A novel technique of lumbar hernia repair using bone anchor fixation

Lumbar hernias are difficult to repair due to their proximity to bone and inadequate surrounding tissue to buttress the repair. We analyzed the outcome of patients undergoing a novel retromuscular lumbar hernia repair technique. The repair was performed in ten patients using a polypropylene or polytetrafluoroethylene mesh placed in an extraperitoneal, retromuscular position with at least 5 cm overlap of the hernia defect. The mesh was fixed with circumferential, transfascial, permanent sutures and inferiorly fixed to the iliac crest by suture bone anchors. Five hernias were recurrent, and five were incarcerated; seven were incisional hernias, and three were posttraumatic. Back and abdominal pain was the most common presenting symptom. Mean hernia size was 227 cm(2) (60-504) with a mesh size of 620 cm(2) (224-936). Mean operative time was 181 min (120-269), with a mean blood loss of 128 ml (50-200). Mean length of stay was 5.2 days (2-10), and morphine equivalent requirement was 200 mg (47-460). There were no postoperative complications or deaths. After a mean follow-up of 40 months (3-99) there have been no recurrences. Our sublay repair of lumbar hernias with permanent suture fixation is safe and to date has resulted in no recurrences. Suture bone anchors ensure secure fixation of the mesh to the iliac crest and may eliminate a common area of recurrence.

Soft tissue aspiration cytopathology of malignant lymphoma and leukemia

BACKGROUND

Malignant lymphoma (ML) and leukemia infrequently involve soft tissue and, to the authors' knowledge few reports exist regarding the role of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in their diagnosis. In the current study, the authors report their experience with FNAB in patients with soft tissue ML and leukemia.

METHODS

All cases of ML, leukemia, or atypical lymphoid cells from soft tissue aspirates were reviewed. Masses from lymph node-rich sites, those adjacent to enlarged lymph nodes, or those associated with cutaneous lesions were excluded.

RESULTS

Twenty-one patients (male:female ratio of 1:1) who ranged in age from 10 months to 87 years (mean age, 51 years) were studied. Seven patients had superficial masses and 14 patients had deep soft tissue masses. Sites included the extremities (10 patients), trunk (8 patients), and head (3 patients). Cytologic diagnoses were ML (large cell [11 patients] and Hodgkin [1 patient]), acute leukemia (lymphoblastic [3 patients] and myelogenous [2 patients]), and atypical lymphoid cells (4 patients). Eight aspirates represented the initial diagnosis of ML, three were recurrent ML, four were recurrent leukemia, one was initial leukemia, and one ML aspirate was obtained concurrently with core needle biopsy. Four aspirates were diagnosed as atypical lymphoid cells. Three subsequently were diagnosed as ML and one aspirate was diagnosed as acute leukemia. All ML were of large B-cell type. One case of atypical lymphoid cells was found to be a mantle cell lymphoma. The leukemia cases were T-cell (two cases), pre-B-cell (two cases), and myelogenous (two cases). Immunophenotyping confirmed the cytology by flow cytometry (five cases), cytospin (three cases), and cell block (four cases). Immunophenotyping of eight cases was performed on tissue samples. In one case a cytopathologic diagnosis of ML reversed a prior tissue core biopsy diagnosis of liposarcoma. The specificity and sensitivity rates for a definitive diagnosis of ML or leukemia were 100% and 82%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In the majority of cases, it is possible to determine a specific diagnosis and subtype of soft tissue ML or leukemia using FNAB. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol)

Soft tissue aspiration cytopathology

BACKGROUND

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy as a diagnostic modality for the pathologic evaluation of soft tissue neoplasms and non-neoplastic soft tissue mass lesions is uncommon and controversial. This procedure contrasts with more traditional diagnostic methods such as marginal excision, incisional (open) biopsy, or even core biopsy to procure tissue from somatic sites.

METHODS

The authors reviewed the results of cytopathologic diagnoses obtained by fine-needle aspiration biopsy over a consecutive 11-month period in patients that presented primarily with a palpable soft tissue mass. A few patients with deep non-palpable soft tissue masses also were evaluated by radiologically guided FNA. Cytopathologic diagnoses were verified by different means including tissue examination either by concurrent cell block or subsequent surgical biopsy, flow cytometry, clinical outcome, or repetition of the FNA procedure. Patients were followed for a minimum of one year to evaluate the mass clinically, to determine whether any further therapy was administered, and to assess disease status.

