Open traumatic scapulothoracic dissociation is a rare and devastating injury. We are reporting a 21-year-old male factory worker who sustained a traumatic open scapulothoracic dissociation. His left arm was caught in conveyer belts resulting the arm, scapula, clavicle, and pectoral muscle torn from the body by tremendous traction force. He presented with pulseless, flail and cold limb and was promptly resuscitated and surgically managed with forequarter amputation.
Penetrative neck injury can cause potentially fatal damage to the neck. Removing those fully embedded small foreign bodies secondary to ballistic trauma can be technically challenging. Neck exploration under direct vision may cause more local tissue damage or dislodge the foreign body further. We discussed a case where a small foreign body embedded in the neck caused by ballistic trauma. Successful removal of the foreign body guided by rigid endoscope thru the neck wound was also discussed as a useful tool as it was not ferromagnetic and image intensifier was not available.
Isolated fractures of shaft of ulna are common. Plate fixation with anatomic reduction is thought to produce the best functional results in closed or open fractures. Surgery can be done under general and various types of regional anaesthesia. We report a case of fracture shaft of ulna treated by plating under a combination of WALANT (wide awake, local anaesthesia, no tourniquet) using tumescent anaesthesia and periosteal nerve block as a day care procedure.
Irreducible dislocation of the interphalangeal joint (IPJ) big toe is a rare injury Hitori et al. (2006) . We report a case of the right big toe IPJ dislocation following a trauma. The problem was diagnosed and managed at other medical centers with standard treatment of closed manual reduction and splint. The right big toe was splinted accordingly and the patient was referred to our orthopedic outpatient clinic. At the clinic, a repeat plain radiograph was ordered due to high suspicion of the irreducible IPJ.
Study site: orthopedic clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
Complicated crown root fractures are mostly difficult to treat and have a poor prognosis. To restore the biological space, intentional replantation may be chosen when other immediate treatment options are not viable. Intentional replantation with tooth rotation consists of extraction, 180° rotation and replantation, thereby maintaining the biological width. This article presents management of a maxillary central incisor with complicated crown root fracture with open apex. The tooth was rotated and splinted for one week. The apex was closed with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) followed by obturation and post placement. The incompletely obturated adjacent tooth was non-surgically managed by retreatment. Finally, glass fibre post followed by crown with indirect composite built up was made. Patient was followed up every three months for the next two years without any complications.
Traumatic abdominal wall hernia (TAWH) is a rare type of hernia resulting from blunt abdominal trauma. It develops following the inertia of sudden, high-energy blunt trauma or focused low-energy impact. A 22-year-old motorcyclist presented to the emergency department following a collision with an automobile. Clinical examination demonstrated a bulging mass at the lower abdomen, resulting from impact with the motorcycle handlebar. A contrast-enhanced CT scan of the abdomen revealed a disruption of both rectus abdominis muscle and linea alba at the lower abdomen with loops of small bowels and mesentery herniating through the defect, associated with multiple air pockets and pneumoperitoneum. Exploratory laparotomy showed TAWH containing loops of small bowel and mesentery in addition to mesenteric tears. Small bowel resection with primary anastomosis and repair of the anterior abdominal wall defect using interrupted polypropylene sutures was performed. The patient recovered well postoperatively and was discharged home three days later. A follow-up at 1 year showed no evidence of recurrence.
A feature of the flexor pollicis longus tendon injury is the frequency of palmar retraction so that a wrist approach is needed for retrieval of the proximal stump. We are reporting on our first outpatient zone T2 flexor pollicis longus tendon repair under WALANT with ultrasound guidance. In the event of zone T2 flexor pollicis rupture, ultrasound location of tendon extremities is used to plan surgical WALANT strategy and to guide the injection of lidocaine with epinephrine whilst limiting the injected volume to what is strictly necessary.