Spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma - an unusual cause of spinal cord compression

Spinal epidural haematoma is uncommon. Spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma of unknown aetiology is a rarity. This report is of two patients with spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma with different outcomes and discussion of the clinical picture and possible aetiology of this rare condition.published_or_final_versio

A broken sewing needle in the knee of a 4-year-old child: is it really inside the knee?

We report on a case of a broken needle that migrated inside the knee joint of a 4-year-old girl. Searching for any small foreign body in the knee joint is not easy in either open or arthroscopic procedures. In this case, the surgery was made more difficult because of technical delays and diagnostic difficulties in defining the surgical plane of the needle. Arthroscopic expertise and some basic precautions can minimize the morbidity to a young patient and prevent migration into the knee joint proper

Why are we still using pre-operative skin traction for hip fractures?

We performed a prospective randomised trial to evaluate the efficacy of pre-operative skin traction for proximal femoral fractures in 311 patients. We found a significant difference in pain score on the evening of admission and the first morning after admission between the groups with traction compared the group without. However, there was no corresponding increase in analgesic requirement during this period. The peak pain score pattern also was different in our population. No other objective benefit can be shown from using skin traction, and its routine use should be abandoned.link_to_subscribed_fulltex