Palmaris longus is a dispensable muscle with a long tendon which is very useful in reconstructive surgery. It is absent 2.8 to 24% of the population depending on the race/ethnicity studied. Four hundred and fifty healthy subjects (equally distributed among Malaysia's 3 major ethnic groups) were clinically examined for the presence or absence of palmaris longus. This tendon was found to be absent unilaterally in 6.4% of study subjects, and bilaterally in 2.9% of study participants. Malays have a high prevalence of palmaris longus absence at 11.3% followed closely by Indians at 10.7% whilst Chinese had a low absence rate of 6.0%.

Splinting of the wrist after carpal tunnel release (CTR) has been practised by many surgeons especially in North America. The main reason was to prevent possible adverse events of bowstringing of flexor tendons and the median nerve, pillar pain, entrapment of the median nerve in scar tissue and wound dehiscence. Studies on the effect of splinting after standard CTR have had dismal results. The duration of splinting in standard CTR has been either too long (for 2-4 weeks) or too short (48 hours only). The aim of our study was to compare the effects of post-operative splinting for a duration of one week with no splinting.Methods: All 30 of our patients underwent a standardized limited open CTR by a designated surgeon. Post operatively, they were randomized into a splinted (n=16) and a nonsplinted (n=14) group. The splint was kept for a week. Patients were reviewed at regular intervals of one week, two months and six months. At each follow up, these patients were clinically assessed for the following outcome measures: VAS (visual analogue score), 2PD (two-point discrimination), pinch grip, grip, Abductor Pollicis Brevis (APB)) power and completion of the Boston questionnaire. Results: All patients presented with significant improvement in the postoperative evaluation in the analyzed parameters within each group. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups for any of the outcome measurements at sequential and at final follow-up.Conclusion: We conclude that wrist splinting in the immediate post-operative period has no advantage when compared with the unsplinted wrist after a limited open carpal tunnel release.

A Malaysian family with congenital insensitivity to pain with anhydrosis was diagnosed based on clinical symptoms of chronic ulcers, joint deformities, malunited fractures, anhydrosis, and learning disabilities. We detected a compound heterozygous mutation in exon 16: V709L from the mother and G718S from the father. Two novel mutations were identified: at amino acid 709, a change of G to C at nucleotide 2209 (approximately 2209G to C) causing a valine to leucine substitution (V709L), and at amino acid 718, a change of G to A at nucleotide 2236 (approximately 2236G to A) causing a glycine to serine substitution (G718S). Polymorphisms identified were at nucleotides approximately 2113G to C and approximately 2176T to C.

Background and Aim:Synthetic nerve conduits have been sought for repair of nerve defects as the autologous nerve grafts causes donor site morbidity and possess other drawbacks. Many strategies have been investigated to improve nerve regeneration through synthetic nerve guided conduits. Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) that share both Schwann cell and astrocytic characteristics have been shown to promote axonal regeneration after transplantation. The present study was driven by the hypothesis that tissue-engineered poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) seeded with OECs would improve peripheral nerve regeneration in a long sciatic nerve defect.Materials and Methods:Sciatic nerve gap of 15 mm was created in six adult female Sprague-Dawley rats and implanted with PLGA seeded with OECs. The nerve regeneration was assessed electrophysiologically at 2, 4 and 6 weeks following implantation. Histopathological examination, scanning electron microscopic (SEM) examination and immunohistochemical analysis were performed at the end of the study.Results:Nerve conduction studies revealed a significant improvement of nerve conduction velocities whereby the mean nerve conduction velocity increases from 4.2 ΁ 0.4 m/s at week 2 to 27.3 ΁ 5.7 m/s at week 6 post-implantation (P < 0.0001). Histological analysis revealed presence of spindle-shaped cells. Immunohistochemical analysis further demonstrated the expression of S100 protein in both cell nucleus and the cytoplasm in these cells, hence confirming their Schwann-cell-like property. Under SEM, these cells were found to be actively secreting extracellular matrix.Conclusion:Tissue-engineered PLGA conduit seeded with OECs provided a permissive environment to facilitate nerve regeneration in a small animal model.

Domestic paediatric hand injuries make up the bulk of overall paediatric hand injuries. This is a retrospective study of domestic paediatric hand injuries admitted into an urban hospital that required surgical intervention. The most common injuries sustained were tendon injuries (24%), total amputations (20%) and laceration wounds (16%). Accordingly the most common surgical interventions were tendon repairs (28%), toilet suturing (24%) and refashioning (20%). Parents and care providers need to be more vigilant and careful when supervising children including ensuring the safe storage of dangerous items. Sharp items may require additional safety features and warning labels.