Lumbar plexus block surface landmarks as assessed by computed axial tomography in adult patients with scoliosis: a case series.

Background And Objectives: Lumbar plexus (LP) block is a common and useful regional anesthesia technique. Surface landmarks used to identify the LP in patients with healthy spines have been previously described, with the distance from the spinous process (SP) to the skin overlying the LP being approximately two-thirds the distance from the SP to the posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS) (SP-LP:SP-PSIS ratio). In scoliotic patients, rotation of the central neuraxis may make these surface landmarks unreliable, possibly leading to an increased block failure rate and an increased incidence of complications.

Extrahepatic portal biliopathy: proposed etiology on the basis of anatomic and clinical features.

Purpose: To compare the anatomic and clinical features in patients with chronic portal vein thrombosis (PVT) to determine why some patients develop portal biliopathy (PB) while most do not and propose an etiology for PB.

Materials And Methods: This project satisfied HIPAA regulations and received institutional review board approval for a retrospective review without the need for consent. From 100 patients with PVT, 60 were extracted who had chronic, nonmalignant PVT, after exclusion of those with sclerosing cholangitis, liver transplants, choledocholithiasis, or portosystemic shunts.

Use of rituximab for periocular and intraocular mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma.

The clinical efficacy of rituximab therapy in systemic mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma with both periocular and intraocular involvement is described. Ophthalmic examination and radiologic imaging demonstrated tumor with bilateral periorbital, lacrimal, and subconjunctival infiltration, a pseudohypopyon in one eye, and extensive systemic lymph node involvement. Lymph node biopsy confirmed the pathologic findings of a low-grade MALT lymphoma.

Cyclops lesions that occur in the absence of prior anterior ligament reconstruction.

Loss of full extension after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, with development of an audible and palpable "clunk" with terminal extension was first described by Jackson and Schaefer as "cyclops syndrome." This syndrome, which is the result of a fibrous nodule (termed a cyclops nodule), has recently been described in patients who have sustained ACL injury but have not undergone reconstructive surgery. From 2001 to 2006, the authors identified 10 patients (five women and five men, ages 27-76 years) with cyclops nodules seen at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.