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Biomedical subjects

L T Ford

Publications and source records attributed to L T Ford.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Tendon rupture after local steroid injection.

Thirteen patients who developed 15 ruptured tendons subsequent to injection of a depository steroid in or about the tendons are described. Eight were treated surgically. Ruptures were encountered in three Achilles tendons, two supraspinati, one lateral epicondylar attachment at the elbow, eight tendons of the long head of the biceps at the shoulder, and one anterior tibial tendon. Measures designed to lessen this complication are described. In most cases triamcinolone hexacetonide was used as the depository steroid, mixed with procaine or lidocaine. Patients with this complication who were not treated surgically were the older patients who had ruptures of the tendon of the long head of the biceps.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Disarticulation for failed surgical procedures about the hip.

Complications following treatment of disease about the hip may render a limb so nonfunctional that the patient is confined to bed or a wheelchair. Admitting therapeutic defeat and knowing "how and when to quit" may be wise. Four chronically disabled patients released from their confinement and rehabilitated by disarticulation of the hip are described.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Analysis of gas in vacuum lumbar disc.

In three cases in which chemonucleolysis with chymopapain was used for the treatment of back and sciatic pain, gas from the vacuum phenomenon of a degenerated lumbar intervertebral disc was recovered. In one of these, the gas analyzed by gas chromatography contained 90%--92% nitrogen.

Chymopapain↗
PubMed1976

Postoperative infection of lumbar intervertebral disk space.

Sixteen cases of postoperative intervertebral disk space infection are reviewed. Most occurred after diskectomy, but one followed an unsuccessful attempt at a spinal anesthetic and two followed diskography. Treatment varied from aggressive surgery, either by a posterior, lateral, or anterior approach, to drain the infected disk space or spaces, to more conservative immobilization. Antibiotics were used in all cases. Needle biopsy is valuable in establishing diagnosis and identifying the organism and its antibiotic sensitivities. In some cases fusion occurred spontaneously from the infection; in others, fusion was a result of surgical fusion preceding or following the infection.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An evaluation of narrowing following intradiskal injection of chymopapain.

Lateral X-rays of lumbosacral spines of 76 patients who received chymopapain injection for lumbar disk lesions after a positive myelogram and diskogram were examined and measured to determine the degree of narrowing which occurred after injection of the enzyme. There were 2 groups of patients, those with clinically good results after injection, and those with poor results. Measurements were made of the injected and adjacent noninjected disk spaces. The validity of the method used with established by a correlation of 0.95 over a period of time for the uninjected disks. The narrowing after injection was significant at the p less than 0.01 level for both clinical successes and failures, but the degree of narrowing was significantly greater for the clinically good results.

Chymopapain↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Chymopapain--past and present, future?

Clinical experience with Chymopapain casts doubts upon the reported results of the limited double blind studies done mainly by surgeons and their residents, relatively inexperienced in the disc injection technique. Chymopapain is a useful drug when used properly for lumbar disc disease and has the potential of eliminating three-fourths of lumbar disc surgery. Chymopapain should have been released by the FDA on a Phase IV basis. In the mean-time the drug is available in Canada and England but not in the U.S.

Animals↗