Purpose This is a descriptive analysis, of victims of Turkey's October 23, 2011 and November 21, 2011 Van earthquakes. The goal of this study is investigated the injury profile of the both earthquakes in relation to musculoskeletal trauma.Methods We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 3,965 patients admitted to in seven hospitals. A large share of these injuries were soft tissue injuries, followed by fractures, crush injuries, crush syndromes, nerve injuries, vascular injuries, compartment syndrome and joint dislocations. A total Conclusions The results of this study may provide the basis for future development of strategy to optimise attempts at rescue and plan treatment of survivors with musculoskeletal injuries after earthquakes.

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Percutaneous release of the trigger finger and trigger thumb has recently gained popularity. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical results and safety of percutaneous release in trigger thumbs. Twenty-five thumbs of 21 patients were released percutaneously in the polyclinic under local anaesthesia. Steroid injection was performed following the release procedure using the same needle. The thumb function was evaluated by a patient questionnaire, and functional thumb scores (VAS) were calculated in the preoperative and postoperative periods. At the 1 week follow-up, four patients had signs of discomfort and triggering because of incomplete release. These patients underwent open A1 pulley release. Three superficial tendon lacerations were seen during these open procedures. There were no wound complications or signs of digital nerve or artery injury in any of the patients. The preoperative mean VAS was 26.62 (18-36). This decreased to 2.57 (0-5) at the first postoperative month (P<0.001) and to 2.19 (0-3; P<0.001) at the sixth month. When the VAS scores at the first and sixth months were compared, the difference was statistically significant. We concluded that percutaneous release of trigger thumbs is a cheap, safe and effective procedure with a low rate of complications.

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Plexiform neurofibroma is generally considered as a component of neurofibromatosis 1, and a great majority of the cases with plexiform neurofibroma display other symptoms related to neurofibromatosis. Plexiform neurofibromas occur frequently in the head and neck region due to the rich innervation of the area, however appear rarely in the extremities. We report here an isolated giant plexiform neurofibroma involving the common peroneal nerve branches without symptoms related to neurofibromatosis in a 5-year-old case. Surgical excision was performed due to pain and numbness in the leg, and against the possibility of malignant transformation due to sudden growth observed in the tumor. One month following the excision of all the reachable tumoral tissues, tendon transfer surgery was performed for the ankle and toe extensions. Our case stands as the only reported case of isolated giant plexiform neurofibroma involving the common peroneal nerve in the pediatric age.