Functional Outcomes 18 Months After Total and Midarm Transplantation: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND: The function reported after arm transplantation is deemed beneficial relative to the marked disability that upper arm amputation causes. OBJECTIVE: We report a 51-year-old man with a Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score of 75.83 who underwent bilateral arm transplantation in October 2015. PROCEDURE: The right arm was transplanted at the glenohumeral joint level, including transplantation of the humeral head, joint capsule, and rotator cuff ligaments and tendons. Additionally, neurorrhaphies were performed at the origin of the terminal branches of the brachial plexus, including the axillary and musculocutaneous nerves. Therefore, this was considered a total arm transplantation. The left arm was transplanted at the transhumeral level, with complete transplantation of the biceps and triceps brachii, and terminolateral neurorrhaphy of the donor musculocutaneous nerve to the receptor radial nerve. A maintenance triple immunosuppression scheme was administered, with tacrolimus levels kept at 10 ng/mL. RESULTS: At 18 months post-transplantation, the intrinsic musculature in the left hand showed electrical registry, DASH score was 67.5, Carroll test score was 28 in both extremities, Hand Transplant Score System was 67.5 in the right extremity and 77.5 in the left extremity, and Short Form-36 score was 96.1. The patient was healthy, with restored body integrity. He could lift medium-sized weightless objects, eat and go to the bathroom by himself, drink liquids with bimanual grasp, swim, dress almost independently, and drive. CONCLUSION: The functional evolution of the patient was similar to previously reported transplanted arms, even though the right arm transplant involved the glenohumeral joint and axillary and musculocutaneous nerve repair.

Methods for measuring abdominal obesity in the prediction of severe acute pancreatitis, and their correlation with abdominal fat areas assessed by computed tomography.

BACKGROUND: Obesity increases the risk for severe acute pancreatitis, although abdominal obesity may be a better prognostic marker. AIM: To determine if a single anthropometric parameter best predicts severe acute pancreatitis and correlates with intra-abdominal fat. METHODS: Ninety-nine patients with acute pancreatitis were studied prospectively. Anthropometry included body mass index (BMI) and girths (umbilical/minimum waist, iliac/trochanter hip, thigh). Several waist-to-hip/waist-to-thigh ratios (WHR/WTR) were constructed. A CT-scan with calculation of cross-sectional abdominal fat areas was obtained in 37 cases. RESULTS: Severe acute pancreatitis occurred in 25 patients. Waist circumference (WC), WHR and WTR - all using the umbilical reference - most accurately predicted severe acute pancreatitis. Only umbilical WC was retained in multivariate analysis: the risk for severe acute pancreatitis increased 16% with every 1 cm (OR 1.16, 95%CI: 1.1-1.3). Abdominal obesity caused a 6-fold increase in risk. Umbilical WC correlated best with subcutaneous fat area (r = 0.791, P < 0.001), whereas WHR with intra-abdominal (r = 0.594, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal obesity according to umbilical WC is a better predictor for development of severe acute pancreatitis than BMI, minimum WC, WHR and WTR. The protocol for anthropometry must be standardized as it may affect results. Both subcutaneous and intra-abdominal fat appears to affect the likelihood of a severe outcome.

Asymptomatic true gallbladder duplication: a case report and review of the literature.

Gallbladder duplication is a rare event, with an incidence at autopsy of about 1/4000, with very few documented symptomatic cases reported. Preoperative diagnosis and differentiation of this malformation are important to prevent inadvertent damage to the biliary system, a complicated postoperative course, and repeat surgery. We present a case of true gallbladder duplication found incidentally during abdominal ultrasonography (US). The diagnosis was made with US and the Y-type duplication was demonstrated with magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP).

Hypopituitarism in two brothers born by breech delivery.

OBJECTIVE: To describe two brothers with hypopituitarism who had been born by breech delivery and to discuss whether this condition corresponds to a familial form or to a pituitary stalk section as a result of the breech delivery. METHODS: We present the clinical, biochemical, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics of two Mexican brothers, 19 and 21 years old, with hypopituitarism and a history of breech delivery. RESULTS: Physical examination of both patients showed short stature with normal body proportions, an obviously younger appearance than that expected for their chronologic age, high-pitched voice, irregularly positioned teeth, no axillary or pubic hair, and prepubertal genitalia. Biochemical testing showed low thyroxine and free thyroxine values with inadequate or normal thyrotropin, low basal testosterone, and mildly increased serum prolactin levels. Stimulation tests showed a normal and a delayed thyrotropin response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone, subnormal serum cortisol, considerably blunted growth hormone (GH) response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia, and absence of GH response to GH-releasing hormone in both cases. MRI showed an ectopic neuropituitary gland. In case 1, a caudal portion of a very thin pituitary stalk was observed, suggesting the preservation of a vascular component of the stalk. Because both parents of these brothers shared the major histocompatibility complex haplotype HLA-A*2301, B*3501, DRB1*0407, DQA1*03, DQB1*0201, consanguinity was suggested. CONCLUSION: The phenotype of these patients differs from that described in families with POU1F1 (Pit-1) and PROP1 mutations. These cases are most likely related to an autosomal recessive gene mutation that warrants further research. To our knowledge, this is the first report of hypopituitarism in two brothers born by breech delivery.