Testicular heterotopia of the lumbar spine.

We report an unusual case of testicular heterotopia in a child who underwent excision of a subcutaneous mass associated with a lipomyelomeningocele in the lumbosacral region. To the best of our knowledge testicular heterotopia has never been documented in humans, and this case report provides a possible embryological interpretation for such a presentation.

The use of the ASET in the diagnosis of ventriculoatrial shunt infection.

A 38-year-old man with a ventriculoatrial shunt presented with non-specific symptoms (headache, back pain, night sweats) and inconclusive laboratory results. He showed an extremely high titre of antibody to Staphylococcus epidermidis which proved diagnostic of shunt infection. This was confirmed on shunt removal and he was successfully treated.

Chondral metaplasia in calcific insertional tendinopathy of the Achilles tendon.

Objective: To ascertain whether tendon samples harvested from patients with calcific insertional Achilles tendinopathy showed features of failed healing response, and whether abnormal quantities of type II collagen had been produced in that area by these tenocytes.

Design: Comparative laboratory study.

Design: University teaching hospitals.