Treatment of Hyperlipemia by Acupoint Catgut-embedding in 34 Cases

With the therapeutic method of acupoint catgut embedding, the authors have in recent years treated hyperlipemia and achieved satisfactory therapeutic results. A report follows.

Auricular Needle-Embedding Therapy for Treatment of Stubborn Hiccup

Stubborn hiccup refers to the involuntary spasm of the diaphragm, which cannot be relieved by medication of both Chinese and western drugs. Since 1993, the authors of this article have adopted auricular needle-embedding therapy for treatment of this disease, and obtained quite satisfactory therapeutic results. A report follows.

Clinical Observation in 46 Cases of Angina Pectoris Treated by the Catgut-embedding Therapy

With the catgut-embedding therapy, the author treated 46 cases of angina pectoris from October 1997 to February 2002, and achieved good therapeutic results. This is reported as follows.

Pathogenic analysis in different types of orthopedic implant infections

Background Diversity of orthopedic infections with various local environments affects the pattern and prevalence of pathogens.It is not well-characterized whether different pathogens have different propensity to cause different types of orthopedic infections.We aimed to investigate the frequency of different pathogens derived from orthopedic infections,and determine the relationship between the prevalence of clinical isolates and the type of orthopedic implants,especially focusing on staphylococci.Methods From January 2006 to December 2011,orthopedic infections were identified retrospectively from clinical microbiology laboratory and orthopedic medical records.The sources of orthopedic infections were divided into two main groups：those associated with implants and those not associated with implants.Implants-associated infections were further subdivided into five subgroups：arthroplasty,internal fixation,external fixation,internal and external fixation,and others.We analyzed microbiological spectrum in different groups and subgroups.Antibiotic susceptibility of staphylococci was analyzed.Results Only coagulase-negative staphylococci （CoNS） was significantly more likely to be associated with implantsassociated infections （P=0.029）.The overall pathogens prevalence of arthroplasty was significantly different from other subgroups （P 〈0.05）.65% isolates from external fixation was Gram-negative bacteria.Some percentage （55%） of S.aureus and （83%） CoNS were resistant to methicillin.No resistance to glycopeptide was seen in all of staphylococci.Conclusions Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequent isolates in orthopedic infections but was not associated with the presence or absence of implants.Only CoNS was implants-associated,especially for arthroplasty infection.Cefazolin alone is not enough for orthopedic surgery prophylaxis in settings with a high prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococci.

Reconstruction of chronic acromioclavicular joint disruption with artificial ligament prosthesis

Objective： Management of Rockwood type 3 acromioclavicular disruptions is a matter of debate. Should we adopt conservative or operative measures at first presentation？ It is not clear but most of the evidences are in favour of conservative management. We present our expe- rience in managing these patients surgically. Methods： We present a prospective series of eight cases of chronic Rockwood type 3 acromioclavicular joint disruptions treated surgically. Anatomical reconstruction of the coracoclavicular ligament was done by artificial braided polyester ligament prosthesis： Results： All the patients were able to perform daily activities from an average of the 14th postoperative day. All patients felt an improvement in pain, with decrease in ave- rage visual analogue scale from preoperative 6.5 points （range 3-9 points） to 2.0 points （range 0-5 points）, Constant score from 59% to 91% and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons shoulder score from 65 to 93 points postoperatively. These results improved or at least remained stationary on midterm follow-up, and no deterioration was recorded at an average follow-up of 46 months. Conclusion： This midterm outcome analysis of the artificial ligament prosthesis is the first such follow-up study with prosthesis. Our results are encouraging and justify the further use and evaluation of this relatively new and easily reproducible technique.

Resident involvement in the prostatic urethral lift:implementing innovative technology in an academic setting

Adoption of the prostatic urethral lift(PUL)as a treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia highlights the importance of training residents with novel technology without compromising patient care.This study examines the effect of resident involvement during PUL on patient and procedural outcomes.Retrospective chart review was conducted on all consecutive PUL cases performed by a single academic urologist between October 2017 and November 2019.Trainees in post-graduate year(PGY)1–3 are considered junior residents,while those in PGY 4–6 are senior residents.The International Prostate Symptom Score(IPSS)and quality of life(QOL)scores were used to measure outcomes.Simple and mixed-effects linear regression models were used to compare differences.There were 110 patients with a median age of 66.4 years.Residents were involved in 73 cases(66.4%),and senior residents were involved in 31 of those cases.Resident involvement was not associated with adverse perioperative outcomes with respect to the number of implants fired,the percentage of implants successfully placed,or the postoperative catheterization rate.After adjustment for confounding factors,junior residents were associated with significantly longer case length compared to the attending alone(+12.6 min,P=0.003)but senior residents were not(+2.4 min,P=0.59).IPSS and QOL scores were not significantly affected by resident involvement(P=0.12 and P=0.21,respectively).The presence of surgeons-in-training,particularly those in the early stages,prolongs PUL case length but does not appear to have an adverse impact on patient outcomes.

Short-term survival analysis of the all-polyethylene tibial component in total knee arthroplasty

Objective: To report the clinical and radiological results of 24 total knee arthroplasty in which all-polyethylene tibial components were used. Methods: Between December 2000 and December 2002, 24 cemented total knee arthroplasty in 21 patients were performed using all-polyethylene tibial components. The mean age of the 21 patients (9 men and 12 women) at operation was 55 years, ranging 48-61 years. The mean preoperative hospital for special surgery (HSS)score was 40.2 (range, 36-43). The diagnoses were degenerative osteoarthritis in 15 patients, rheumatoid arthritis in 5 and traumatic arthritis in 1. All the operations were performed by the same surgeon group and there were unilateral operations in 18 patients and bilateral operations in 3. Results: Eighteen patients were followed up with a follow-up rate of 85.7%. The mean follow-up is 2.5 years (range, 1-3 years) and mean postoperative HSS scores was 87.5 (range, 83-89). Among them, 18 were excellent, 3 good, 3 poor and none was fair (the results of three lost patients were classified as poor). Of those reviewed, the prosthesis was all in situ and no revision occurred. Radiological assessment of these patients revealed 4 ( 16.67%) tibial components with radiolucent lines (mean width≤2 mm) distributed mainly in zone 1 and zone 4. None of these knees was symptomatic. Conclusions: The result of total knee arthroplasty using all-polyethylene tibial components is encouraging. The operative techniques are similar to those in arthroplasty using metal-backed tibial component.