Level III, retrospective comparative study.

Background: to evaluate the short and long term effectiveness of ultrasonography (US)-guided percutaneous needle lavage in calcific tendinopathy of the rotator cuff. To study the evolution of the size of calcifications and pain in the two years after treatment. Methods: study design: A 2 year longitudinal prospective study is carried out after applying the UGPL technique on a number of patients diagnosed with calcific tendinitis of the rotator cuff. Clinical, ultrasound and radiology follow-up controls were performed, 3 months, 6 months, one year and two years after the treatment. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to assess the pain. The degree and point of pain is selected on a 10 cm line, arranged horizontally or vertically. The "0" represents no pain and "10" represents worst pain. The population studied was made up of 121 patients that required our service as a result of suffering from a painful shoulder. Results: the pain (VAS) and the size of the calcification significantly decreased with the application of the technique (p< 0,001 in both cases) and regardless of the sex (p: 0.384 for pain and p: 0.578 for the size of the calcification). This occurred from the first checkup (3 months) and was maintained for two year. Conclusions: we consider this technique to be a valid alternative as a first-choice treatment of calcific tendinitis of the shoulder. The intervention is simple, cost-effective, does not require hospitalization , involves no complications, rehabilitation treatment is not required and it shows very few side effects without sequelae, significantly reducing the size of the calcification and pain in the majority of patients.

Calcific bursitis of the MCL of the knee is very uncommon, but should be taken into account in differential diagnoses for medial knee pain. UGPL is proposed as a treatment for this condition.

Corticosterone, T3, T4, and prolactin serum concentrations at 24 hr (N = 10), 15 days (N = 10), and 45 days (N = 10) of postoperative (postop) evolution were assayed to study the neuroendocrine response to portal hypertension. A triple stenosing ligature of the portal vein was used as the surgical technique of portal hypertension. This technique does not produce mortality and causes a decrease in the serum concentrations of T3 (0.043 +/- 0.009 vs 0.55 +/- 0.08 ng/ml) and T4 (3.93 +/- 0.55 vs 4.65 +/- 0.67 microg/ml) and an increase in those of prolactin (28.61 +/- 20.20 vs 12.84 +/- 3.96 ng/ml) and corticosterone (397.50 +/- 64.17 vs 311.53 +/- 57.41 ng/ml) at 45 days postop. The T3, T4, prolactin, and corticosterone alterations are associated with a persistent increase of TNF-alpha and NO, whose serum concentrations at 45 days postop are, respectively, 1838.33 +/- 247.07 vs 48.89 +/- 8.75 pg/ml and 0.43 +/- 0.13 vs 0.19 +/- 0.01 mmol/ml. TNF-alpha and NO could mediate these hormonal alterations in the evolution of short-term portal hypertension in the rat; thus they are involved in the systemic neuroendocrine response that is induced by this injury.