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The combination of anterior and posterior instrumentation provides the most stable repair for burst fractures of the thoracolumbar spine. However, the use of both approaches on a trauma patient may increase morbidity. Stabilization of three columns through only one approach can provide an effective outcome. We treated eight patients with burst fracture involving the thoracic or lumbar vertebrae by the application of anterior and posterior stabilization instruments through only the posterior approach. The desired stabilization was obtained in all patients. The advantages are the absence of the risks of the anterior approach, facilitation of the placement of anterior and posterior stabilization devices through only one approach, preserving the unity of the anterior longitudinal ligament, the effect of the anterior corpus in preventing displacement of the cage, application of compression on the pedicle screw system to both decrease the kyphosis angulation due to collapse of vertebra and to help the stabilization of the cage, repair of the dural tears at the posterior side, prevention of cage displacement by distraction and thus leaning on the endplates, and ease of performance by a neurosurgeon alone.

Total hip arthroplasty in dislocated developmental hip dysplasia is a complex, technically demanding procedure with high complication rates. Anatomic abnormalities and the young age of the patients influence the results. Restoration of the anatomic hip center often requires shortening of the femur in order to avoid over-stretching of neurovascular structures. We performed cementless total hip arthroplasty with subtrochanteric transverse osteotomy on 44 hips in 31 patients. There were 29 female and 2 male patients. The average age at the time of the operation was 43.2 (range, 22-63 years) and the mean follow up period was 62 months (range, 24-96 months). Harris hip scores improved from 36.2 to 81.2 with good and excellent results in 79.5% of the patients. We stabilized the osteotomy line with low contact plates and screws primarily on 10 hips when rotational stability was in doubt. In the other hips, good initial rotational stability was obtained by the femoral component. However, we observed 5 nonunions in patients whose osteotomies were not stabilized with plates. These patients were later treated successfully with internal fixation and autogenous bone grafting. The osteotomies healed at a mean time of 4 months (range, 2.5-14 months). Postoperatively two dislocations, one acetabular component displacement under the structural bone autograft and two superficial infections were seen. There were no cases of symptomatic loosening, deep infection, or neurovascular injury. Subtrochanteric transverse osteotomy is a versatile, relatively easy and reliable method for shortening the femur when performing cementless total hip arthroplasty in hip dysplasia cases. This technique makes it possible to implant standard sized cementless femoral stems. When necessary, tortional stability may further be augmented with a plate and screws.

In this paper, we report a case of a 14-year-old girl with congenital aplasia of the flexor pollicis longus tendon who had no other associated anomalies of thumb hypoplasia and no trauma history. Flexor pollicis longus tendon anomalies are rare; several types of this congenital anomaly have been reported in the literature. The diagnosis should be considered if a patient is unable to flex the interphalangeal joint of the thumb. A hypoplastic thumb or an absent interphalangeal joint crease may be a diagnostic feature in such cases. Besides physical examination, we also used direct radiography and magnetic resonance imaging to diagnose this rare congenital anomaly in our patient.

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