Treatment of Dangling-Type Thumb Polydactyly: Suture Ligation vs. Surgical Excision.

Background: To review the cases of dangling-type thumb polydactyly treated with suture ligation vs surgical excision. Methods: Cases of dangling-type thumb polydactyly treated in 2 different hospitals from 1994 to 2014 were recruited. Group 1 includes cases treated with suture ligation in hospital 1; Group 2 includes cases treated with surgical excision in hospital 2. The demographics data, early clinical outcomes and early complications were retrieved from clinical notes. All cases were contacted for a final assessment. Results: There were 23 cases recruited in group 1 and 26 cases recruited in group 2. The mean age at the time of procedure was 15.9 days (group 1) vs. 14 months (group 2). The infection rate was comparable in both groups (4.35% vs. 3.85%). 12 cases in group 1 and 14 cases in group 2 completed a final assessment. Residual tissue is common in group 1 (58.5%) and 4 cases (33.3%) required revision surgery. No case in group 2 had residual tissue and none require revision surgery. There was no painful neuroma in both groups and all patients achieved normal thumb and hand functions. The parental satisfaction score was 7.8 (group 1) and 8.8 (group 2) with no statistical difference (p = 0.061). Conclusions: Suture ligation and surgical excision are safe and effective treatment options for dangling-type thumb polydactyly. Both methods received comparable parental satisfaction. However, residual tissue is common after suture ligation while this problem is not observed after surgical excision.

Endoscopic Resection of Chronic Morel-Lavallée Lesion of the Knee.

The Morel-Lavallée lesion is a closed internal soft-tissue degloving injury. About 15.7% of Morel-Lavallée lesions occur in the knee region. Morel-Lavallée lesions are considered chronic when the lesion contains a capsule. The capsule prevents resorption of the fluid content, and the lesion will recur when using conservative treatment alone. Surgical debridement with resection of the capsule is a more definitive treatment option, but it may induce wound complications. In this Technical Note, the technical details of endoscopic resection of chronic Morel-Lavallée lesion of the knee are discussed. This minimally invasive technique has the advantage of better cosmetic results and fewer wound complications.

Correction of Severe Crossover Toe Deformity By Plantar Plate Tenodesis, Arthroscopic Release of Lumbrical and Plication of Lateral Capsuloligamentous Complex.

Plantar plate deficiency is the major cause of instability of the metatarsophalangeal joint, and plantar plate tenodesis can provide dynamic stabilization of the plantar plate. In case of crossover toe deformity, incorporation of arthroscopic release of the medial capsuloligamentous complex and the lumbrical tendon can eliminate the medial deforming force. However, in case of severe deformity, the lateral capsuloligamentous complex is attenuated. The purpose of this Technical Note is to incorporate the technique of arthroscopic plication of the lateral capsuloligamentous complex into the technique of plantar plate tenodesis and arthroscopic release of the medial capsuloligamentous complex and the lumbrical tendon.

Endoscopic Resection of Recalcitrant Tuberculous Bursitis of the Popliteal Fossa.

Tuberculosis of the musculoskeletal system is uncommon and constitutes 1% to 5% of all forms of tuberculosis. In total, 30% of skeletal tuberculosis involves the joints, the knee being the third most commonly affected after the spine and the hip. Knee tuberculosis commonly presents as synovitis or arthritis, and infected Baker's cyst is a rather rare presentation. It is believed to result from the propagation of tuberculosis of the knee joint into the cyst, as approximately one half of the Baker's cyst communicates with the knee joint and it appears as swelling in the medial aspect of the popliteal fossa. For tuberculous popliteal bursitis at the lateral aspect of the popliteal fossa, it may be an extra-articular extension of tuberculosis of the knee joint via the popliteal hiatus. Chemotherapy remains the cornerstone of treatment; surgery is indicated in recalcitrant cases. In this Technical Note, the technical details of endoscopic resection of recalcitrant tuberculous bursitis at the lateral aspect of the popliteal fossa are described. This minimally invasive technique has the advantage of better cosmetic results and fewer wound complications and reduces the extent of surgical dissection as compared with open surgery.

Electric field-responsive photoluminescence color switching and reversible properties via Tb/Eu co-doped ergodic relaxor ferroelectrics.

A facile strategy of color switching has been developed through reversibly multicolored photoluminescence modulation in dual rare-earth element modified 0.94Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 (BNT6BT-Tb/Eu-x) relaxor ferroelectrics via the application of in situ electric fields. By virtue of the chemical and charge disorder induced by the trivalent rare earth ions, more dynamic and weakly correlated polar nanoregions are formed, which facilitate a reversible transition between the randomly oriented polar nanoregions and unstable ordered ferroelectric domains under an electric field. The electroceramics thus become more ergodic, exhibiting giant and reversible electric field-induced strain as well as structural symmetry changes around the luminescent centers and the BNT6BT-Tb/Eu-0.04 sample reveals the highest ergodicity degree. Accordingly, the overall emission color can be modulated reversibly between orange and green by purely physical stimuli (an electric field). The design of the color modulation elucidated in this work should inspire similar research expanded to other soft ferroelectrics for optical tuning and displays at ambient temperature. This should also be helpful for the realization of regulating the physical coupling (photoluminescence color switching-ergodic relaxor ferroelectrics) in multifunctional inorganic materials.