In-office Maximal Voluntary Ventilation Testing Demonstrates Pulmonary Improvement Following Posterior Spinal Fusion for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis.

Objective: Pulmonary function can be impaired in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV) has been shown to be more strongly correlated with major coronal curve, and a more easily obtained measurement of pulmonary function, than forced vital capacity (FVC). We evaluated changes in pulmonary function using these 2 measures in patients with AIS in relation to changes in major coronal curves over time.

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients treated with bracing, surgery, or observation showed no difference in behavioral and emotional function over a 2-year period.

The purpose of this study was to assess if behavior and emotional function, as measured by the Pearson Behavioral Assessment Survey for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2) in patients and parents, changes with differing treatment protocols in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). One previous study showed abnormal BASC-2 scores in a substantial number of patients diagnosed with AIS; however, no study has assessed how these scores change over the course of treatment. AIS patients aged 12 to 21 years completed the BASC-2.

Conventional Chondrosarcoma with Clear Cell Features in the Rib: Report of Two Cases and Review of the Literature.

A subset of clear cell chondrosarcomas may contain focal areas of low-grade conventional chondrosarcoma; however, it is rare to find foci resembling clear cell chondrosarcoma admixed with areas otherwise typical conventional chondrosarcoma. We report two patients with conventional chondrosarcoma with clear cell features occurring in the rib, one in the setting of multiple hereditary exostoses (MHE) and the other without MHE. Both patients were found to have a destructive rib mass with a soft tissue component and underwent en bloc resection.

Primary Lymphoma of the Distal Femur Presenting as Spontaneous Deep Vein Thrombosis and Knee Monoarthritis: A Case Report.

Case: A 68-year-old man with a history of unprovoked deep vein thrombosis (DVT) presented with recurrent knee effusions after the initiation of anticoagulation. Radiographs showed soft-tissue swelling without a distinct skeletal lesion. Magnetic resonance imaging, however, showed a marrow-replacing process in the distal femur.

Prospective Study on Tension Band Plating: Most Patients are Not Returning to Normal Activities 1 Month Following Surgery.

Background: Tension band plating for temporary hemiepiphysiodesis has been reported by several authors as simple and effective for treating angular deformities of the lower limb. Anecdotally, patients have reported higher pain levels than expected given the small size of incision and relatively minimal amount of dissection, and we sought to investigate this further.

Methods: Patients 16 years old or less with lower extremity angular deformities or limb length inequality were prospectively enrolled before tension band plating from 2 pediatric institutions from July 2016 to December 2018.

Intralaminar Screw Fixation of Spondylolysis.

Spondylolysis, defined as injury to the pars interarticularis, is the most common identifiable cause of back pain in children. Historically, treatment has primarily been nonoperative, including physical therapy, activity modification, and occasionally bracing. In instances in which the condition is refractory to nonoperative management, however, surgical treatment may be an efficacious alternative.

Atypical presentation of rhabdomyolysis due to hypokalaemia induced by diuretics abuse: Case report from Sierra Leone.

Rhabdomyolysis results from acute necrosis of skeletal muscle fibres and consequent leakage of muscle constituents into the circulation. Its association with anything different than trauma in the Emergency Room is not that frequent. We present the case of a 47-year-old male, hypertensive, that developed weakness and incapability to walk without help, finding on the blood biochemistry that he had developed a rhabdomyolysis due to hipokalemia after abusing of diuretics.

Stomaching the pain of spinal fusion: gastrointestinal discomfort is as severe as back pain in 50% of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients following posterior spinal fusion.

Purpose: There have been no prospective studies investigating gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) following posterior spinal fusion (PSF). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and severity of self-reported GI symptoms following PSF.

Methods: In all, 40 AIS patients undergoing PSF were prospectively enrolled between March 2015 and October 2016.

Rapid Establishment of a Cold Chain Capacity of -60°C or Colder for the STRIVE Ebola Vaccine Trial During the Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone.

ClinicalTrials.gov [NCT02378753] and Pan African Clinical Trials Registry [PACTR201502001037220].

The cost of tuberculosis to patients in Sierra Leone's war zone.

Objective: To evaluate how the extreme poverty of the patients and the poor salaries of the staff combined to increase the cost of treatment to patients within the subsidised national tuberculosis programme in Sierra Leone.

Design/setting: From September to December of 1994, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 72 patients and 17 staff of the National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Control Programme of Sierra Leone, a screening and treatment programme funded by international donors.

Results: Although some extra costs were indeed incurred within the subsidized national tuberculosis treatment programme, they were much lower than those incurred during the pre-programme period when the patients sought intermittent help from a wide range of traditional and biomedical sources within the plural healing continuum.