Patients undergoing blood tests before minor/moderate trauma surgery: a retrospective review.

Objective: The aim of this study was to establish the number of unnecessary preoperative blood tests undertaken on ASA Grade 1 patients undergoing minor/moderate orthopaedic trauma surgery.

Design: Review of all ASA1 patients who had been operated on the trauma lists for three consecutive months.

Setting: UK Teaching Hospital.

Ipsilateral tibial shaft fracture and distal tibial triplane fracture with an intact fibula: a case report.

We present a case of an ipsilateral tibial shaft fracture and a distal tibial triplane fracture with an intact fibula in a 14-year-old boy. Computed tomography revealed the distal tibial triplane fracture with a 2.6-mm displaced Tillaux fragment and a posterior malleolar shear fragment.

Herpes zoster virus: an unusual but potentially treatable cause of sciatica and foot drop.

The herpes zoster virus is a rare but potential cause of acute motor weakness. This article describes 2 patients with drop foot secondary to an infection of varicella zoster who were incorrectly referred to an orthopedic clinic from their general practitioners. The first patient was a 74-year-old man who presented with weakness in the right foot and a vesicular rash.

Successful early mobilization of major cuff repair using a suture post.

Repair of massive rotator cuff tears in the elderly can be challenging because of degenerative, retracted, and contracted tendons producing an extensive defect. The quality of the tendon and particularly the bone of the proximal humerus is an inherent weakness in the repaired construct. We report a method that secures the rotator cuff to a fixation post placed in cortical bone at the surgical neck of the humerus, bypassing the weakest point.