Abstract. The present retrospective study was designed to compare the pain relief, surgery duration, life quality, survival time and relative prognostic factors in multiple myeloma (MM) bone disease patients with different surgical sites. A total of 65 cases were enrolled and divided into two groups. Group A included patients with lesions located in the spine, while Group B included patients with lesions located in the long bone or soft tissue. Pain relief was measured by the visual analogue scale (VAS), neurological impairment was determined according to Frankel classification, and survival was assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression analysis was also used to estimate the effect of factors on the prediction of survival. The hospitalization time, preoperative duration of symptoms, method of surgery, complications, recurrence and survival time were evaluated and compared retrospectively. Pain relief and improvement of life quality were observed in all the patients in groups A and B. No significant differences were detected for the majority of parameters compared between groups A and B, with the exception of the surgery duration, as well as the postoperative VAS score at 1 and 6 months after surgery. The multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed several risk factors significantly associated with survival, including the preoperative VAS score, postoperative chemotherapy, prothrombin time activity (PTA), albumin, lactate dehydrogenase and urine protein level. In conclusion, surgical treatment was an effective therapeutic method in patients with MM. Postoperative analgesic use should be individualized according to the different surgical sites and postoperative periods. Furthermore, preoperative pain, PTA, albumin, urine protein level and postoperative chemotherapy are associated with prognosis.

We report a 38-year-old man of multiple myeloma with bilateral femoral nerve entrapment caused by bilateral huge protruding masses in the inguinal areas. The masses were identified as iliopsoas muscular amyloidoma after the operation. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma 1 year ago before he was admitted to our hospital. He complained of muscle weakness in the bilateral thigh and protruding lumps in the bilateral inguinal areas with tenderness for 6 month. The pelvic MRI revealed round masses in the iliopsoas muscles of bilateral inguinal areas. To implement the nerve decompression, the resection of the bilateral masses was done. The pathological result showed Congo red-positive substance with green birefringence to polarized light in a dense fibrous background. Before the operation, six cycles of chemotherapy with VAD (vincristine, adriamycin, dexamethasone) and two cycles of chemotherapy with PAD (bortezomib, adriamycin, dexamethasone) regimen were performed. One month after the operations, one cycle of chemotherapy with PADT (bortezomib, adriamycin, dexamethasone, thalidomide) regimen was used and the patient reached complete remission. The function of the bilateral femoral nerves restored to normal 7 months after the operation with a Karnofsky score of 100. Twenty-two months follow-up showed that there was no evidence of the recurrence of the iliopsoas muscular amyloidoma and no progression of multiple myeloma.

Because of few anatomic reports investigating the mechanism of lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), we performed cadaveric and clinical studies to investigate the involvement of neurovascular bundles passing through the common extensor origin. We dissected and observed under a light microscope tissue samples of neurovascular bundles passing through the common extensor tendon from 40 upper left and right limbs from cadavers. Tissue samples were prepared by hematoxylin & eosin and Weil's myelin staining. We also investigated the records of 20 patients who had been treated for lateral epicondylitis between 1991 and 2004. From cadavers, we found 60 bundles in the common extensor tendon, each 0.5 to 1.0 mm in diameter, with more bundles in the right than left limbs. Twenty-four of these bundles passed over the vertex of the lateral epicondyle of the humerus, and most of the bundles contained only one artery each. The bundles mostly originated from the radial recurrent artery, passing through the aponeurosis of the extensor corpi radialis brevis, but in some cases originated from the radial collateral artery, passing through the aponeurosis of the triceps brachii muscle. The bundles had a membranous covering when passing through the aponeurosis and produced a hiatus. Histological analysis of resected common extensor tendon tissue, 1 cm in diameter, of patients showed hyaline degeneration and fibrosis formation infiltration. Neurovascular bundles passed through the common extensor tendon in nine cases; six cases showed pulsing bleeding. After a mean follow-up of two years (6-48 months), 16 cases showed excellent results, two showed good results and two showed reliefs. Lateral epicondylitis could be caused by damage to neurovascular bundles when they pass Correspondence to: Xin-Ru Du, MD, . Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY on 08/27/15. For personal use only. when passing through the common extensor tendon, secondary to the pathologic degeneration of the origin of the common extensor tendon.