Autologous chondrocyte transplantation in the treatment of thumb CMC joint osteoarthritis.

Degenerative thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) joint osteoarthritis is a common disease in women starting at 40-50 years of age. Nevertheless, synovitis and initial cartilage damage start earlier, and then degenerative arthritis develops leading to joint narrowing with progressive exposure of subchondral bone, subluxation, osteophyte formation and joint deformity that can impact the surrounding joints. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of patients treated with autologous chondrocyte transplantation at the thumb CMC joint at early stages.

Penn classification in acute aortic dissection patients.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Penn classification in predicting in-hospital mortality after surgery in acute type A aortic dissection patients.

Methods: We evaluated 58 patients (42 men and 16 women; mean age 62.17 ± 10.

Smoking, diabetes, blood hypertension: possible etiologic role for Peyronie's disease? Analysis in 279 patients with a control group in Sicily.

Objective: To assess the proportion of patients with Peyronie's Disease (PD) and the possible association with its potential risk factors in the general population of the central and western Sicily in our weekly andrological outpatient clinic.

Materials And Methods: We recruited a sample of 279 consecutive patients consulting our andrological outpatient clinic. Two arms were created: the first one composed by PD patients (men with symptoms suggestive for PD), the second one composed by patients with other andrological diseases (control arm).

Italian Society for Rheumatology recommendations for the management of hand osteoarthritis.

Hand osteoarthritis (OA) is a common and potentially disabling disease, with different features from hip and knee OA so that a specific therapeutic approach is required. Evidence based recommendations for the management of hand OA were developed by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) in 2006. The Italian Society for Rheumatology (SIR) aimed to update, adapt to national contest and disseminate the EULAR recommendations for the management of hand OA.

5-year results of cisplatin-epirubicin-vinorelbine (PEV) combination as primary chemotherapy in T2-3, N0-2 breast cancer patients: a multicentre phase II study.

Unlabelled: The aim this study was to assess the efficacy of cisplatin-epirubicin-vinorelbine, as primary chemotherapy, in reducing the tumour burden in T2-3 N0-2 breast carcinomas. Breast conservative surgery (BCS) rate, clinical and pathological complete response (pCR), toxicity and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated.

Patients And Methods: Eighty-eight women with tumours > or =2.

PCR testing for HCV in anti-HCV negative blood donors involved in the so called HCV +ve post-transfusion hepatitis.

Unlabelled: Although it is infrequent, post-transfusion HCV infection may occur if the donors blood is collected in the window period between exposure and anti-HCV detectability by ELISA testing.

Study Design: In these last years, despite of routine application of anti-HCV testing, our blood transfusion center has been involved in 53 cases of alleged post-transfusion HCV hepatitis and look-back programs were set up with the goal of finding out the donors possibly involved in viral transmission. Most of these patients were hematological cases with multiple transfusions given because of aplastic anemia (3 cases), leukemia with or without bone marrow transplantation (5/4 cases) but necessitating long-term platelet support, leukemia and solid cancer patients undergoing autologous PBSC transplantation (3/4 cases) and TTP (2 cases).

Automatic volumetric capillary cytometry in the routine of an apheresis unit involved in multicomponent collection.

In apheresis, leukodepletion by secondary filtration of the platelet components or by the primary use of special high efficiency apparatuses is widely used to meet current clinical practice. Leukodepletion of RBC is mandatory for hematooncological patients and new filters for plasma are progressively being introduced in the routine of European blood banks. However, since the monitoring of leukodepletion efficiency continues to be carried out manually using the Nageotte or the microdroplet fluorescence assay (MFA), inaccuracy and labour-intensity of counting will limit the possibility of satisfying the increasing demand for leukodepletion monitoring.

[Automatic opto-electronic control of patient position in radiotherapy for breast carcinoma].

Introduction: We report on the technical and clinical validation of a system for real-time analytical control of patient position at simulation and treatment units in radiotherapy.

