Cervical spine radiographs of 33 patients with Klippel-Feil syndrome were studied for patterns of bony fusion and presence of wasp-waist sign. Five patients were found to have the classic features of massive cervical fusion. Two patients with two adjacent levels of bony fusion showed a wasp-waist sign. Fusion at one level of the cervical spine accounted for 26 remaining cases. The wasp-waist sign was observed in 14 of the cases in which there was complete vertebral interbody fusion, making this finding a valuable radiologic sign. Partial anterior or posterior vertebral interbody fusion, or isolated fusion of the neural arch, however, may or may not be associated with the wasp-waist sign. Klippel-Feil syndrome, easy to recognize when presenting with classic features or when associated with the wasp-waist sign, may be confused with a variety of other entities.

We evaluated a total of 13 cases of Freiberg's disease in patients aged 47-77 years collected over an 8-year period. Seven were associated with diabetes mellitus and one with chronic renal failure; the remainder had no underlying disease. Atrophy of intrinsic small foot muscles secondary to neuropathy, which is prevalent in diabetes mellitus, may play a part in the development of Freiberg's infraction.

No abstract

Rapid destructive arthritis of the shoulder, although uncommon, has received much attention in the recent medical literature. It has been described by several authors under varied names: hemorrhagic shoulder of the elderly, Milwaukee shoulder syndrome, rapid destructive arthritis of the shoulder, apatite-associated destructive arthritis and idiopathic destructive arthritis of the shoulder. This particular form of arthritis affects mainly elderly patients, predominantly women, with limited pain, rotator cuff tear, joint instability, voluminous mildly inflammatory, blood-stained effusion, basic calcium phosphate crystals, and marked joint and bone destruction.