Efficacy of intralesional sodium thiosulfate injections for disabling tumoral calcinosis: Two cases.

INTRODUCTION: Tumoral calcinosis (TC) is a difficult-to-treat complication that can occur during several diseases such as dermatomyositis or genetic hyperphosphatemia. It is a painful and disabling condition that can lead to local complications including joint mobility reduction, cutaneous ulceration and superinfection. For the largest lesions, the treatment relies essentially on surgery. Intravenous sodium thiosulfate (STS) is efficient to treat calciphylaxis in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Local injections of STS seem efficient in superficial calcifications. OBJECTIVE: To report the efficacy and safety of intra-lesional injections of STS in tumoral calcinosis. RESULTS: We report two cases of successful intra-lesional injections of STS. A 44-year-old woman, with a history of dermatomyositis, presenting large subcutaneous calcifications in the right elbow, and a 42-year-old man, with a history of familial tumoral calcinosis, presenting large intramuscular calcifications in the right buttock, received weekly intra-lesional of 1-3g STS injections for 12 and 21 months, respectively. In both cases, the treatment relieved pain and greatly reduced the tumoral calcinosis with a very significant functional improvement without specific adverse effects. In case 1, TC size decreased from 28.7*56.0mm at baseline to 21.5*30.6mm at M12 treatment (59% reduction). In case 2, TC reduced from 167.5*204.3mm at baseline to 86.2*85.2mm at M21 treatment (79% reduction). CONCLUSION: Local injection of STS could be a promising therapeutic strategy for large and deep TC lesions and could therefore be an alternative to surgery.

Distal humerus lateral condyle fracture in children: when is the conservative treatment a valid option?

INTRODUCTION: Distal humerus condyle fracture in children is rare. These fractures often mislead the emergency physician or surgeon. However, treatment adapted to the degree of displacement achieves excellent clinical and radiographic results. The objective of this study was to clarify indications for conservative treatment of lateral humeral condyle fracture in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-two children who had sustained lateral humeral condyle fracture between January 2007 and January 2010 were reviewed in April 2010. At this consultation, the children underwent clinical and radiological examination. The Hardacre functional score was used to determine objective clinical outcome. RESULTS: Conservative treatment was exclusive to cases of lateral condyle displacement equal to or less than 1mm. All other fractures were managed by surgical open reduction and fixation using cross-pinning. There was no statistically significant difference in clinical or radiological outcome between conservative and surgical management. DISCUSSION: Lateral humeral condyle fracture is difficult to diagnose in children. The majority of poor results reported in literature relate to inadequate initial treatment. Given a radiological aspect of hemarthrosis of the elbow, the emergency physician prescribes multiple X-ray views of the affected elbow (anteroposterior, lateral and internal oblique). The clinical aspect of lateral humeral condyle fracture is often characteristic (ecchymosis facing the head of the radius). Nondisplaced or minimally displaced lateral humeral condyle fracture can be managed conservatively under close survey. However, secondary displacement under the cast is often difficult or impossible to detect, and outpatient surgery is therefore being increasingly indicated in our department.