Intra-focal reduction and percutaneous fixation of neck fractures of the fifth metacarpal: description of surgical technique.

Objective: to demonstrate a surgical technique for treating neck fractures of the fifth metacarpal, by means of reduction through intra-focal manipulation and percutaneous fixation using Kirschner wires, with the aims of making it easier to achieve and maintain the reduction during the operation and enabling reduction of these fractures even if a fibrous callus has formed.

Methods: a series of ten patients with neck fractures of the fifth metacarpal presenting palmar angles greater than 30° underwent the surgical technique described, as examples, and their results were evaluated through postoperative radiographs and clinical examinations.

Results: all the patients achieved reductions that were close to anatomical and evolved to consolidation of the fracture in the position obtained.

Clinical and epidemiological aspects of children hospitalized with severe rotavirus-associated gastroenteritis in Salvador, BA, Brazil.

Little is known about the epidemiology of severe rotavirus-associated gastroenteritis in Brazil. Given the morbidity associated with this condition and the importance of having detailed knowledge about the impact of rotavirus infection on the epidemiology of acute diarrhea in children, especially those with the most severe diarrheal conditions, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all pediatric patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Salvador, Brazil, due to rotavirus-associated gastroenteritis during one year. It was observed that rotavirus was responsible for 15.