We present a patient who suffered an unstable intertrochanteric hip fracture and underwent osteosynthesis with a trochanteric nail. During the postoperative period, he presented a pseudoaneurysm of the lateral circumflex branch of the deep femoral artery secondary to a displaced fracture of the lesser trochanter. With the suspected diagnosis due to indirect clinical and radiological signs and confirmation by Doppler ultrasound and computed tomography angiography, a transverse arterial embolization with resolution of the symptoms was carried out. The pseudoaneurysm of the deep femoral artery or its branches is a very rare complication after intertrochanteric hip fractures, which must be taken into account in the late appearance of edema and hematoma in the thigh and evidence of medial and superior displacement of the lesser trochanter. The diagnosis is confirmed by CT angiography and the treatment by percutaneous arterial embolization has good results without the need of excising the lesser trochanter.

Preoperative autologous blood collection and the reinfusion of postoperative blood salvaged from wound drainage can help to decrease the use of homologous blood transfusion in total knee arthroplasty. We have evaluated 100 primary total knee arthroplasties carried out at the García Orcoyen Hospital between 2001-2003. Eighty-eight point seven percent (88.7%) of available autotransfusion blood packs were employed and the average blood reinfusion from wound drainage was 374 ml. (range: 200-950 ml) when this method was possible. In 69% of cases homologous blood transfusion was not necessary. While other techniques are being developed, we think that autologous blood collection and blood reinfusion from wound drainage are effective in reducing the need for homologous blood transfusion; this is important because of the potential risk of reactions, disease transmission and limited blood bank resources.

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Neuropathic arthropathies is a destructive and deforming joint process related to a disruption of propioceptive and nocioceptive innervation. Growth factors, neurological and vascular factors might be involved. Diabetes, alcoholic neuropathy or syringomyelia appear as the most common causes. We report the case of a 61-year-old woman affected by syringomyelia, with a neuropathic arthropathy of the shoulder. Differential diagnosis includes neurological diseases, septic arthritis, tumours and other destructive arthropathies such as aseptic nechrosis, chronic osteomyelitis, synovial chondromatosis, metabolic diseases (gout, chondrocalcinosis) or repetitive haemarthrosis in haemophilia.

Se administró por vía oral el cancerígeno Dietilnitrosamina (DENA) a ratas Wistar durante 22 semanas (5 mg/k de peso y día). Durante este período, se sacrificaron cada semana 3 ratas tratadas y una control. Se recogieron dos partes de cada hígado; una, se congeló con Ni líquido y se almacenó a -30° e; la segunda, se fijó durante 24 horas a 4° e en formol-calcio y luego, se almacenó en sacarosa-goma arábiga. Se realizaron cortes de 10 µ mediante criostato y se estudiaron histoquímicamente los siguientes enzimas: Fosfatasa alcalina, fosfatasa ácida, ubiquinonas, esterasas, β-hidroxibutirato dehidrogenasa, succinato dehidrogenasa, NADH diaforasa, NADPH diaforasa, lactato dehidrogenasa, glutamato dehidrogenasa, malato dehidrogenasa y α-glicerofosfato dehidrogenasa. Alrededor de la 18.ª semana se formaron nódulos de células cancerosas. Los hallazgos histoquímicos más importantes fueron: Desde la semana 8.ª, la fosfatasa ácida fue difusa y menos intensa en ciertas áreas; la fosfatasa alcalina se mostró positiva en los canalículos biliares desde la semana 15ª en adelante; la ubiquinona presentó escasa intensidad en los nódulos tumorales; la enzima malato dehidrogenasa fue completamente negativa sólo durante las primeras 14 semanas. Sobre la base de estos resultados, se discute el papel de los lisosomas en la patogénesis del cáncer.