High-Density Lipoprotein Nanoparticle Imaging in Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

Summary: Nanoparticles promise to advance the field of cardiovascular theranostics. However, their sustained and targeted delivery remains an important obstacle. The body synthesizes some ânaturalâ nanoparticles, including high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which may home to the atherosclerotic plaque and promote cholesterol efflux. In a recent article published in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, investigators generated modified, radiolabeled HDL nanoparticles and confirmed they accumulated in atherosclerotic lesions from several different species. These approaches hold promise for the noninvasive diagnosis of vulnerable plaque and in the stratification of patients in whom HDL-mimetic therapy may have a clinical benefit. Key Words: atherosclerosis, HDL, imaging, nanoparticles, macrophages/monocyte

Natural Progression of Radiographic Indices in Juvenile Hallux Valgus Deformity

Category: Bunion Introduction/Purpose: There is a lack of quantitative studies on the progression of juvenile hallux valgus deformity. Therefore, we performed this study to estimate an annual change of radiographic indices for juvenile hallux valgus. Methods: We reviewed medical records of consecutive patients under the age of 15 with juvenile hallux valgus who underwent weight-bearing foot radiographs more than twice, and were followed over a period of one year or more. A total of 133 feet from 69 patients were included. Hallux valgus angle, hallux interphalangeal angle, intermetatarsal angle, metatarsus adductus angle, distal metatarsal articular angle, anteroposterior talo-1st metatarsal angle, anteroposterior talo-2nd metatarsal angle, and lateral talo-1st metatarsal angle were measured and were used as a study criteria. The progression rate of hallux valgus angle was adjusted by multiple factors including the use of a linear mixed model with gender and radiographic measurements as the fixed effects and laterality and each subject as the random effect. Results: Our results demonstrate that the value of hallux valgus angle on the radiographs progressed as the patients grew older. The hallux valgus angle increased by 0.8° per year (p<0.001)(Figure). The distal metatarsal articular angle also increased by 0.8 per year (p=0.003). Conversely, hallux interphalangeal angle decreased by 0.2° per year (p=0.019). Progression of the intermetatarsal angle and metatarsus adductus angle with aging were not statistically significant. There was a difference in progression of radiographic indices between older patients (≥10 years) and younger patients (<10 years). The hallux valgus angle increased by 1.5° per year (p<0.001) in younger patients, progression of the hallux valgus angle in older patients was not statistically significant (p=0.869) as children grew up. Conclusion: These results suggest that the hallux valgus angle increased in patients with juvenile hallux valgus under 10 years old, unlike the patients aged 10 or older. We believed that our results can help surgeons to determine a treatment strategy that uses the growth potential to achieve correction of deformity such as lateral hemiepiphyseodesis of the 1st metatarsal to patients with juvenile hallux valgus

Discontinuation of Dapoxetine Treatment in Patients With Premature Ejaculation: A 2-Year Prospective Observational Study

Introduction: Although dapoxetine is the only oral pharmacologic agent approved for the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE) and is very effective, the discontinuation rate is high. Aim: To assess the discontinuation rate of patients with PE and the reasons for discontinuation in real-world practice. Methods: In total, 182 consecutive patients were enrolled. Type of PE, self-estimated intravaginal ejaculation latency time, and medical history were evaluated in all patients who also completed the erectile function domain of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF). Visits were scheduled 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after initiation of therapy; treatment status and the reasons for discontinuation in those who did discontinue were checked. The relations of discontinuation rates were compared with various parameters and the time to discontinuation after treatment commencement. Results: Of all patients, 9.9% continued treatment to 2 years. The cumulative discontinuation rates at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months were 26.4%, 61.6%, 79.1%, 87.3%, and 90.1%, respectively. Moreover, 79.1% of all patients discontinued treatment within 6 months. After 12 months, the discontinuation rate decreased sharply. The reasons for discontinuation were cost (29.9%), disappointment that PE was not curable and that dapoxetine was required every time sexual intercourse was contemplated (25%), side effects (11.6%), perceived poor efficacy (9.8%), a search for other treatment options (5.5%), and unknown (18.3%). Patients with acquired PE (vs lifelong PE), with intravaginal ejaculation latency time longer than 2 minutes before treatment, on phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, and with IIEF erectile function scores lower than 26 tended to discontinue early and thus exhibited high dropout rates. Conclusion: The treatment discontinuation rate of dapoxetine was very high. The main reasons for discontinuation were the cost and disappointment that treatment was required every time adequate sexual function was required. Park HJ, Park NC, Kim TN, et al. Discontinuation of Dapoxetine Treatment in Patients With Premature Ejaculation: A 2-Year Prospective Observational Study. Sex Med 2017;5:e99–e105

