Impact of target point deviations on control and complication probabilities in stereotactic radiosurgery of AVMs and metastases.

Objective: Determination of the impact of inaccuracies in the determination and setup of the target point in stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) on the expectable complication and control probabilities.

Methods: Two randomized samples of patients with arteriovenous malformation (AVM) (n=20) and with brain metastases (n=20) treated with SRS were formed, and the probability for complete obliteration (COP) or complete remission (CRP), the size of the 10 Gy-volume in the brain tissue (VOI10), and the probability for radiation necrosis (NTCP) were calculated. The dose-effect relations for COP and CRP were fitted to clinical data.

Effect of floor space during transport of market-weight pigs on the incidence of transport losses at the packing plant and the relationships between transport conditions and losses.

Data on 74 trailer loads of finishing pigs (mean BW = 129.0, SEM = 0.63 kg) from wean-to-finish buildings on 2 farms within 1 production system were collected to investigate the effect of amount of floor space on the trailer (0.

Physeal sparing reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament in skeletally immature prepubescent children and adolescents. Surgical technique.

Background: The management of anterior cruciate ligament injuries in skeletally immature patients is controversial. Conventional adult reconstruction techniques risk potential iatrogenic growth disturbance due to physeal damage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of a physeal sparing, combined intra-articular and extra-articular reconstruction technique in prepubescent skeletally immature children.

Impact of diffusion-weighted MRI-measured initial cerebral infarction volume on clinical outcome in acute stroke patients with middle cerebral artery occlusion treated by thrombolysis.

Introduction: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may help identify acute stroke patients with a higher potential benefit from thrombolytic therapy. The aim of our study was to assess the correlation between initial cerebral infarct (CI) volume (quantified on diffusion-weighted MRI) and the resulting clinical outcome in acute stroke patients with middle cerebral artery (MCA) (M(1-2) segment) occlusion detected on MRI angiography treated by intravenous/intraarterial thrombolysis.

Methods: Initial infarct volume (V(DWI-I) ) was retrospectively compared with neurological deficit evaluated using the NIH stroke scale on admission and 24 h later, and with the 90-day clinical outcome assessed using the modified Rankin scale in a series of 25 consecutive CI patients.

Linear accelerator radiosurgery for pituitary macroadenomas: a 7-year follow-up study.

Background: A prospective study was conducted to assess the efficacy and side effects of linear accelerator (LINAC)-based radiosurgery (RS) performed with a reduced dose of therapeutic radiation for patients with surgically inaccessible pituitary macroadenomas.

Methods: From August 1990 through January 2004, 175 patients with pituitary macroadenomas were treated with LINAC-RS according to a prospective protocol. To minimize the risk for radiation-induced damage of the pituitary function, the therapeutic dose to be applied was limited to 20 grays.

Management of osteochondritis dissecans of the knee: current concepts review.

Osteochondritis dissecans of the knee is being seen with increased frequency in pediatric and young adult athletes and is thought to be, in part, owing to earlier and increasingly competitive sports participation. Despite much speculation, the cause of both juvenile and adult osteochondritis dissecans remains unclear. Early recognition is essential.

Pediatric athlete hip disorders.

Injuries of the hip and pelvis in pediatric athletes are receiving increased attention. The majority of injuries are soft tissue injuries or apophyseal injuries that heal with nonoperative supportive treatment. Unique injury patterns can be seen in patients who have underlying pediatric hip disorders such as slipped capital femoral epiphysis, and Legg-Perthes disease.

Hip arthroscopy in children and adolescents.

Hip arthroscopy has become an established procedure for certain indications in adults; however, experience in children and adolescents has been more limited. This article reviews the technique, indications, and results of hip arthroscopy in children and adolescents.

Reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Lysholm knee score and Tegner activity scale for patients with meniscal injury of the knee.

Background: A torn meniscus is one of the most common indications for knee surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Lysholm knee score and the Tegner activity scale when used for patients with a meniscal injury of the knee.

Methods: Test-retest reliability, content validity, criterion validity, construct validity, and responsiveness to change were determined for the Lysholm score and the Tegner activity scale.

Efficacy of intensified hyperfractionated and accelerated radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy with carboplatin and 5-fluorouracil: updated results of a randomized multicentric trial in advanced head-and-neck cancer.

Purpose: To prove an expected benefit of concurrent radiochemotherapy (RCT), a two-arm randomized multicentric study was performed. In a subgroup analysis the influence of pretherapeutical hemoglobin level (p-Hb) on survival under locoregional control (SLC) was tested.

Patients And Methods: The study included primarily untreated Stage III/IV (International Union Against Cancer [UICC]) oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinomas.

Chronic recurrent anterior sternoclavicular joint instability: results of surgical management.

Chronic anterior sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) instability may cause pain and persistent functional limitation in active patients. Although SCJ reconstruction and medial clavicular resection have been advocated in these situations, the results of surgical treatment are not well characterized. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the functional outcome of surgical treatment in adolescent and young adult patients with chronic recurrent anterior SCJ instability.

