High prevalence of bone disorders after gastrectomy

BACKGROUND

Studies indicate that gastrectomy might alter calcium and bone metabolism, resulting in bone disorders. No data are currently available on the prevalence of bone disorders after gastrectomy.

METHODS

Sixty gastrectomy patients were investigated for serum parameters of calcium and bone metabolism 5 to 20 years postoperatively and compared to an age- and sex-matched healthy control population. Forty patients agreed to a radiological investigation of the spine by anterior-posterior and lateral radiographs of the thoracic and lumbar spine and by computed tomography (CT) osteodensitometry.

RESULTS

Serum calcium and 25-(OH)-vitamin D were decreased in gastrectomized patients, while parathyroid hormone and 1,25-(OH)2-vitamin D were increased. Serum parameters of calcium metabolism were altered in as many as 68% of patients. We found 31 vertebral fractures in 13 patients, 30 grade 2 vertebral deformities in 18 patients, and osteopenia in 15 patients, corresponding to a prevalence of 33%, 45%, and 37% in gastrectomized patients, respectively. The overall rate of gastrectomy patients having vertebral fractures and/or osteopenia was 55%. The risk of having a vertebral deformity was increased by more than sixfold after gastrectomy. Our study is the first report evaluating vertebral deformities in gastrectomized patients, and the largest series of gastrectomized patients investigated by CT osteodensitometry.

CONCLUSION

We found a high prevalence of bone disorders in gastrectomized patients, possibly resulting from disorders in calcium metabolism. Postgastrectomy bone disease might derive from a calcium deficit, which increases calcium release from bone and impairs calcification of newly build bone matrix.

Management of tumors of the thoracolumbar spine

Current improvements in radiologic imaging and surgical instrumentation have greatly expanded the role of surgery in management of tumors of the thoracolumbar junction. For primary malignant tumors, the aim of surgery should be curative, with eradiction of all gross disease. For metastatic tumors, indications for surgery include cancer therapy, stabilization, neurologic palliation, tissue diagnosis, and pain relief. Because the thoracolumbar region is a transitional zone, surgical stabilization may require anterior-posterior approaches and instrumentation.

A 3-month-old baby with multiple fractures

This case is presented to illustrate the radiographic and clinical findings of a condition of interest to orthopedic surgeons. The initial findings are noted on this page. The clinical and radiographic diagnoses are presented on the following pages.

Spontaneous subcapital femoral neck fracture after healed trochanteric fracture

Two hundred thirty-three patients with an unstable trochanteric hip fracture were randomized prospectively for stabilization with a fixed angle blade plate or a compression hip screw. Twenty patients had the implant removed after the fracture was healed (average, 20.5 months; range, 12-42 months). In seven of these 20 patients, a spontaneous fracture of the femoral neck occurred at an average of 19 days after implant removal. Four of the seven patients had been treated with the fixed angle blade plate and three with the sliding screw plate. The histologic examination of three specimens was inconclusive. The authors have not observed subcapital fracture among patients whose implants were not removed. The mechanism behind this complication is unknown.

[Unreamed intramedullary nailing as minimal invasive palliative intervention in osteolysis and pathologic fractures of long tubular bones]

Pathological fractures and osteolyses with impending fractures of long bones impose a severe problem in patients with advanced cancer. For palliative treatment between June 1993 and October 1995 intramedullary nailing was performed in 19 patients with 13 femoral, 7 humeral and 1 tibial lesions; AO unreamed nails were used for this purpose (unreamed femur nail UFN with or with spiral blade for femoral lesions and unreamed tibia nail UTN for humeri and tibia). Stabilization was achieved without severe complications; full weight bearing of both femora and humeri (while using crutches) was allowed. Simultaneous and bilateral nailing was done. Follow-up until death due to advanced cancer demonstrated no implant failure and improved quality of life as well. Unreamed intramedullary nailing seems to be a minimally invasive procedure with a low complication rate for palliative treatment of (impending) pathological fractures in advanced cancer.