Material And Methods: The positioning control system uses a technology for motion analysis consisting of an optical component (a pair of TV cameras) and of a unit for real-time image processing. The system can provide real-time (up to 100 times a second) three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of a set of passive markers (small plastic hemispheres, 5 mm O) previously positioned on the patient and located within the field of view of the system's TV cameras.

[Relation between L5 sacralization and hernia of the lumbar disk].

The AA. present a study on the relationship between the most common congenital malformation of the lumbosacral passage: the sacralization of L5 and lumbar disc hernia. The examination of 200 cases of lumbar disc hernia shows a sacralization incidence of 11.

[Use of the external fixator in the treatment of recent fractures of the leg].

The authors show 30 cases of recent tibial fractures treated by external fixation. They study the different types of fractures, the models of external fixation employed, the complications occurring during the treatment and the ultimate results obtained.

[Review of 41 cases of surgically treated acromioclavicular dislocations].

The authors have examined the follow-up of 41 cases of acromio- clavicular dislocation, treated by internal fixation. Statistics show a very good end result.

[Osseous hydatidosis: presentation of a rare localization and review of the bibliography].

The AA. present a rare case of osseus hydatidosis relapsed 27 years after the surgical treatment, located in the tibia and fibula, where the near soft tissue as well as the S.P.

[Frieberg-Kohler disease. Long-term review of the surgical treatment in 20 cases].

The authors show the reviewing of twenty patients suffering from Frieberg-Kohler's disease, surgically treated from 1975 up to 1980. The surgical intervention had been suggested by the important painful symptomatology, resisting to the conservative therapy. At checking, the patients were all satisfied with the results of operation, and could start again with their usual job.

[Evaluation of the aftermath of trimalleolar fractures of the tibio-tarsal joint].

The authors have examined the follow-up of 57 cases of trimalleolar fractures treated by internal fixation. Statistics show a good end result. The Authors, moreover, report the frequent presence of synostosis tibio-fibulare distale.

[Osteochondritis dissecans of the elbow (presentation of 2 rare cases)].

The authors show two cases of dissecting osteochondritis of elbow, confirming the frequent absence of a clinical symptomatology in the initial stages of such disease and the benignancy of its course. From a careful study of the casuistries present in literature, what emerges is the rareness of this location, together with a prudent therapeutical trend with periodic clinical and radiographical checkings, reserving the surgical solution to the cases of articular free body with episodes of block.

[Considerations on the surgical treatment of hallux valgus].

The authors, after showing a critical analysis of the most interesting operations for correction of valgus big toe in the history of orthopaedics, show the technique they followed, as well as the results obtained, in a specimen chosen among the patients treated with such method.

[Anatomo-pathologic and therapeutic considerations on the Papineau method].

The authors study the treatment of bone infections through Papineau's technique, and emphasize the element they consider essential in the process restoring the loss of substance: the "bouton" according to the French School. On the basis of the experience deriving from the treatment of 22 patients, they subsequently point out the importance of local antibiotic therapy and, on the contrary, the inefficacy of the administration of antibiotics by general way, at least as far as the not strictly surgical period is concerned.

[Incidence of painful pronation in pediatric traumatology].

After examining the traumatic mechanism responsible for the lesion and considering the possible pathogenetic interpretations, the Authors pass to a description of the clinical picture and the simple but effective reduction manoeuvre. The attached cases tend to emphasize the by no means negligible frequency of painful pronation among childhood traumatisms, a condition often misunderstood and a source of wrong diagnostic interpretations.

[Carpal tunnel syndrome: the causes of recurrence].

The authors discuss the possible causes of recurrency in patients with the carpal canal syndrome treated surgically by splitting of the transverse carpal ligament. With reference to possible technical errors in the surgical procedure, they explain the correct way to obviate not only the extrinsic compression of the nerve but also the intrinsic pressure exerted upon the axons.