Patellofemoral pain syndrome: evaluation of location and intensity of pain.

Objectives: To identify the sites and intensity of pain in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome.

Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted at an academic sports medicine practice in Boston, Massachusetts. All patients met inclusion criteria and were enrolled and evaluated during the study time frame.

Local electronic structure of layered Li(x)Ni0.5Mn0.5O2 and Li(x)Ni(1/3)Mn(1/3)Co(1/3)O2.

Samples of Li(x)Ni0.5Mn0.5O2 and Li(x)Ni(1/3)Mn(1/3)Co(1/3)O2 were prepared as active materials in electrochemical half-cells and were cycled electrochemically to obtain different values of Li concentration, x.

Physeal sparing reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament in skeletally immature prepubescent children and adolescents.

Background: The management of anterior cruciate ligament injuries in skeletally immature patients is controversial. Conventional adult reconstruction techniques risk potential iatrogenic growth disturbance due to physeal damage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of a physeal sparing, combined intra-articular and extra-articular reconstruction technique in prepubescent skeletally immature children.

Histomorphologic tumor regression and lymph node metastases determine prognosis following neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy for esophageal cancer: implications for response classification.

Objective: We sought to quantitatively and objectively evaluate histomorphologic tumor regression and establish a relevant prognostic regression classification system for esophageal cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy.

Patients And Methods: Eighty-five consecutive patients with localized esophageal cancers (cT2-4, Nx, M0) received standardized neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy (cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, 36 Gy). Seventy-four (87%) patients were resected by transthoracic en bloc esophagectomy and 2-field lymphadenectomy.

The International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form: normative data.

Background: The International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form may be used to measure symptoms, function, and sports activity for people with a variety of knee disorders, including ligamentous and meniscal injuries, osteoarthritis, and patellofemoral dysfunction. To date, normative data have not been established for this valid, reliable, and responsive outcomes instrument.

Purpose: To provide clinicians and researchers with normative data to facilitate the interpretation of results on the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form.

Hip arthroscopy in children and adolescents.

Hip arthroscopy has become an established procedure for certain indications in adults, but experience in children and adolescents has been more limited. The purpose of this study is to report the early-term results of hip arthroscopy in children and adolescents. A consecutive case series of 54 hip arthroscopies in 42 patients 18 years old and younger over a 3-year period at a tertiary-care children's hospital with a minimum of 1 year of follow-up was reviewed.

Treatment possibility for AAA of the visceral branches region.

The authors describe a promising abdominal aortic aneurysm treatment--a combined endovascular/surgical approach--used in two cases of aneurysm taking the aortic visceral branches region.

Combined strategy in AAA elective treatment.

The authors describe surgical treatment for high risk patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms of complicated morphology for standard endovascular repair. This was achieved by combining endovascular stent-grafting for aneurysmal sac exclusion with conventional vascular surgical procedures.

Reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons subjective shoulder scale in patients with shoulder instability, rotator cuff disease, and glenohumeral arthritis.

Background: Outcomes assessment after the treatment of shoulder disorders has involved the use of various condition-specific outcome instruments. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons subjective shoulder scale in patients with shoulder instability, rotator cuff disease, and glenohumeral arthritis.

Methods: Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, content validity, criterion validity, construct validity, and responsiveness to change were determined for the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons shoulder scale within subsets of an overall study population of 455 patients with shoulder instability, 474 patients with rotator cuff disease, and 137 patients with glenohumeral arthritis.

Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in skeletally immature knees: an anatomical study.

The purpose of this study was to anatomically evaluate anterior cruciate ligament (AL) reconstruction ate anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction techniques in skeletally immature knees. Four cadav-techniques in skeletally immature knees. Four cadaveric knees from 2 skeletally immature children were used.

Radiation exposure of extracranial organs at risk during stereotactic linac radiosurgery.

Background And Purpose: Stereotactic radiosurgery of intracranial tumors and vascular malformations can be performed by either a linear accelerator (Linac) or gamma knife. The aim of this first study on patients was to determine the radiation exposure of organs at risk and assess the risk for late effects including secondary tumors and/or hereditary disorders after stereotactic Linac radiosurgery.

Material And Methods: Thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) measurements were done on 21 consecutively admitted patients with various intracranial lesions scheduled for Linac radiosurgery.

Esthesioneuroblastoma in childhood and adolescence. Better prognosis with multimodal treatment?

Background And Purpose: Only 3% of all malignant intranasal tumors are esthesioneuroblastomas (ENB) and only 20% of these rare neuroectodermal tumors are diagnosed up to 20 years of age. Radiotherapy and surgery are established treatment modalities for these patients, but the role of chemotherapy, especially in a multimodal approach, is not well defined. To investigate the influence of radio- and chemotherapy, the treatment and course of the disease in children and adolescents with ENB were analyzed retrospectively.