RESULTS

Eighty-two aspirates were performed without complications from 77 patients ranging from 12-88 years of age (mean = 50 yrs.) with men outnumbering women 1.5:1. Soft tissue masses were most common in the extremities (41 cases), followed by the trunk (34 cases), retroperitoneum (5 cases), and head and neck (2 cases). Fine-needle aspirates were diagnosed as malignant in 42 (51%), benign in 32 (39%), nondiagnostic in 6 (7%), and atypical in 2 (2%) cases. Malignant aspirates were comprised of 24 sarcomas (57%), 9 carcinomas (21%), 6 malignant lymphomas (14%), and 3 melanomas (7%). Twenty-two aspirates (52%) had an initial diagnosis of malignancy, whereas 18 (43%) represented metastatic and 2 (5%) recurrent neoplasms. Confirmation of the cytopathologic diagnosis was by concurrent or subsequent tissue examination in 57%, flow cytometry in 5%, clinical outcome in 34%, and repeat aspiration in 4%. One false negative and no false positive diagnoses were issued for a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 97% respectively in distinguishing benign and malignant lesions by FNA. Of the malignant aspirates, 83% could be subtyped whereas 72% of benign aspirates were correctly subtyped. For primary soft tissue sarcomas, 12 of 19 (63%) were accurately subtyped. In 48% of cases a concurrent cell block was obtained and found diagnostically useful in 54% of them.

CONCLUSIONS

Aspiration cytopathology of soft tissue mass lesions using FNA biopsy can be an accurate and minimally invasive method for the initial pathologic diagnosis of primary benign and malignant soft tissue masses, for the pathologic confirmation of metastatic tumors to soft tissue, and for the documentation of locally recurrent soft tissue neoplasms. FNA cytopathology is capable of specifically subtyping a large percentage of primary and metastatic soft tissue tumors if cellular material either in the form of a cell block or flow cytometry is obtained in addition to cell smears.

Aspiration cytopathology of epithelioid angiosarcoma

BACKGROUND

Epithelioid angiosarcoma (EA) is an uncommon neoplasm readily mistaken for carcinoma. In contrast to the histopathology of this tumor, the cytopathology as obtained using fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy has rarely been described.

METHODS

Three patients with histologically and immunohistochemically proven EA each underwent FNA using standard technique before surgical resection.

RESULTS

Aspirate smears were obtained from 3 males (ages 47, 63, and 15 years) each of whom presented with a solitary palpable soft tissue mass, 1 from the left calf and 2 from the right popliteal region. No patient had a history of malignancy or had been exposed to prior radiation therapy. Smears were relatively hypocellular due to the dilutional effects of abundant blood. Cells were scattered on slides primarily in a single cell dissociated pattern; small aggregates were present in a fraction of the slides. Malignant cells generally monotonous in size and averaging three to four times the dimension of a mature lymphocyte had a rounded so-called epithelioid configuration. Cells possessed primarily rounded, single nuclei often eccentrically placed, with some anisokaryosis, and smooth nuclear borders. Binucleated cells with mirror-image nuclei were much less frequent, and cells with three or four nuclei were even more scarce. Cells contained large single nucleoli or more often multiple misshapen smaller nucleoli. Cytoplasm was abundant and finely granular in virtually all cells. In some, the cytoplasm acquired a central spheric density thus producing a "rhabdoid" appearance that was only seen with air-dried Diff-Quik (Fisher Scientific, Biochemical Sciences, Inc., Swedesboro, NJ) stained smears. Mitoses were readily found. Immunostaining of the cell block in one case permitted a specific diagnosis of EA before subsequent surgical excision.

CONCLUSIONS

Epithelioid angiosarcoma may display a rhabdoid morphology in FNA biopsy smears, and this cytopathology can closely mimic that of nonsmall carcinoma, malignant melanoma, and other epithelioid types of soft tissue tumors. Immunophenotyping is essential for definitive diagnosis. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol)

Function after amputation, arthrodesis, or arthroplasty for tumors about the shoulder

A patient with a malignant tumor of the proximal end of the humerus or glenoid may be treated with limb-sparing resection or with amputation. Although the oncologic and functional characteristics of shoulder amputations have been documented, little has been written comparing reconstructive options following limb salvage and amputation about the shoulder. This article reviews oncologic and functional outcome of patients who have had a malignant skeletal tumor adjacent to the shoulder and who have been treated with amputation or limb salvage combined with arthrodesis or an allograft/prosthetic reconstruction.

