A prospective study to assess the outcome of steroid injections and wrist splinting for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Surgery is the definitive treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. Conservative treatments, such as wrist splinting and steroid injections, are also effective for the relief of carpal tunnel symptoms, but their use remains controversial because they only offer long-term relief in a minority of patients. A prospective study was performed to assess the role of steroid injections combined with wrist splinting for the management of carpal tunnel syndrome.

The fibula free flap: advantages of the muscle sparing technique.

The amount of muscle that should be retained on the free fibula during harvest is unresolved. Muscle is used to protect the periosteum, but by harvesting a large muscle cuff, the recipient and donor site morbidity increases. A retrospective review of 47 free fibula flaps performed between January 1997 and March 2002 was undertaken.

The effectiveness of muscle flaps for the treatment of prosthetic graft sepsis.

The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy and reliability of muscle flaps in the treatment of prosthetic graft sepsis. A retrospective analysis was performed to assess the outcome of all patients with prosthetic graft sepsis who were treated with a muscle flap at Groote Schuur Hospital between January of 1991 and July of 2000. The specific end points studied were flap survival, limb salvage rate, and mortality.