Lateral femoral cutaneous neuralgia: an anatomical insight.

A detailed anatomic study was carried out on the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve to better understand the etiology and treatment of lateral femoral cutaneous neuralgia. As it passed from the pelvis into the thigh, the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve ran through an "aponeuroticofascial tunnel," beginning at the iliopubic tract and ending at the inguinal ligament; as it passed through the tunnel, an enlargement in its side-to-side diameter was observed, suggesting that the fascial structures proximal to the inguinal ligament may be implicated in the genesis of lateral femoral cutaneous neuralgia. The finding of pseudoneuromas at this location, distant from the inguinal ligament, supports this hypothesis. The anterior superior iliac spine is located approximately 0.7 cm from the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve and serves as the bony landmark for nerve localization. Within the first 3 cm of leaving the pelvis, the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve was observed deep to the fascia lata; therefore, surgical dissection within the subcutaneous fascia may be conducted with relative impunity near the anterior superior iliac spine just inferior to the inguinal ligament. In 36% of cases there was no posterior branch of the nerve, which is correlated to lateral femoral cutaneous neuralgia symptoms often being limited to the anterior branch region. An accessory nerve was found in 30% of cases.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Brazilian coastal waters.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus has been increasingly recognized as an important cause of acute diarrheal illness in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and North America. We investigated whether this pathogen was also present in Brazil and found that 10% of the fish samples studied were contaminated with this halophilic vibrio. Positive cultures were obtained in three of 64 fish (5%) and in seven of 36 shell fish (19%).