Penile Traumatic Neuroma: A Late Complication of Penile Dorsal Neurotomy to Treat Premature Ejaculation

Introduction: Traumatic neuroma is a reactive process caused by the regeneration of an injured nerve that usually forms a nodular proliferation of small nerve bundles. Penile traumatic neuroma is rare; only a few cases related to circumcision have been reported. Aim: To report on a case of traumatic neuroma in the penis after selective dorsal neurotomy (SDN) to treat premature ejaculation. Methods: The penile traumatic neuroma was successfully removed by excision and confirmed by histopathology. Results: A 55-year-old man who had had several painless, slow-growing nodules on his penis for 2 years presented to our hospital. He had no history of genital trauma, urinary tract infection, or penile surgery, except SDN to treat premature ejaculation. The nodules were excised and the final diagnosis was traumatic neuroma. No recurrence has been detected during 1 year of follow-up. Conclusion: The main complications of SDN are recurrence of premature ejaculation, pain or paresthesia on the glans penis, and erectile dysfunction. However, no traumatic neuroma has been reported as a complication. We report that a traumatic neuroma can occur after SDN

Effectiveness of arthroscopically assisted surgery for ankle fractures

Category: Ankle, Arthroscopy, Trauma Introduction/Purpose: This meta-analysis was performed to determine whether the arthroscopically assisted open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) for ankle fractures is more beneficial than the conventional ORIF. Methods: Articles in electronic medial databases were searched between March 1983 and August 2016, including Pubmed and SCOPUS. We included the studies with comparative design comparing the surgical outcomes between the arthroscopically assisted ORIF for ankle fractures and the conventional ORIF. Finally, two RCTs and two retrospective comparative studies were included for analysis. Mean and standard deviation (SD) of postoperative functional scores, number of subjects, and P-values were extracted from the studies. In addition, postoperative follow-up period, fracture type, and study quality were collected. Results: The pooled effect size of the four studies 0.535 (95% CI, 0.247 to 0.823) in Hedges’s g, which favored the arthroscopically assisted ORIF over conventional ORIF. There was no evidence of publication bias in funnel plot and in Egger’s test (p=0.534). Conclusion: The arthroscopically assisted ORIF for ankle fractures were more beneficial than the conventional ORIF in the current evidences. However, since it needs more medical cost and longer operation time, possible additional complications and cost effectiveness are to be validated in future studies

Inhibitory Effect of on Stroke Recurrence in Small Vessel Disease Patients: A 5-Year Observational Study

We investigated the stroke recurrence rate and the rate of adverse effects induced by an herbal medicine, Chunghyul-dan , administered to patients over a 5-year period. We prescribed 600 mg Chunghyul-dan a day to patients with small vessel diseases and investigated stroke recurrence, adverse effects, and drug compliance for 5 years. The primary outcome was the prevalence of stroke recurrence (in 3, 4, and 5 years). The secondary outcome was the frequency of adverse effects induced by Chunghyul-dan . We recruited 400 patients. Among them, 270, 233, and 195 patients completed 3, 4, and 5 years of follow-up, respectively. Among patients who completed 3, 4, and 5 years of follow-up, cumulative recurrent stroke occurred in 7 (2.6%), 11 (4.7%), and 12 (6.2%) patients. There were no adverse effects. We suggest that Chunghyul-dan might be useful for the inhibition of stroke recurrence by reducing microangiography progression. Further study is needed to confirm our hypothesis

