Adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder in male cardiac surgery patients.

Two hundred fourteen consecutive male cardiac surgery patients were retrospectively evaluated for the incidence of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder and were assessed for risk factors. Only male patients were included, as the study took place at a Veteran's hospital. Patients who had no shoulder problems prior to cardiac surgery and were experiencing shoulder pain or stiffness postoperatively underwent history, physical examination, and radiographic studies. Thirty-five patients who had shoulder complaints were identified and evaluated. A 3.3% incidence (seven patients) of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder in a male post-cardiac surgery population was established.

Posttraumatic tibia valga in children. A long-term follow-up note.

BACKGROUND: We reevaluated seven patients who initially had been managed nonoperatively because of a progressive valgus deformity that had occurred within approximately twelve months after satisfactory healing of a proximal tibial metaphyseal fracture sustained at an average age of four years (range, eleven months to six years and four months). All seven patients were described in a previous report from our institution, published in 1986. In that report, spontaneous improvement of the angulation was documented after an average duration of follow-up of thirty-nine months and nonoperative treatment of the deformity was recommended. METHODS: The patients were followed radiographically for an average of fifteen years and three months (range, ten years and four months to nineteen years and eleven months) after the injury. The radiographs were reviewed to determine the metaphyseal-diaphyseal angle, the mechanical tibiofemoral angle, the proximal and distal tibial remodeling angles, the limb-length discrepancy, and the deviation of the mechanical axis of the limb from the center of the knee joint. Knee function was assessed with use of the rating system of the Cincinnati Sportsmedicine and Orthopaedic Center, and ankle function was assessed with use of the rating system of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society. RESULTS: Every patient had spontaneous improvement of the metaphyseal-diaphyseal and mechanical tibiofemoral angles. Most of the correction occurred at the proximal part of the tibia. The mechanical axis of the limb remained lateral to the center of the knee joint in every patient, with an average deviation of fifteen millimeters (range, three to twenty-four millimeters). The affected tibia was longer than the contralateral tibia in every patient, with an average limb-length discrepancy of nine millimeters (range, three to eighteen millimeters). The knee score on the affected side was excellent for five patients and fair for two; one of the patients who had a fair score had had a tibial osteotomy at the age of sixteen years because of pain in the lateral aspect of the knee that was thought to be due to malalignment. The ankle score on the affected side was excellent for three patients and good for four. CONCLUSIONS: Spontaneous improvement of the deformity occurred in all patients and resulted in a clinically well aligned, asymptomatic limb in most. We believe that patients who have posttraumatic tibia valga should be followed through skeletal maturity and that operative intervention should be reserved for patients who have symptoms secondary to malalignment.

The limping child: a manifestation of acute leukemia.

Nine patients who presented to our institution with the chief complaint of a limp and no history of trauma were subsequently diagnosed with leukemia. A review of these patients identified clinical and laboratory findings that helped to establish the diagnosis. The presence of an antalgic gait with complaints of pain of variable intensity and duration, an irritable hip or knee, a mild to moderate elevation in body temperature, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, thrombocytopenia, anemia, decreased neutrophils, increased lymphocytes, or blast cells on the peripheral blood smear should cause the physician to suspect leukemia in a limping child. Bone marrow biopsy confirms the diagnosis.

Distribution of radioactive leucine following uptake by olfactory sensory neurons in normal and heteromorphic crayfish antennules.

Surgical excision of one of the compound eyes from juvenile crayfish leads to the regeneration of a heteromorphic antennule in 30% of the cases. Most of the heteromorphic antennules generated this way are bifurcate appendages possessing morphologically distinct medial and lateral branches. These structures are identical to the internal and external flagella of the normal antennules, and the homolog of the external flagellum bears aesthetascs supplied by olfactory sensory neurons. Autoradiographic analysis of the brain following exposure of heteromorphic antennules to tritiated leucine indicates that the supernumerary sensory axons transport the labeled amino acid into their central terminals at appropriate target locations within the ipsilateral olfactory lobe. The data suggest that olfactory input from heteromorphic antennules is incorporated into the organized central projection of olfactory afferents from the normal antennule.