Limb salvage compared with amputation for osteosarcoma of the distal end of the femur. A long-term oncological, functional, and quality-of-life study

The outcome of treatment of nonmetastatic high-grade osteosarcoma in the distal part of the femur was studied in 227 patients from twenty-six institutions. Eight of the seventy-three patients who had had a limb-salvage procedure and nine of the 115 patients who had had an above-the-knee amputation had a local recurrence, but there was no local recurrence in the thirty-nine patients who had had a disarticulation at the hip. There were no significant differences in the rate of survival or in the duration of the postoperative disease-free period between the three groups. One hundred and nine patients (48 per cent) were alive at an average of eleven years after the operation, and ninety patients (40 per cent) remained continuously disease-free. An additional operation on the limb was necessary more often for patients who had had a limb-salvage procedure than for those who had had an amputation. Function in seventy-eight living patients was assessed with the system of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society for evaluation of function and by the functional assessment portion of the 1989 scoring system of the Knee Society; the scores were higher for the patients who had had a limb-salvage procedure than for the two groups of patients who had had an amputation. No difference was identified between the groups with regard to the patient's acceptance of the postoperative state, the ability to walk, or the amount of pain. The quality of life was evaluated for twenty-nine patients with a series of complex questionnaires.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Skeletal metastases of unknown origin. A prospective study of a diagnostic strategy

We carried out a prospective study of the effectiveness of a diagnostic strategy in forty consecutively seen patients who had skeletal metastases of unknown origin. The diagnostic strategy consisted of the recording of a medical history; physical examination; routine laboratory analysis; plain radiography of the involved bone and the chest; whole-body technetium-99m-phosphonate bone scintigraphy; and computed tomography of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. After this evaluation, a biopsy of the most accessible osseous lesion was done. The laboratory values were non-specific in all patients. The history and physical examination revealed the occult primary site of the malignant tumor in three patients (8 per cent): one patient who had carcinoma of the breast; one, of the kidney; and one, of the bladder. Plain radiographs of the chest established the diagnosis of carcinoma of the lung in seventeen patients (43 per cent). Computed tomography of the chest identified an additional six primary carcinomas of the lung (15 per cent). Computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis established the diagnosis in five patients (13 per cent): three patients who had carcinoma of the kidney; one, carcinoma of the liver; and one, carcinoma of the colon. Examination of the biopsy tissue established the diagnosis in only three additional patients (8 per cent) and confirmed it in eleven others. On the basis of the biopsy alone, we were unable to identify the primary site of the malignant tumor in twenty-six (65 per cent) of the patients. In thirty-four (85 per cent) of the forty patients, the primary site was identified with the use of the diagnostic strategy described here, and only two additional occult malignant tumors were found on follow-up studies. Our diagnostic strategy was simple and highly successful for the identification of the site of an occult malignant tumor before biopsy in patients who had skeletal metastases of unknown origin.

Medical management compared with operative treatment for osteoid-osteoma

Twenty-four patients were evaluated and diagnosed, between August 1975 and July 1989, as having probable osteoid-osteoma. Fifteen patients had operative treatment (twelve immediate and three delayed); all fifteen had complete relief of pain. The remaining nine patients were treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications; all nine had complete relief of pain, and six had resolution of the symptoms without using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, after an average of thirty-three months (range, thirty to forty months) of treatment. Thus, long-term administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can often be as effective as excision for the treatment of osteoid-osteoma, without the morbidity that is associated with the operation, especially in patients in whom operative treatment would be complex or might lead to disability.

Arthroscopic treatment of symptomatic synovial plica of the knee. Long-term followup

We studied all patients undergoing arthroscopic resection of symptomatic plica without other intraarticular abnormality at our institution from October 1981 to March 1987. To be considered abnormal, plicae had to be thickened and/or fibrotic when viewed arthroscopically. Seventy-six of nearly 2000 patients (4%) who underwent diagnostic arthroscopies met our inclusion criteria. Clinical response after arthroscopic resection was evaluated in 51 patients at an average of 47 months (range, 15 to 77). Excellent or good results were obtained in 57 (75%) of the patients. Eleven patients (14%) had an impingement lesion defined as a localized femoral condylar ridge or groove of the articular surface that impinged upon the plica with increasing flexion. All of these patients had an excellent or good result. Other factors associated with a favorable outcome included a specific preoperative diagnosis localizing symptoms to the medial compartment, onset of pain after a period of increased athletic activity or after a twisting injury, and younger age. Poor prognostic factors included associated chondromalacia and an unclear preoperative diagnosis.