[Development of a CT data-based score for prediction of fracture risk in osteoporosis]

It should be examined how far BMD semiquantitative (profile analysis) and qualitative datas (architecture of spongy bone, age of patient) can be combined in one score in order to improve the assessment of fracture risk. SE-QCT was performed in 220 patients with a mean age of 55.8 (33-84) years from whom conventional X-ray images of the thoracic and lumbar spine were available. In the axial scans spongiosa architecture was classified and a density profile analysis was carried out. This was followed by gradation of BMD values, different types of spongiosa architecture, profile analysis and age of patient to a numerical score. This was compared to the number of fractures, whereby the patients were separated into three groups: group I = no fracture, group II = one fracture, group III = more than one fracture. The BMD values, types of spongiosa architecture, semiquantitative profile analysis can be significantly assigned to the groups I and II (p < 0.02), groups I and III (p < 0.001), and the groups II and III (p < 0.05). By combining BMD values, architecture of spongy bone, density profile analysis, and age of patients without fracture, scale 8-12 = patients with or without fracture, scale 13-16 = patients with at least one fracture [corrected].

The intravertebral vacuum phenomenon ("vertebral osteonecrosis"). Migration of intradiscal gas in a fractured vertebral body?

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective cohort.

OBJECTIVES

To compare the prevalence of the association between contiguous intervertebral disc and vertebral collapses with or without an intravertebral vacuum phenomenon.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA

The mechanism of occasional gas accumulation within some vertebral collapses is poorly known. The current hypothesis is that this phenomenon is indicative of bone ischemia. In fact, avascular necrosis as the main pathologic event remains speculative, and should not explain per se the presence of gas within a vertebral body.

METHODS

Comparison of the prevalence of intervertebral disc vacuum phenomenon adjacent to the affected vertebral body in 23 cases of intravertebral vacuum phenomenon in 19 patients (intravertebral vacuum phenomenon group) and in 708 osteoporotic collapses without intravertebral vacuum phenomenon in 199 patients (control group).

RESULTS

There were no differences in sex and age between the two groups, and all the patients in the intravertebral vacuum phenomenon group had signs of underlying osteoporosis. A vacuum phenomenon in at least one intervertebral disc adjacent to the collapses on radiographs, conventional tomography, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging was found in 19 cases (83%) in the intravertebral vacuum phenomenon group, compared with 13% in the control group (P < 0.0001). Considering plain radiographs only, this association was found in 50% of the intravertebral vacuum phenomenon group and in 9.7% of the control group (P < 0.0001). The intervertebral and intravertebral gaseous collections were connected through a fractured endplate in six cases.

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of the association of contiguous intervertebral and intravertebral vacuum phenomenon could have implications in the pathogenesis of the intravertebral vacuum phenomenon. We hypothesize that the intravertebral vacuum phenomenon could simply be the result of migration of an intradiscal-gaseous collection through the fractured endplate of some osteoporotic collapses.

Displaced subcapital fracture of the hip in transient osteoporosis of pregnancy. A case report

We describe a case of displaced subcapital fracture of the hip in a woman in the third trimester of her first pregnancy. A pathological fracture occurred in a previously painful hip, and radiographs showed pronounced osteopenia of the femoral head and neck. Closed reduction and internal fixation was carried out 2 weeks after delivery when the osteopenia was still severe. Healing of the fracture followed with recovery of hip movements.

[Percutaneous vertebral surgery. Technics and indications]

Percutaneous vertebroplasty is a technique of interventional radiology, which allows to fulfill pathologic vertebral body with acrylic cement. This method is used to strengthen the vertebral body and reduce pain in some diseases involving the vertebra. Main indications are spine angiomas, metastases and osteoporosis. The vertebroplasty is realised under neuroleptanalgesia for cervical spine antero lateral way is used. For thoracic or lumbar vertebra, the way of approach is usually transpedicular; but in some cases, this approach is not possible: osteolysis of the pedicle, surgical osteosynthesis; in such cases, a postero lateral approach is realized. Technical incidents are not rare, but are usually asymptomatic. More frequent are venous filling with cement; the veins involved can be intra spinal (vertebral plexus) or paraspinal. Instead of this frequency pulmonary embolism in direct relation with the vertebroplasty where not reported. Extravasation in intervertebral disk or soft tissue can also be observed. This last incident can be in relation with the way of the needle or with a cortical rupture. Local complications are rare: rate of neurological deficit or infection is under 0.5%. Radicular pain is observed in 3.7% of cases. These complications are in close relation with the radiological involvement of the vertebra: cortical disruption, heterogeneous Lysis of the vertebral body. The frequency of complications is 1.3% in osteoporosis, 2.5% in spine angiomas and 10% in metastatic disease. Indications concern lesion involving the vertebral body: symptomatic spine angiomas; painful osteoporotic fractures after medical treatment or in patients with a high risk of decubitus complications; in metastatic disease, vertebroplasty is a way to consolidate the vertebral body and release pain. It can be usefull in recurrent pain after chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, and also in unstable vertebra to obtain a stabilization before radiotherapic or chemotherapic treatment isolated or in combination with surgical osteosynthesis.

