Surgical stabilisation in a 13-year-old boy with traumatic flail chest

An original technique for surgical stabilisation of traumatic flail chest.

The treatment of chest wall injuries with severe paradoxical movement remains controversial. Intermittent positive-pressure respiration may be appropriate, but in some, especially those requiring exploratory thoracotomy for a visceral lesion, surgical fixation is desirable. We present a simple method using two or three stainless Kirschner wires placed in the chest wall. Results in five cases ha...

Surgical stabilization of traumatic flail chest.

Since 1970 we have stabilized the ribs to correct paradoxical movement of the chest wall in chest injuries, using an original technique, in order to avoid as far as possible the need for long-term chest wall stabilization by intermittent positive pressure respiration (IPPR). The technical details of surgical stabilization are described, and the different types of stainless steel struts are show...

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in a 13-year-old boy with provisional hypomyopathic juvenile Dermatomyositis

Provisional hypomyopathic juvenile dermatomyositis is a subgroup of clinically amyopathic juvenile dermatomyositis provisional. The diagnostic criteria include: Classic dermatomyositis skin lesions – which have to be confirmed by biopsy –, no involvement of proximal muscles, subclinical involvement of these muscles and normal level of muscle enzymes. These criteria should be present for a minim...

XYY syndrome: a 13-year-old boy with tall stature

When evaluating the underlying causes of tall stature, it is important to differentiate pathologic tall stature from familial tall stature. Various pathologic conditions leading to adult tall stature include excess growth hormone secretion, Marfan syndrome, androgen or estrogen deficiency, testicular feminization, and sex chromosome anomaly, such as Klinefelter syndrome and XYY syndrome. Men wi...

A 13-year-old boy with elevated BUN and creatinine.