Complications in ambulatory pediatric patients with nonidiopathic spinal deformity undergoing fusion to the pelvis using the sacral-alar-iliac technique within 2 years of surgery

OBJECTIVE Significant investigation in the adult population has generated a body of research regarding proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) and proximal junctional failure (PJF) following long fusions to the sacrum and pelvis. However, much less is known regarding early complications, including PJK and PJF, in the ambulatory pediatric patient. As such, the objective of this study was to address the minimal literature on early complications after ambulatory pediatric patients underwent fusion to the sacrum with instrumentation to the pelvis in the era of sacral-alar-iliac (S2AI) instrumentation. METHODS The authors performed a retrospective review of pediatric patients with nonidiopathic spinal deformity < 18 years of age with ambulatory capacity who underwent fusion to the pelvis at a multisurgeon pediatric academic spine practice from 2016 to 2018. All surgeries were posterior-only approaches with S2AI screws as the primary technique for sacropelvic fixation. Descriptive, outcome, and radiographic data were obtained. The definition of PJF included symptomatic PJK presenting as fracture, screw pullout, or disruption of the posterior osseoligamentous complex. RESULTS Twenty-five patients were included in this study. Nine patients (36.0%) had 15 complications for an overall complication rate of 60.0%. Unplanned return to the operating room occurred 8 times in 6 patients (24.0%). Four patients (16.0%) had wound issues (3 with deep wound infection and 1 with wound breakdown) requiring reoperation. Three patients (12.0%) had PJF, all requiring reoperation. A 16-year-old female patient with syndromic scoliosis underwent extension of fusion due to posterior tension band failure at 6 months. A 17-year-old male patient with neuromuscular scoliosis underwent extension of fusion due to proximal screw pullout at 5 months. A 10-year-old female patient with congenital scoliosis underwent extension for PJF at 5 months following posterior tension band failure. One patient had pseudarthrosis requiring reoperation 20 months postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS Fixation to the pelvis enables significant deformity correction, but with rather high rates of complications and unexpected returns to the operating room. Considerations of sagittal plane dynamics for PJK and PJF should be strongly analyzed when performing fixation to the pelvis in ambulatory pediatric patients.

A Five Years Old Child with Failure To Thrive and Vomiting Presenting as a Diagnostic Dilemma: A Case Report

Vomiting with failure to thrive in older children is a diagnostic challenge due to the diversity in the diagnosis. We report a case of a five-years-old girl with failure to thrive, history of recurrent vomiting and intermittent colicky pain abdomen since 45 days of life. Intestinal malrotation with Ladd’s band was diagnosed based on clinical acumen, high- resolution computed tomography, barium follow through and intraoperative findings. Exploratory laparotomy with Ladd’s procedure was performed under general anesthesia which showed malrotation at the duodenojejunal junction with a short route of mesentery with floating caecum with Ladd’s band. Failure to thrive with malrotation of the gut in the older age group is rare in itself. As there are very few cases reported in this age group, so we undertook to report this case to increase the awareness of knowledge concerning the diagnosis and timely management to prevent the comorbidity of this condition.

A plane strain testing apparatus characterized by flexible loading and noncontact deformation measurement and its application to the study of shear band failure of sand

A new type of plane strain apparatus is developed to study the mechanical properties and shear band failure of soil, which possesses the advantages of flexible loading for lateral confining pressure and noncontact measurement and high measurement accuracy for surface deformation. In addition, the whole deformation procedure of the specimen can be recorded with images, which can be used to describe the development of strain localization and the shear band. It can be seen that the deformation process has three obvious stages, that is, the hardening stage, the softening stage, and the residual stage. The measured inclination angles of shear bands decrease as confining pressure or the mean size increases. In addition, it can be observed that the sand presents continuing growth of the unrecoverable plastic deformation inside the shear band and exhibits almost elastic deformation outside. From the detection results for local points in the specimen, the stress–strain relationships are different for different parts, and the sand sample behaves like an uneven structure instead of an even element, which means that the usual method of measuring the stress–strain relationship of the soil sample is only a macroscopic approximation.

A mechanism of banding failure in excessively dilated fistulas

Introduction: We present an unreported cause of banding failure for flow restriction in dramatically enlarged arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs). Case series: Four patients operated in different institutions by two different surgeons experienced band failure within 6 months of the initially successful operation for AVF flow restriction. Prior to the initial banding procedure, each patient’s AVF was noted to have major dilatation of the post-anastomotic segment (>2 cm). All patients required a second operation for flow reduction with reconstruction of the AVF anastomosis to a tapered, smaller size. During this second procedure, the suture tie used for banding in each patient was found to have eroded a portion of the vessel wall and was extending into the fistula lumen. No thrombosis or bleeding was encountered and all AVFs have remained functional after revision. Conclusions: Identical findings in these four patients suggest that the extensive infolding and caliber diameter reduction created by banding these massively dilated fistulas, when combined with the pulsatility induced in the pre-banding segment, leads to a gradual incorporation of the suture tie into the vessel wall and finally within the lumen. We suggest erosion of banding material and failure of flow reduction may occur with any technique but may be more likely with a single polypropylene suture restricting very large AVF. We suggest such excessively dilated fistulas requiring flow reduction may be successfully treated by reconstruction of the AVF anastomosis to a much smaller size with tapering of the outflow vein to accommodate the revision.