[Fractures after total knee joint endoprosthesis. Results of treatment with various stabilizing methods]

In 20 patients with a fracture of femur or tibia 5.2 years after arthroplasty of knee the results of the operative treatment are presented. The results show that especially bone damaging diseases as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and the loosening of the endoprosthesis are favorable for the fracture during the follow-up. The conclusion of the investigation shows that in younger patients the external fixation by plates and screws is the preferential treatment, in elderly people or comminuted fracture an internal fixation, also in combination with an additional osteosynthesis, allows a fast mobilization. The number of observed complications is higher than in primary knee arthroplasty, the full weight bearing 1st delayed. The rate of further operations and unsatisfactory results is also higher being affected by the high mean age of the operated patients (73.4 years). The possible use of a total femur implant must be discussed critically because only an individual production can avoid further damage of the parts of the joint that were not concerned by the fracture.

Discriminability of fracture and nonfracture cases based on the spatial distribution of spinal bone mineral

PURPOSE

The purpose of our study is to demonstrate that spinal mineral distribution measured with CT can distinguish normal from osteoporotic individuals.

METHOD

CT studies of lumbar vertebrae (L1-L3) from 121 clinically normal women without fractures and 57 women with one or more atraumatic fractures somewhere in the skeleton were evaluated with discriminant analysis based on indices of the spatial distribution and noise properties of spinal bone mineral density (BMD).

RESULTS

The use of discriminant analysis for all of the normal and osteoporotic women (L1-L3) resulted in a classification accuracy of 87.1% for fracture cases and 83.2% for nonfracture cases. In contrast, using the conventional method in the same patient population, 62.5% of BMD values of osteoporotics overlapped with those of normals whose BMD was below the 90th centile of osteoporotics.

CONCLUSIONS

CT-based measures of the spinal mineral distribution can increase the accuracy of discriminating fracture and nonfracture cases almost to 90% accuracy, even in a region below the fracture threshold. This shows that in this region the risk of fracture is not completely random but has a stochastic component as well.

Hip fracture presenting as isolated knee pain

Hip fracture is commonly seen in the emergency department. Clinical presentation generally includes a history of trauma or fall, a complaint of pain in or around the hip, and physical findings of limb shortening or external rotation. A case of spontaneous hip fracture in an elderly woman presenting as pain isolated to the anterior knee alone is reviewed. Recognition of this atypical presentation will aid prompt diagnosis of this common clinical entity.

[Clinico-radiologic considerations on "stress fractures" of the leg]

Stress fractures are ubiquitary and most often caused by the subject's activities. In the past they occurred mostly in recruits, but today they are frequent in sportsmen. Stress fractures most frequently occur in the lower limbs, especially in the distal leg. We reviewed 32 injuries observed January, 1993, to June, 1995, and found that 25% of them had been misdiagnosed as stress fractures: in the cases where the diagnosis was correct, fatigue fractures (32%) were less frequent than insufficiency fractures (68%) and occurred in young subjects (mean age: 24 years), usually sportsmen (2/3 of cases). Insufficiency fractures may occur in people aged 8 to 81 years (mean: 61 years) and in subjects with metabolic disorders (45.5%). Considering the injury biomechanics and the patient history and symptoms, these lesions appear a rather uncommon event, whose radiologic diagnosis must be confirmed by clinical findings, since radiology mostly (81.6% of cases) showed only the repair process, rather than the fracture itself. The radiologic patterns were classified into three groups: the fracture margin was not shown in 70% of cases (group I), where however intraperiosteal reaction and/or soft tissue effusion were found; bone fracture was shown in 3 cases (group II) and fracture sequels in 4 (group III), where bone thickening (3 cases) or abnormal consolidation (1 case) was found. There are several synonyms of "stress fracture" and confusion is increased because stress lines and other not necessarily abnormal signs such as Park or Harris lines, reinforcement or calcification lines, are often grouped together with stress fractures. Only accurate clinical examination and laboratory findings permit to distinguish fatigue from insufficiency stress fractures and the latter are also very difficult to differentiate from pathologic fractures. The differentiation of fatigue from insufficiency fractures, originally made by English speaking authors, may be confusing because the definition "pathologic fractures" should be reserved only to focal injuries while in the past it included also insufficiency fractures. Thus, only (bone) fatigue injuries in patients exercising intensely and constantly should be considered stress fractures. Conventional radiography is an indispensable tool and MRI is used in selected cases where the former method is negative and in the patients needing early mobility to go back to work. If radiographic findings are questionable for metastases, nuclear medicine is the method of choice and CT and/or MRI may be indicated as second-line diagnostic imaging tools.