Reliability and Validity of Lower Extremity Computed Tomography as a Screening Tool for Osteoporosis

Category: Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Although previous studies have demonstrated the potential of conventional computed tomography (CT) as a screening tool for osteoporosis, the assessment correlation of BMD in those studies was limited to the spine. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of CT as a screening tool for osteoporosis and to estimate the correlation between central BMD and peripheral bone attenuation using lower extremity CT. Methods: In total, 292 patients who underwent a lower extremity, lumbar spine, or abdomen and pelvic CT scan within a 3- month interval of a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) examination were included (Fig 1). Following reliability testing, bone attenuation of the L1, L2, L3, L4, femoral head, femoral neck, greater trochanter, distal femur, proximal tibia, distal tibia, and talus was measured by placing a circular region of interest on the central part of each bony region on a coronal CT image (Fig 2 and 3). Partial correlation was used to assess the correlation between CT and DEXA, after adjusting for age and body mass index. Results: In terms of reliability, all bone attenuation measurements, except the femoral neck, showed good to excellent interobserver reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients, 0.691–0.941). In terms of validity, bone attenuation of the L1 to L4, femoral neck, and greater trochanter on CT showed significant correlations with BMD of each area on DEXA (correlation coefficients, 0.399–0.613). Bone attenuation of the distal tibia and talus on CT showed significant correlations with BMD of all parts on DEXA (correlation coefficients, 0.493–0.581 for distal tibia, 0.396–0.579 for talus). Conclusion: Lower extremity CT is a useful screening tool for osteoporosis, and peripheral bone attenuation on lower extremity CT adequately reflects central BMD on DEXA

Radiographic Evaluation of the Normal Ankle Joint in Children and Adolescent

Category: Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Although comparison to radiographic standards for ankle joint is critical for evaluation of syndemosis injuries, such standards are not well defined for children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of numerous radiographic measurements of the skeletally immature ankle joint, timing of ossification of medial malleolus and appearance of tibial incisura and differences in the values of radiographic measurements based on age and sex. Methods: This study included 590 subjects (0 to 15 years), who underwent ankle AP, lateral and mortise radiographs. Presence of the medial malleolus and incisura fibularis were recorded (Fig 1). Tibiofibular overlap, tibiofibular clear space, medial clear space, talar tilt, talocrural angle, relative fibular width and fibular position were measured (Fig 2). A inter- and intrareliability test was conducted before the main measurements using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). To determine the timing of the ossification center of medial malleolus and appearance of tibial incisura, multinomial logistic regression was used. The generalized linear model was used to estimate the radiographic measurements by age and sex. The 100-quantiles were calculated to determine the normal value of the tibiofibular clear space, tibiofibular overlap and medial clear space. Results: All radiographic measurements showed good to excellent intraobserver(ICC, 0.603–0.934) and interobserver reliability(ICC, 0.704–0.972). The timing of ossification of medial malleolus and appearance of tibial incisura between boys and girls were not different. Tibiofibular clear space on mortise view, and medial clear space on AP and mortise view significantly decreased by age. Tibiofibular overlap on AP and mortise views, relative fibular width on AP view significantly increased by age. Talocrural angle, tibiofibular overlap on AP view, tibiofibular clear space on AP and mortise views, medial clear space on AP and mortise views and fibular position were significantly larger in boys than in girls. The difference in tibiofibular overlap, tibiofibular clear space and medial clear space on mortise view of both sides was < 50% in 98.1%, 99.3%, and 100% of patients, respectively. Conclusion: Tibiofibular clear space, tibiofibular overlap and medial clear space can be parameter to assess distal tibiofibular syndesmosis or deltoid ligament injury in skeletally immature patients. For these patients, the criteria of absolute radiographic values used in adults cannot be applied, but comparison of both sides could help physicians to predict the need for additional evaluations

