Distal biceps tendon injection

Background: Injection therapy around the distal biceps tendon insertion is challenging. This therapy may be indicated in patients with a partial distal biceps tendon tear, bicipitoradial bursitis and tendinopathy. The primary goal of this study was to determine the accuracy of manually performed injections without ultrasound guidance around the biceps tendon.Methods: Seven upper limb specialists, two general orthopedic specialists and three orthopedic surgical residents manually injected a cadaver elbow with acrylic dye using an anterior and a lateral infiltration approach. After infiltration the cadaveric elbows were dissected to determine the location of the acrylic dye.Results: In total, 79% of the injections were localized near the biceps tendon. Of these injections, 20% were localized on the radius near the bicipitoradial bursa. In total, 53% of the performed infiltrations were injected by anterior and 47% by lateral approaches. Of the injections near the distal biceps (79%), 47% were injected by an anterior and 53% by a lateral approach. Of the injections on the radius (20%), 33% were injected by anterior and 67% by lateral approach. Of the inaccurate injections (21%), 75% were injected anterior and 25% lateral. Conclusion: Manual infiltration without ultrasound guidance for distal biceps pathology lacks accuracy. We therefore recommend ultrasound guidance for more accurate infiltration.

IMPACT OF PERMANENT BED RENOVATION PRACTICE ON IRRIGATION PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY

Renovating permanent raised beds (PRB) generally aims to restore shape and increase water infiltration. However, their impact on irrigation performance and productivity in clay soil are unknown. Therefore, no-tillage (NT), shallow cultivation (SC) and blade loosening (BL) renovation methods were evaluated on a corn crop in clay (Vertisol). Results showed optimal irrigation performance (irrigation efficiencies and uniformity >70%) for the NT treatment and significantly lower application efficiency (Ea) for the SC and BL treatments. However, the BL treatment significantly increased the lateral infiltration thus wetted the 2 m wide beds during the normal irrigation periods. Similarly, the 0-30cm bulk density profiles of the BL treatment were significantly less than that of the NT and SC treatments throughout the experimental period. However, BL treatment has shown the potential to increase water productivity (WP) up to 7% when compared with NT treatment. Modelling showed Ea for the SC and BL treatments could be improved to effectively equal that of the NT treatment by increasing (up to double) the inflow rate (Q) and reducing (up to half) time to cut-off (Tco). Thus, the BL treatment can quickly enhance lateral infiltration in subsided wide beds in Vertisol at no significant trade-off and has the potential to enhance productivity.