merle d'Aubigne and Postel clinical hip scoring. Clinico-radiological variables and complications were compared between the two groups. The data obtained was subjected to statistical analyses using IBM Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) 2.0 version software (Chicago, IL, USA) at a level of significance being p<0.05. RESULTS: Out of a total of 35 patients, 19 were treated surgically and 16 conservatively. In patients belonging to the surgical treatment group, a maximum of 57.9% were aged 40-50 years, whereas the maximum patients (50%) of the conservative treatment group were aged <40 years, with male predominance in both groups. The type of fracture was recorded according to Judet and Letournel in both groups. Merle d'Aubigne's scoring and Matta's hip score were recorded at three and six months in both groups. A positive correlation was seen between radiological and functional outcomes at three and six months, which means that the higher the radiological scoring, the better the functional outcome of the patient managed either conservatively or surgically in the entire cohort. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed that surgically managed patients had better functional and radiological outcomes than the patients who were conservatively managed at six months of follow-up. However, this is associated with more complications depending on fracture complexity and initial presentation of hip dislocation. The higher the radiological scoring, the better the functional outcome of the patient managed either conservatively or surgically in the entire cohort.
ABSTRACT
Background and objective Early diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is important for effective treatment. The high spectral and spatial resolution of hyperspectral cellular or tissue images coupled with image analysis algorithms may provide avenues to detect and diagnose diseases early. Many algorithms have been used to analyze medical hyperspectral image data, each having their own strengths and short-comings. We present a novel 3-Dimensional Spectral Gradient Mapping (3-D SGM) method to analyze hyperspectral image cubes of CML versus healthy blood smears. Methods In the present study, we analyzed 13 hyperspectral image cubes of CML and healthy neutrophils. The 3-D SGM algorithm was compared to the conventional Windowed Spectral Angle Mapping (Windowed SAM) method. The 3-D SGM exploited the spectral information of the image cube together with the inter-band and inter-pixel data by extracting the 3-D gradient vector from each pixel. The Windowed SAM determined the similarity between the averaged window of a 2×2 training pixel group and the test pixel, in the multidimensional spectral angle. Results The specificity measure of 3-D SGM (97.7%) was superior to Windowed SAM (72.7%) at ruling out the presence of the disease, making it potentially ideal for screening patients. The positive likelihood ratio value of 3-D SGM (16.70) was superior in diagnosing the presence of the disease (i.e., positive test for CML) versus Windowed SAM (2.26). An accuracy value of 84.2% was achieved with 3-D SGM versus only 70.2% for Windowed SAM. Conclusion The new method is efficient and robust for analyzing hyperspectral images of CML versus healthy neutrophils. It has the potential to be developed into an inexpensive, minimally invasive method for screening CML, and could directly facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
