Browse
A schwannoma is a benign tumor with a neurogenic origin that affects peripheral nerves. It arises from the neural sheath of the peripheral nerves. We present a case of a 54-year-old woman who presented to our clinic with a painful schwannoma of her superficial peroneal nerve at the level of the ankle. The patient was treated with surgical excision, and diagnosis was confirmed with pathologic analysis.
Metastasis of the distal tibia is quite rare. In this article, we present the case of a 58-year-old woman with distal tibial metastasis located in the posterior malleous caused by breast cancer. She had left ankle pain and nonweightbearing status that had been ongoing for 2 months and showed progression. The patient's Mirels score was 10. Limb salvage surgery was performed by removing the metastatic lesion by posterior ankle incision followed by applying a double plate from the posterior and the medial side of the distal tibia, and the defect was reconstructed with methylmethacrylate. Consequently, good stability was achieved. Radiotherapy consisting of 10 fractions (2000 cGy total) was applied to the distal tibia at postoperative week 3. There were no complications after surgery. No recurrence was observed at the 18-month follow-up of the patient. The Musculoskeletal Tumor Society Score at the 18-month control of the patient was 86%. Use of curettage of the metastatic mass, double-plate application, and defect reconstruction with methylmethacrylate is an effective method for distal tibia metastases located in the posterior malleolus.
Longitudinal epiphyseal bracket is a rare ossification disorder of the short tubular bones. The affected bone becomes deformed as a result of the bracket. The normal growth pattern cannot occur, and when it affects the first metatarsal bone, hallux varus may develop with the abnormal growth pattern. We present such a 6-year-old patient who had undergone surgery at 6 months of age for hallux varus and polydactyly. The deformity had worsened gradually after the initial operation because of the overlooked longitudinal epiphyseal bracket. The patient was treated with surgical excision of the epiphyseal bracket, with corrective medial open wedge osteotomy and split transfer of the extensor hallucis longus tendon. The result was excellent at the 20-month follow-up. At an early age, patients who present with hallux varus must be checked for the epiphyseal bracket, which can be invisible on radiographs because of the chondral structure. Untreated or overlooked patients with epiphyseal bracket will need revision operations for recurrent deformities.
Osteochondromas are benign bone tumors that arise from divergent cartilage formation, most commonly in childhood versus adulthood. We report the case of a healthy 42-year-old woman who presented with an unusual solitary posterolateral ankle mass with associated pain and ankle impingement with 6-week follow-up. The patient was successfully treated with open surgical excision, with bone sent for pathologic diagnosis of benign osteochondroma. The patient returned to normal baseline function with no pain at 6-week follow-up. An open posterior ankle incision approach was performed to remove suspicious enlarged bony growth from the posterior talar process to be sent for pathologic evaluation. Pathologic evaluation reported benign osteochondroma of the posterior talar process, and the patient subsequently had routine healing of the postoperative incision site and return to full function without pain or disability at 6-week follow-up. This case study adds to the current understanding, incidence, occurrence, and treatment of rare osteochondromas occurring in the posterior talar process.
Closed degloving injury involving a toe represents a rare phenomenon in which the bones of the toe dislocate but the soft-tissue envelope remains intact. It has been described sparingly throughout the medical literature, and outcomes have been poor. This article presents a case report of the unique injury while also investigating trends through a detailed review of the literature.
Magnetic resonance imaging is a powerful tool in the diagnosis of missed or occult fractures on radiographic and computed tomographic (CT) imaging, through the detection of bone marrow edema. Although radiologists often rely on bone marrow edema as a guide for diagnosing subtle underlying fractures, it is important to recognize its limitations as a diagnostic metric. We present a rare case demonstrating the absence of bone marrow edema after acute trauma and confirmed Lisfranc fracture in a patient with preeclampsia and propose an interesting physiologic mechanism to explain this manifestation.
Background
Tendinopathies are common musculoskeletal disorders that often develop because of chronic loading and failed healing. Tendinopathy related to systemic inflammation has been less extensively examined. Furthermore, although the use of biological agents to treat tendinopathies continues to gain popularity, the use of amniotic fluid–derived allografts in outpatient settings to resolve tendinopathies requires further evaluation.
