Objective To investigate the effectiveness of the terminal extensor tendon reconstrution by palmaris longus tendon graft for the treatment of old mallet finger deformity. Methods Between February 2009 and February 2011, 32 patients with old mallet finger deformity were treated with palmaris longus tendon graft. There were 28 males and 4 females with an average age of 32.5 years (range, 22-58 years). The injury causes included sports injury in 26 cases and punctured injury in 6 cases. The index finger was involved in 8 cases, the middle finger in 3 cases, the ring finger in 16 cases, and the little finger in 5 cases. According to the Rockwell’s classification, all patients were classified as type I. The time from injury to operation was 4-16 weeks (mean, 6 weeks). Results Primary healing was obtained in all incisions; no necrosis, infection, or nail bed injury occurred. All patients were followed up 12-20 months (mean, 14 months). The patients had no pain or paresthesia of volar finger. According to Patel’s functional assessment system, the results were excellent in 8 cases, good in 21 cases, fair in 2 cases, and poor in 1 case at last follow-up, with an excellent and good rate of 90.6%. Conclusion Reconstruction of the terminal extensor tendon by palmaris longus tendon graft is a reliable method to treat old mallet finger deformity.
ObjectiveTo observe the effect of systemic chemotherapy on conditions of tumor infiltrating,metastasis and disease-specific survival (DSS) for advanced retinoblastoma (RB). MethodsForty-one patients with advanced RB who received enucleation were enrolled in this study. There were 26 males and 15 females, age at diagnosis was ranged from 2 to 72 months, with a mean of 23.08 months. There were 16 bilateral patients and 25 unilateral patients; 13 group D eyes and 28 group E eyes. 16 patients received enucleation as the primary treatment (operation group), 25 eyes received chemotherapy before enucleation (chemotherapy group). There was no significant statistical difference between two groups for the gender, unilateral and bilateral, international staging or diagnostic age (P>0.05). The histopathology report was performed to assess the risk of postoperative tumor-node-metastasis staging (pTNM) in each patient, and the extent of tumor invasion in the optic nerve, choroid and anterior chamber was divided into 3 levels of low risk, medium risk and high risk. Five deaths were all in the group E with chemotherapy before enucleation. Using R software survival analysis software package survfit function, the application of Kaplan-Meier estimation method, DSS of RB children was calculated from the time of diagnosis, up to the date of the death of patient. DSS differences between chemotherapy, operation group and eye removal time (more than 3 months, less than 3 months) in group E RB children were analyzed. ResultsThe proportion of high risk pTNM stage in chemotherapy group was significantly lower than the operation group. But there was no significant difference between the two groups in the overall risk classification (χ2=3.130,P=0.077). For group D eyes, the overall risk classification in chemotherapy group was significantly lower than the operation group (χ2=5.870,P=0.015). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the overall risk of group E eyes (χ2=0.020,P=0.889). The DSS in chemotherapy group and operation group were 0.71 and 1.00, respectively; the difference was significant (χ2=3.700,P=0.05). The DSS in children whose enucleation delayed for more than 3 months and children whose enucleation performed within 3 months were 0.64 and 1.00, respectively; the difference was significant (χ2=4.800,P=0.028). ConclusionSystemic chemotherapy did not reduce the risk of tumor invasion and metastasis in patients with advanced RB. Instead, it will reduce the DSS in group E eyes of RB.