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We assigned 67 patients with central lumbar stenosis alternately to either multiple laminotomy or total laminectomy. The protocol, however, allowed multiple laminotomy to be changed to total laminectomy if it was thought that the former procedure might not give adequate neural decompression. There were therefore three treatment groups: group I consisting of 26 patients submitted to multiple laminotomy; group II, 9 patients scheduled for laminotomy but submitted to laminectomy; and group III, 32 patients scheduled for, and submitted to, laminectomy. The mean follow-up was 3.7 years. Bilateral laminotomy at two or three levels required a longer mean operating time than total laminectomy at an equal number of levels. The mean blood loss at surgery and the clinical results did not differ in the three groups. The mean subjective improvement score for low back pain was higher in group I but there was also a higher incidence of neural complications in this group. No patient in group I had postoperative vertebral instability, whereas this occurred in three patients in groups II and III, who had lumbar scoliosis or degenerative spondylolisthesis preoperatively. Multiple laminotomy is recommended for all patients with developmental stenosis and for those with mild to moderate degenerative stenosis or degenerative spondylolisthesis. Total laminectomy is to be preferred for patients with severe degenerative stenosis or marked degenerative spondylolisthesis.

The use of the platelet-leukocyte membrane in the treatment of rotator cuff tears improved repair integrity compared with repair without membrane. However, the improvement in repair integrity was not associated with greater improvement in the functional outcome. In fact, the Constant scores of the two groups would have been similar if the shoulder pain component (which had differed preoperatively) had been excluded.

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A series of 91 patients (59 males, 32 females, mean age 41 years) with middle-shaft clavicle fracture were assessed at a mean of 8.7 years after injury. Based on Allman's classification, fractures were placed in group Ia, Ib and Ic. The majority (66%) were allocated to groups Ib or Ic. Clinical evaluation was made using the Constant score and simple shoulder test. On post-injury radiographs, we measured the amount of overlapping of the fracture fragments (OV) both in centimetres and as percentage of the length of the clavicle and the mean distance between cranio-caudally displaced fragments (DS). The mean Constant scores were 87.1% and 85.6% in groups Ib and Ic, respectively. In patients with a Constant score > or =90%, the mean OV was 7.7% and the average DS was 1.59 cm. In those with a Constant score of 81-89% the average OV and DS were 12% and 1.6 cm, respectively, with the greatest OV being 12.9. In the nine patients whose Constant score was > or =80% the mean OV was 13.2 and the average DS was 1.7; however, the majority of patients had an OV > 15% and DS > or = 2 cm. In these nine patients the mean Constant score was significantly lower than that in the group with a score of > or =90%. The simple shoulder test showed that 20% of patients were dissatisfied with the outcome; a low score was associated with a severe degree of OV or DS. Fracture nonunion occurred in five cases (5.5%). We conclude that there is a clear-cut indication for surgery in patients with OV > or = 15% or DS > or = 2.3 cm as well as in those with an OV > or = 13% associated with a DS > or = 2 cm. This holds particularly for young and middle-aged patients.