The disease-modifying effect of dehydroepiandrosterone in different stages of experimentally induced osteoarthritis: a histomorphometric study.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is likely to become an increasing burden in the coming decades. Various agents have been developed to slow the progression of OA, and are collectively known as 'disease-modifying drugs', however, there is still little reliable evidence that such agents will be successful. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a sex hormone precursor, has been recently proven as protective agent against OA, but the exact mechanism is still unkown.

Transfer of segmentally split pectoralis major for the treatment of irreparable rupture of the subscapularis tendon.

Irreparable ruptures of the subscapularis tendon represent a difficult surgical problem. An accepted treatment has been to utilize the pectoralis major as a transfer, using the superior half of the tendon, which involves parts of both the sternal and clavicular heads of the muscle. We undertook an anatomic study to investigate the possibility of using a segmentally split pectoralis transfer of the sternal portion alone, which may provide a transfer with a vector more closely matching that of the functioning subscapularis muscle.