Forty-three elderly patients with an intracapsular hip fracture were selected for a prospective randomised trial comparing osteosynthesis (DHS) versus primary hemiarthroplasty (HA) with a 3-year follow-up. The duration of the operation and the perioperative blood loss were significantly shorter in DHS, but inadequate reduction and/or fixation led to serious problems in this group. Clinical morbidity was lower after DHS. No difference could be demonstrated in the mortality rates, fracture- or operation-related complications or the need for secondary intervention. Reintervention could be carried out without additional risk in both groups and did not lead to poor end results. Comparable results were obtained with both methods up to 24 months. At the 36-month follow-up, a significantly worse outcome could be demonstrated in the HA group. We conclude that osteosynthesis is justified as the primary treatment of displaced intracapsular hip fractures in elderly patients. Endoprosthetic replacement can be safely used in cases where osteosynthesis has failed.

This paper is a clinicopathological review of patients suffering from intrathoracic neurogenic tumours.Neurogenic tumours form one of the most frequent anomalies of the mediastinum. In the material of our department this diagnosis was made in 15% of the patients who had an affection of the mediastinum. Only intrathoracic and retrosternal struma occurred with a slightly higher frequency than neurogenic tumours.The literature contains numerous papers on intrathoracically localized neurogenic tumours

The clinical safety and efficacy of imipenem/cilastatin in the treatment of intra-abdominal infections was compared with the combination of aztreonam and clindamycin in a randomized prospective trial. The severity of illness was determined by means of the Apache II score and a fixed outcome reporting scheme was used. One hundred and four patients were entered into the study, of whom 80 were evaluable. Forty-two patients were treated with imipenem/cilastatin (500 + 500 mg qds) and 38 with aztreonam (600 tds) and clindamycin (1000 mg tds). The study groups were comparable for age and sex. The imipenem/cilastatin group differed from the aztreonam and clindamycin group in having significantly more patients with the diagnosis of acute appendicitis (P < 0.01) and a significantly lower mean Apache score (P < 0.05). The predominate microorganisms isolated in both groups were Escherichia coli and Bacteroides fragilis. Treatment with imipenem/cilastatin proved successful in 71% and failed in 24%, and initial success only was seen in 5%. The numbers in the group treated with aztreonam and clindamycin were 64%, 29% and 7% respectively. Severity of illness, as measured by Apache II score, had no influence on the study outcome. Imipenem/cilastatin as well as the combination of aztreonam and clindamycin were effective in the treatment of abdominal infections and no major adverse reactions were seen.

In 84 patients with an intracapsular hip fracture, early technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (99mTc-MDP) scintimetry could be carried out preoperatively of in the case of conservative treatments within 72 h after injury. Fifty-four patients were available for a 3-year follow-up. The corrected uptake ratio showed a very high accuracy in predicting secondary dislocation, non-union (NU), delayed union (DU) or femoral head necrosis (FHN) and was far more reliable than the uncorrected uptake ratio. The predictive value of scintimetric follow-up at a 2- or 12-week interval could not reach the same accuracy of early scintimetry in predicting poor outcome. A comparison of follow-up scintimetry after conservative treatment and osteosynthesis showed that the major vascular injury to the femoral head is caused at the moment of the initial trauma and that no additional damage occurs perioperatively with closed reduction and fixation with a Dynamic Hip Screw device. Scintimetry is a useful tool in predicting poor outcome due to FHN and/or NU in the treatment of intracapsular hip fractures.

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