Fracturas periprotésicas de fémur sobre prótesis de cadera y rodilla. Análisis de una serie de 34 casos y revisión de las series españolas en los últimos 20 años / Peri-prosthetic femoral fractures of hip or knee arthroplasty. Analysis of 34 cases and a review of Spanish series in the last 20 years

Objetivo. Evaluar las fracturas periprotésicas de fémur analizando las características de los pacientes, el tipo de tratamiento y los resultados, y compararlas con las series españolas publicadas en los últimos 20 años. Material y método. Evaluación retrospectiva de las fracturas periprotésicas de fémur atendidas en nuestro centro entre 2010 y 2014. Revisión de las historias clínicas y encuesta telefónica sobre la situación actual. Resultados. Hemos analizado 34 fracturas periprotésicas de fémur, 20 sobre prótesis de cadera y 14 sobre prótesis de rodilla. La edad media fue 79,9 años. El 91% tenían comorbilidad previa y hasta un 36% tenían al menos 3 enfermedades sistémicas previas. La estancia hospitalaria media fue 8,7 días, mayor en los casos tratados quirúrgicamente. Hasta el 60,6% de los pacientes presentaron complicaciones y la tasa de mortalidad ha sido del 18%. El 61,5% de los pacientes no recuperaron el estado funcional previo a la fractura, con mayor dolor en los pacientes con artroplastia de cadera. Discusión. Las fracturas periprotésicas de fémur son cada vez más frecuentes, porque cada vez se realizan más artroplastias y en pacientes más mayores. El tratamiento es complejo, porque a la propia dificultad de la fractura se añade la presencia de un implante previo, la baja calidad ósea y la comorbilidad. Conclusiones. Las fracturas periprotésicas de fémur suponen una merma en la calidad de vida de los pacientes. Requieren un tratamiento individualizado. La tasa de complicaciones y de mortalidad es muy elevada (AU)

Purpose.To evaluate peri-prosthetic femoral fractures by analysing type of patient, treatment and outcomes, and to compare them with Spanish series published in the last 20 years. Material and methods.A retrospective review of the medical records of patients with peri-prosthetic femoral fractures treated in our hospital from 2010 to 2014, and telephone survey on the current status. Results. A total of 34 peri-prosthetic femoral fractures were analysed, 20 in hip arthroplasty and 14 in knee arthroplasty. The mean age of the patients was 79.9 years, and 91% had previous comorbidity, with up to 36% having at least 3 prior systemic diseases. Mean hospital stay was 8.7 days, and was higher in surgically-treated than in conservative-treated patients. The majority (60.6%) of patients had complications, and mortality was 18%. Functional status was not regained in 61.5% of patients, and pain was higher in hip than in knee arthroplasty. Discussion. Peri-prosthetic femoral fractures are increasing in frequency. This is due to the increasing number of arthroplasties performed and also to the increasing age of these patients. Treatment of these fractures is complex because of the presence of an arthroplasty component, low bone quality, and comorbidity of the patients. Conclusion. Peri-prosthetic femoral fractures impair quality of life. They need individualised treatment, and have frequent complications and mortality (AU)

Peri-prosthetic femoral fractures of hip or knee arthroplasty. Analysis of 34 cases and a review of Spanish series in the last 20 years. / Fracturas periprotésicas de fémur sobre prótesis de cadera y rodilla. Análisis de una serie de 34 casos y revisión de las series españolas en los últimos 20 años.