Fractures in very low birth weight infants with rickets

A syndrome in very low birth weight premature infants weighing less than 1500 g is evidenced by developmental nutritional rickets and fractures at 75 days of age. In a review conducted over 42 months, 247 very low birth weight cases were identified. Rickets was diagnosed in 96 (39%) infants whose mean age was 50 days and fractures were diagnosed in 26 (10.5%) infants whose mean age was 75 days. These 26 infants experienced 98 fractures: 10 humerus, 13 radius, 8 ulna, 4 metacarpal, 3 clavicle, 54 ribs, 5 femur, and 1 fibula. Risk factors included hepatobiliary disease, total parenteral nutrition, diuretic therapy, physical therapy with passive motion, and chest percussion therapy. With early recognition, metabolic therapy and splinting, not casting, are appropriate treatments.

Pathologic fracture on bone cyst of the femoral neck treated by external fixator. Description of one case

In 1993 a patient aged 16 years affected with pathologic fracture on bone cyst of the proximal femur came to our observation. The fracture and the cyst healed in 10 months after treatment using an external fixator and autoplastic bone grafts.

Oncogenic osteomalacia caused by a phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor of the oral cavity: a case report

We report a case of oncogenic osteomalacia associated with a phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor in a 31-year-old woman. She was presented with severe generalized bone and muscle pain and was restricted to bed. She lost 20 cm in height over the 8 years since she had first noticed a pain in her thigh. A walnut-sized, hard, soft tissue tumor was found very easily beside her lower molar teeth Radiologic examination revealed a remarkable decrease in bone density and multiple pathologic fractures of spine, femur and phalangeal bones. Severe hypophosphatemia, hyperphosphaturia, low plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 level and high plasma PTH level were disclosed at presentation. Histomorphometric examination revealed an extensive area of unmineralized osteoid and little mineralizing activity. A pharmacologic dose of 1 alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3 or or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 slightly increased the serum phosphate level and renal tubular reabsorption of phosphate, and slightly decreased plasma PTH level without any symptomatic improvement. Histologic examination of the tumor revealed a mixed connective tissue tumor that consisted of central woven bones and surrounding primitive spindle cells with prominent vascularities. After removal of the tumor, all biochemical, hormonal and radiologic abnormalities disappeared with remarkable symptomatic improvement.

Prediction of pathological subtrochanteric fractures due to metastatic lesions

We report a radiographic review of 54 consecutive patients with 24 impending and 30 actual pathological fractures due to metastatic bone lesions in the subtrochanteric femoral region. In an attempt to develop criteria for metastatic lesions at risk of fracturing, the following variables based on anteroposterior and lateral X-rays were considered: appearance of the lesion, width of the lesion, ratio between width of the lesion and bone width, length of the lesion, length of cortex involvement, proportion of transverse cortical bone destroyed and local pain. Nearly all (99%) of the lesions were radiographically classified as lytic. In 27 cases (50%) they were radiographically unmeasurable. Maximal longitudinal cortical destruction showed a difference between patients with an actual or impending fracture. Prophylactic internal fixation of pathological subtrochanteric fractures due to metastatic lesions has to be considered in cases of increasing pain. If the conventional X-ray can not be evaluated, a computed tomography (CT) scan has to be considered.