Mobile knee reconstructions after resection of malignant tumors of the distal femur

Limb-salvage surgery involving mobile knee reconstructions for malignant tumors about the distal femur is a desirable and achievable goal. With limb salvage, the survival rate does not decrease significantly, and the resulting function is superior to when an amputation plus a prosthesis are used. Immediate and delayed morbidity is greater after limb-salvage surgery than after amputation. However, with thorough preoperative planning, use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy as indicated, and an experienced team of surgeons, limb-salvage surgery can provide a mobile knee with excellent function in the vast majority of cases for patients with malignant tumors of the distal femur.

Partial versus complete acute anterior cruciate ligament tears. The results of nonoperative treatment

A study was undertaken to determine whether a significantly different clinical outcome could be expected following nonoperative treatment of acute partial anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears from that of complete tears. A detailed follow-up of 107 patients with arthroscopically confirmed tears was obtained; 72 were complete tears and 35 partial. The overall results in those with partial tears were 23% excellent, 29% good, 17% fair, and 31% poor; with complete tears the results were 11% excellent, 20% good, 15% fair, and 54% poor. The patients with partial tears had a lower incidence of associated meniscal tears, needed fewer reconstructions and more of them returned to sport than those with complete tears.

Arthroscopy update #6. Arthroscopy in the osteoarthritic knee. Long-term follow-up

A retrospective review was performed of 109 patients who underwent arthroscopic debridement of the knee for degenerative osteoarthritis. The results were evaluated using a modification of the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) scoring system as well as a subjective scale that measured the patients' degree of satisfaction with the procedure. Follow-up was obtained in 111 knees for an overall follow-up of 92% of knees. The mean age of the patients was 58.1 years, and the mean follow-up was 50.6 months. The overall results were 50 good, 20 fair, and 41 poor. Arthroscopic debridement offered measurable relief for 63% of the patients for a significant period of time. Although the results are equivocal by orthopaedic standards, 74% of the patients felt the procedure had been beneficial.

Arthroscopy in patients with recalcitrant retropatellar pain syndrome

The purpose of this study was to determine the arthroscopic findings in patients with recalcitrant retropatellar pain syndrome (RPPS) and correlate them with the patient's long-term clinical course. All patients undergoing arthroscopy for recalcitrant retropatellar pain syndrome were evaluated. Patients were excluded from the study if there was any history consistent with a meniscal or cruciate injury or if they had previously had knee surgery. Long-term follow-up was obtained in 41 of 81 patients (51%) (range, 24 to 73 months; mean, 51 months). The arthroscopic findings were recorded, and the status of chrondral surfaces graded and correlated with clinical ratings, which utilized a modification of the Insall rating system. Debridement of cartilage irregularities was performed routinely. At follow-up, nearly equal numbers of patients improved, stayed the same, or got worse. No correlation was seen between the findings at arthroscopy and the long-term results. Debridement of cartilage lesions was not found to be beneficial as a treatment modality. Missed intra-articular pathology was found at arthroscopy in only two (4%) of the 81 patients. Based on this study, conservative treatment remains the treatment of choice.

Correlation of pathology observed in double contrast arthrotomography and arthroscopy of the shoulder

Correlation of double contrast arthrotomography (DCAT) of the shoulder and arthroscopic surgery diagnostic results have been undertaken in 55 patients with persistent shoulder pain or involuntary shoulder instability. During the period March 1984 to December 1986, 55 patients underwent DCAT followed by videotaped diagnostic shoulder arthroscopy. The primary indication for DCAT was persistent pain in 36 patients and instability in 17 patients. DCAT was performed according to the method of El-Khoury and Albright, and all arthroscopies were performed in a similar fashion by the senior author (HJS). Both tests were reviewed separately, retrospectively, and their results were correlated. For combined (anterior and posterior) labral pathology, the sensitivity/specificity for the instability group was 0.91/0.91, respectively; sensitivity/specificity for the pain group was 0.63/0.94. DCAT accurately depicted the status of 76% of anterior labrums and 96% of posterior labrums. For complete rotator cuff tears, sensitivity/specificity was 1.0/0.94. The status of a complete rotator cuff tear was accurately depicted in 91% of patients. Partial rotator cuff tears were missed in 83% of patients by DCAT. The presence or absence of loose bodies was accurately represented by 96% of DCAT. Arthroscopy showed that 71% of the instability patients had a labral tear, compared with 44% of the pain patients. Rotator cuff pathology was present in 12% of instability patients and 42% of pain patients. These findings indicate that DCAT may be a conditionally reliable test in the diagnosis of shoulder instability. DCAT must be considered inconclusive, however, in the painful shoulder without instability. Its usefulness as a preoperative screening test is discussed, and a diagnostic algorithm is presented. DCAT does not equal the diagnostic accuracy of shoulder arthroscopy.