PURPOSE: To evaluate peri-prosthetic femoral fractures by analysing type of patient, treatment and outcomes, and to compare them with Spanish series published in the last 20 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective review of the medical records of patients with peri-prosthetic femoral fractures treated in our hospital from 2010 to 2014, and telephone survey on the current status. RESULTS: A total of 34 peri-prosthetic femoral fractures were analysed, 20 in hip arthroplasty and 14 in knee arthroplasty. The mean age of the patients was 79.9 years, and 91% had previous comorbidity, with up to 36% having at least 3 prior systemic diseases. Mean hospital stay was 8.7 days, and was higher in surgically-treated than in conservative-treated patients. The majority (60.6%) of patients had complications, and mortality was 18%. Functional status was not regained in 61.5% of patients, and pain was higher in hip than in knee arthroplasty. DISCUSSION: Peri-prosthetic femoral fractures are increasing in frequency. This is due to the increasing number of arthroplasties performed and also to the increasing age of these patients. Treatment of these fractures is complex because of the presence of an arthroplasty component, low bone quality, and comorbidity of the patients. CONCLUSION: Peri-prosthetic femoral fractures impair quality of life. They need individualised treatment, and have frequent complications and mortality.

Detection of microcalcifications by means of multiscale methods and statistical techniques.

The detection of clustered microcalcifications can help the radiologist to detect early breast cancer. Microcalcifications exhibit some important characteristics, such as small size and high luminosity. Use of a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) method can prevent them being overlooked. In this report, a multiresolution analysis is performed based on a multilevel wavelet transformation. Decomposition produces sub-band images which become visible only as details of the different scales. Thereafter, all the images will be combined in a final image, in order to obtain an image that contains all the interest details at the scale where microcalcifications tend to appear. Once the image, called detail image, is obtained, it is necessary to determine which details correspond with microcalcifications. Statistical analysis of the histogram permits classification of the zones likely to contain microcalcifications. Applying this statistical techniques over the whole image and representing the results in a two-dimensional map, clustered microcalcification regions are clearly distinguishable.

A rare complication of splenic artery aneurysm. Mesenteric steal syndrome.

Splenic artery aneurysms are relatively common lesions that remain asymptomatic in the vast majority of patients. The commencement of symptoms is generally a morbid development because it frequently heralds either frank rupture or an erosive process that involves neighboring structures. Erosion into the splenic vein has been reported but is extremely rare. When this event occurs, the central arteriovenous fistula almost inevitably leads to a dramatic increase in portal venous pressures, which may subsequently be manifested as upper gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage. Herein, we report an unusual case of splenic artery aneurysm that was complicated by arteriovenous fistula formation in which high flow through the central splenic shunt led to the development of nontransmural small-bowel ischemia due to a mesenteric steal syndrome, which presented as acute lower gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage. Diagnostic modalities and therapeutic interventions used in this case are detailed, followed by a brief review of the pertinent literature.

Ultrasonography is more effective than computed tomography in excluding invasion of the carotid wall by cervical lymphadenopathies.

Twelve patients with head and neck cancer, bulky lymphadenopathies, and clinical suspicion of carotid artery infiltration, had preoperative CT and US. The results of both techniques were correlated with surgical findings (one case of invasion and 11 of non-invasion), to evaluate the role of CT and US in the preoperative diagnosis of tumor invasion of the carotid wall. While CT showed a high level of failures (11 false positives and one true positive), US (one true positive, one false negative, and 10 true negatives) appears to be an easy and helpful method for predicting non-invasion of the carotid wall. However, the usefulness of US in detecting invasion cannot be evaluated, due to the limited number of positive cases.

Addition of cAMP to mucosal or serosal medium induces different actions on Necturus gallbladder.

Open tip and Cl(-)-selective microelectrodes were used to study the effects of cAMP on apical membrane potential (Va), fractional voltage ratio (fa) and intracellular chloride activity (aicl) in Necturus gallbladder under open-circuit conditions. In the presence of cAMP in the mucosal medium Va depolarized from -68 +/- 5 mV in control conditions to -56 +/- 5 mV and fa decreased from 0.56 +/- 0.15 in control conditions to 0.15 +/- 0.02. Concomitantly aicl fell from 15 +/- 2 mM to 8 +/- 3 mM, a value close to its electrochemical equilibrium activity. These results differ markedly from those obtained when cAMP was added to serosal medium and indicate that cAMP elicits different transport mechanisms whether it is added to the serosal medium or to the mucosal medium.