Background and Objective(s): It is widely assumed that muscles are weaker following surgical lengthening in children with cerebral palsy (CP). An alternative technique, "slow surgical lengthening" (SSL, pure aponeurotic lengthening without disruption of the underlying muscle belly, followed by gentle positional stretching over time) has been developed based upon modern understanding of skeletal muscle myoarchitecture and physiology. The goal of the study was to assess the strength of the knee flexor (agonist) and extensor (antagonist) muscle groups following SSL of the medial hamstring muscles (MHM). Study Design: Retrospective, consecutive case series (cohort study). Study Participants & Setting: Thirty children with CP (GMFCS I [16] or II [14], mean age 10.1 y) who received SSL of the MHM as part of single event multi-level surgery, who had muscle strength testing pre-and post-operatively (mean time from surgery to post-operative gait analysis was 1 y + 2 mo) as part of a comprehensive gait analysis were included. Materials/Methods: Isometric and isokinetic testing of the knee flexor and extensor muscle groups were performed with the subject seated with 90 degrees of hip flexion utilizing a Biodex System 3. Isometric knee flexor and extensor testing occurred at 30 and 90 degrees of knee flexion, respectively. Isokinetic testing occurred through the subject's active knee range of motion at 60 degrees per second. Results: Isometric strength was unchanged for knee flexor and extensor muscle groups, (p = 0.555, 0.955 respectively) and isokinetic strength was significantly improved for both the knee flexor and extensor muscle groups (p = 0.003, 0.004, respectively) following SSL of the MHM (Table 1).

We determined the necessary signal-to-noise threshold for 50% sentence discrimination in 130 patients with sensorineural hearing disorders with and without a hearing aid, as well as the minimum monosyllable discrimination loss without hearing aid. A significant correlation coefficient was found to exist of the signal-to-noise threshold with vs. that without hearing aid (r = 0.61), and between the minimum discrimination loss and the signal-to-noise threshold with hearing aid (r = 0.38). These differences in the correlation coefficient indicate that the impairment of speech perception in noise when using a hearing aid is obviously due to the deterioration of the signal-to-noise threshold induced by the hearing loss rather than to the discrimination loss per se.

We report on the follow-up examination results of 881 operated hip joints which were implanted in the Innsbruck University Clinic for Orthopedics during the period 1968--1975. Due to exact checking 75% of all patients could be clinically control-examined during 1978 and all available information regarding the others was collected. In the patient group with an average age of 62.5 years the course of postoperative mobility over the years was mainly examined. Functional activity, subjective patient opinion, pain, work capability and weather sensitivity were also analyzed. After an implantation period of the hip prosthesis of 3--10 years encouraging results were shown. Aseptic prostheses loosenings (9.8%) were examined with regard to their causes. The infection rate was very low at 0.56% and also periarticular calcification only occurred comparatively seldom (13.5%). Other complications were recorded in 6.8% of the patients. In total, 74% of the operated patients offered a very good or good complete result.

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