Natural Progression of Radiographic Indices in Juvenile Hallux Valgus Deformity

Category: Bunion, Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: There is a lack of quantitative studies on the progression of juvenile hallux valgus deformity. Therefore, we performed this study to estimate an annual change of radiographic indices for juvenile hallux valgus. Methods: We reviewed medical records of consecutive patients under the age of 15 with juvenile hallux valgus who underwent weight-bearing foot radiographs more than twice, and were followed over a period of one year or more. A total of 133 feet from 69 patients were included. Hallux valgus angle, hallux interphalangeal angle, intermetatarsal angle, metatarsus adductus angle, distal metatarsal articular angle, anteroposterior talo-1st metatarsal angle, anteroposterior talo-2nd metatarsal angle, and lateral talo-1st metatarsal angle were measured and were used as a study criteria. The progression rate of hallux valgus angle was adjusted by multiple factors including the use of a linear mixed model with gender and radiographic measurements as the fixed effects and laterality and each subject as the random effect. Results: Our results demonstrate that the value of hallux valgus angle on the radiographs progressed as the patients grew older. The hallux valgus angle increased by 0.8° per year (p<0.001)(Figure). The distal metatarsal articular angle also increased by 0.8 per year (p=0.003). Conversely, hallux interphalangeal angle decreased by 0.2° per year (p=0.019). Progression of the intermetatarsal angle and metatarsus adductus angle with aging were not statistically significant. There was a difference in progression of radiographic indices between older patients (=10 years) and younger patients (<10 years). The hallux valgus angle increased by 1.5° per year (p<0.001) in younger patients, progression of the hallux valgus angle in older patients was not statistically significant (p=0.869) as children grew up. Conclusion: These results suggest that the hallux valgus angle increased in patients with juvenile hallux valgus under 10 years old, unlike the patients aged 10 or older. We believed that our results can help surgeons to determine a treatment strategy that uses the growth potential to achieve correction of deformity such as lateral hemiepiphyseodesis of the 1st metatarsal to patients with juvenile hallux valgus

Is there a Relationship between Bone Morphology and Injured Ligament on Imaging Studies and Laxity on Ankle Stress Radiographs?

Category: Ankle, Sports Introduction/Purpose: We hypothesized that the bony configuration of the ankle could also be associated with ankle stress radiographs, in addition to ligament injury of the ankle. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between bone morphology and injured ligament on imaging studies and laxity on ankle stress radiographs in patients with lateral ankle instability. Methods: In total, 115 patients who had undergone ankle MRI, ankle radiography, and stress radiography were included. Distal tibial articular surface angle, bimalleolar tilt, medial and lateral malleolar relative length, medial malleolar slip angle, anterior inclination of the tibia, and fibular position were measured on ankle radiographs. Tibiotalar tilt angle and anterior translation of the talus were measured on ankle stress radiographs. Degree of ligament injury was evaluated on ankle MRIs. Multiple regression analysis was performed using the following independent variables: age, sex, and factors significantly associated with ankle stress view on univariate linear regression analysis. Results: Age (p = 0.041), sex (p = 0.014), degree of anterior talofibular ligament injury (p < 0.001), and bimalleolar tilt (p = 0.016) were correlated with tibiotalar tilt angle (Table). Younger patients demonstrated a larger tibiotalar tilt angle than older patients, and the angle decreased by 0.07° per year of age. Tibiotalar tilt angle in female patients was 2.2° larger than that in male patients. Fibular position and degree of posterior talofibular ligament injury were factors significantly related to anterior translation of the talus. Conclusion: Differences in patient characteristics might predispose ankle stress radiograph results. Comparison of both ankles on stress radiographs is superior to applying fixed numerical values to the injured side, in order to reduce the influence of patient factors