Methods
The focus of this case report is a 25-year-old man who presented for a second opinion, having been diagnosed with Haglund deformity and Achilles tendinopathy. At the time of presentation, he complained of 10 of 10 pain to the right Achilles tendon. He was treating the injury conservatively with intermittent use of a controlled ankle motion boot and working with physiotherapy for approximately 5 months before presentation. Diagnostic ultrasound along with magnetic resonance imaging indicated distal thickening of the Achilles tendon, substantial fluid and edema in the Kager fat pad, and retrocalcaneal erosions with bursitis. Conservative management did not resolve the symptoms. As an alternative to surgery, the patient elected to undergo an Achilles tendon injection of an amniotic fluid–derived allograft. Before and after the initial injection, a microdialysis catheter was inserted into the Achilles peritendinous space to sample local levels of extracellular matrix enzymes and growth factors important for tendon remodeling. The patient received considerable relief with the initial injection, but did not return to full strength. Over the subsequent 8 weeks, the patient was followed closely and was able to return to daily activities with minimal pain. He was not able to return to a more active lifestyle without further Achilles pain, so a second amniotic fluid–derived allograft injection was performed 8 weeks after the initial injection.
Results
Injection of the initial allograft resulted in significant improvement, but not complete resolution of pain and swelling. Microdialysis findings suggested a reduction in peritendinous levels of the cytokine interlukin-6 in addition to changes in extracellular matrix regulatory enzymes. After 8 weeks of additional conservative therapy and a second injection, no further improvement in pain was noted.
Conclusions
Based on the clinical improvement of symptoms in this individual and the changes seen with microdialysis methodology, the authors find the use of amniotic fluid–derived allograft injection for treatment of Achilles pain in this patient to be a viable treatment. Additional comorbidities of systemic inflammatory polyarthritis and possible seronegative disease were addressed after rheumatology consultation with a variety of medications that provided the patient additional relief of his symptoms. The patient ultimately moved and was lost to further follow-up.
The aneurysmal bone cysts, usually found in the tibia, femur, pelvis, or humerus, are expansile pseudotumor lesions of unknown etiology. An aneurysmal bone cyst is rarely seen in the medial cuneiform. In this case report, a 43-year-old man with an aneurysmal bone cyst in the left medial cuneiform is presented. The cyst was curetted, and the defect was filled with an en bloc iliac crest graft. A screw was placed to fix the graft in the proper position. In the 2-year follow-up of the patient, recurrence was not detected radiologically.
Although sprains of the hallux metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint ligaments occur in barefooted martial arts athletes, few studies discuss the surgical treatments for lateral collateral ligament damage. We report herein a case of lateral collateral ligament repair for chronic hallux MTP joint instability. A 21-year-old male collegiate sumo wrestler injured his left hallux by snagging it on a sumo straw bale at 14 years of age. After entering university (4 years after the injury), he could no longer put weight on his foot at the left hallux; his athletic performance deteriorated, and he was referred to our department by his doctor. He had instability in the MTP joint of the left hallux, and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a tear in the attachment of the lateral collateral ligament to the metatarsal bone. Conservative treatment, such as taping, did not improve the symptoms; thus, surgery was performed, which consisted of passing a strong suture attached to the capsular ligament through a burr hole made in the metatarsal bone and fixing it to the burr-hole wall using an anchor. Postoperatively, the patient's joint instability improved, and he returned to competitive wrestling 4 months after surgery. He was able to put weight on his left hallux, and his athletic performance improved. The follow-up period after surgery was 2 years. In competitive sumo wrestling, hallux weakness and joint instability lead to a significant reduction in performance. Thus, ligament repair is an effective treatment for hallux MTP joint instability that cannot be treated by conservative means.
A 34-year-old female recreational badminton player presented with left ankle pain 1 week after a recreational badminton game. She reported experiencing a similar pattern of pain in her right ankle 4 months before that had persisted for 3 months. On plain radiography, callus formation was evident on the right distal fibula, and a subtle lesion was observed on the left side. Ultrasound was performed with the clinical suspicion of bilateral, nonsimultaneous, distal fibular stress fracture. Focal hyperechoic thickening of the periosteum with irregularity and hypoechoic periosteal edema over the left distal fibula were identified. These findings were consistent with stress fracture, and an early phase of distal fibular stress fracture was diagnosed. This case report highlights that ultrasound can be an alternative modality to magnetic resonance imaging or bone scan scintigraphy for the early diagnosis of stress fracture.
