Two Consecutive Invasive Surgeries Utilizing Zymogen Protein C (ZPC) That Enhanced Patient Safety and Reduced Costs.

This case report describes a major surgical procedure for a protein C-deficient, hypercoagulable patient who underwent two back-to-back invasive surgeries, hip replacement, and spinal stenosis correction. The patient, an 84-year-old male with a history of deep vein thromboses (DVT) and pulmonary emboli (PE), was treated pre-, peri-, and postoperatively with zymogen protein C (ZPC-Baxter, International) and recovered without clotting or increased bleeding. During the procedure, the patient was not administered any other anticoagulants. There have now been several case reports on different patients with unrelated teams in various locations worldwide using zymogen protein C during surgical procedures. Thus, this procedure is becoming a viable choice for patients with a high probability of clotting during and after invasive surgery. This case focuses on accomplishing safer surgery and reducing costs, by using less ZPC while accomplishing two surgeries in one procedure. As a result, this procedure might be useful for many medical situations where acquired protein C deficiency could be a problem (e.g., sepsis, pregnancy, etc.). This approach may have greater application to medical conditions other than protein C deficiency, where clotting and inflammation can become issues.

A review of comorbidities and spinal surgery.

As the population ages, greater numbers of elderly patients will be considered for spinal surgery for spinal stenosis and complex primary and revision reconstructions. The age-related medical comorbidities impact not only on the decision to undertake a procedure but also impact the magnitude of the procedure. The surgeon must understand aging and medical comorbidities to facilitate preoperative decision-making and postoperative care. A review of the more common age-related pathophysiologic changes to the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and central nervous systems is undertaken. General recommendations for perioperative treatment are made relative to published series regarding the impact of age and medical comorbidities on short- and long-term outcomes.

Current state of cementless hip prostheses.

Cemented cups in the young patient continue to show an unacceptable rate of early aseptic loosening. A well designed cementless prosthesis, implanted with good technique, is a better alternative. With the uncertainty surrounding the femoral stem, a hybrid total hip with a cemented stem and porous ingrowth cup remains an acceptable interim solution. There is an ongoing problem with the wear debris produced by the available implant materials. There is hope that the newer materials will help in this regard. Custom made prostheses at this time, seem most suited for those hips with marked deformity making the use of standard systems difficult. The use of cement in the elderly population remains an acceptable technique with the advantages of immediate fixation and early weight bearing.

Custom made total knee-replacement in patients with primary and secondary bone tumors.

The authors present an account of a group of 51 patients to whom an individual endoprosthesis of the knee joint was implanted on account of a tumour. A primary bone tumour was involved in 42 cases and a metastatic process in 9 cases. Twenty-four endoprostheses were cemented, 26 were implanted without cement. The mean follow-up period was 43 months. Functional results excellent and good in 61%, poor results only in 5%.

Microbial hydroxylation of 1,4-cineole.

Microorganisms were examined for their potential to hydroxylate the oxygenated monoterpene 1,4-cineole. Using gas chromatography and thin-layer chromatography, screening experiments revealed that hydroxylation at position 2 was the most commonly observed microbial transformation reaction. In most microorganisms, the predominant alcohol metabolite was the 2-endo-alcohol isomer. Preparative-scale incubations were conducted in order to isolate and characterize microbial transformation products by comparison of proton nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and chromatography profiles with those of cineole standards. Streptomyces griseus yielded 8-hydroxy-1,4-cineole as the major hydroxylation product together with 2-exo- and 2-endo-hydroxy-1,4-cineoles.