Biomedical subjects
S Rigal
Publications and source records attributed to S Rigal.
[Workshop of military reconstructive surgery in Conakry May 1999: example of civilian-military cooperation in responding to medical-surgical crisis emergencies].
During the period from 1998 to 1999, civil wars broke out in number of west African countries including Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea Bissau. Due to the situation in surrounding countries, Guinea Conakry was forced to accept nearly 650000 refugees whose presence represented a major risk for the socio-political stability of the country. International organizations and NGOs condemned the atrocities inflicted on civilian populations by the children serving as soldiers in the RUF rebels organizations of Sierra Leone and Liberia. These attacks included murders, gang rapes, abduction of children and young people, and mutilation of extremities of people of all ages ranging from infants to elderly. Treatment of mutilation victims requires the availability of facilities for surgical treatment and prosthetic fitting in Guinea Conakry. The humanitarian action division of the French Foreign Affairs Department and the NGO Handicap International decided to provide specialized training in the management of mutilation injuries to surgical groups in hospitals of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The program consisted in a workshop on reconstructive surgery for war-related injuries to allow optimal prosthetic fitting for reinsertion of mutilation victims into society.
Chemokine SDF-1 enhances circulating CD34(+) cell proliferation in synergy with cytokines: possible role in progenitor survival.
The chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), and its receptor, CXCR-4, have been implicated in the homing and mobilization of human CD34(+) cells. We show here that SDF-1 may also be involved in hematopoiesis, promoting the proliferation of human CD34(+) cells purified from normal adult peripheral blood (PB). CXCR-4 was expressed on PB CD34(+) cells. The amount of CXCR-4 on PB CD34(+) cells was 10 times higher when CD34(+) cells were purified following overnight incubation. CXCR-4 overexpression was correlated with a primitive PB CD34(+) cell subset defined by a CD34(high) CD38(low)CD71(low)c-Kit(low)Thy-1(+) antigenic profile. The functional significance of CXCR-4 expression was ascertained by assessing the promoting effect of SDF-1alpha on cell cycle, proliferation, and colony formation. SDF-1 alone increased the percentage of CD34(+) cells in the S+G(2)/M phases and sustained their survival. In synergy with cytokines, SDF-1 increased PB CD34(+) and CD34(high)CD38(low) cell expansion and colony formation. SDF-1 also stimulated the growth of colonies derived from primitive progenitors released from quiescence by anti-TGF-beta treatment. Thus, our results shed new light on the potential role of this chemokine in the stem cell engraftment process, which involves migration, adhesion, and proliferation. Furthermore, both adhesion-induced CXCR-4 overexpression and SDF-1 stimulating activity may be of clinical relevance for improving cell therapy settings in stem cell transplantation.
[Reconstruction of post-traumatic diaphyseal bone loss by segmental bone transfer].
Until the beginning of the 1980s, reconstruction of major post-traumatic diaphyseal bone loss as an alternative to amputation was possible only by massive autologous bone grafts. Such a technique was limited by the amount of available bone required for grafting. Ilizarov explained the distraction osteogenesis principle and designed a circular external fixation material that was suitable for compression-extension. He described the concept of segmental bone transfer, which allows bone regeneration to take place within the actual injured limb. Our present experience is based on the literature and the study of 12 cases. All patients presented with significant post-traumatic tibial bone loss ranging from 45 to 145 mm. In this article, we discuss the indications, benefits and risks of such a technique compared to classic methods. Mainly indicated in patients who have sustained significant bone loss, bone transfer is the method of choice for preserving bone stock and correcting limb discrepancy, although it does not reduce consolidation time. Moreover, circular external fixations are often poorly tolerated and may be replaced by unilateral devices that are easier to install.
[Treatment of severe osteoarticular injuries in under conditions of war].
With the experience obtained in a surgical air borne unit and the long term results in a rear zone hospital, we analyse treatments of bone and joint acute traumas in a field hospital. This injuries appear in a particular context: delayed treatments with little staff and equipment. The surgeon has to be fast with protective measures, debridement of soft tissues, bone stabilisation and vascular repair. We discuss the respective place of each treatment: amputations are dictated by the gravity of the wounds; orthopedic methods are used for the upper limb, for the lower limb they are waiting technics; external fixation stabilizes fastly bone injuries, facilitates transportation and permits delayed reconstruction technics. Indications have to be adapted to circumstances: in a surgical unit with rear evacuation possibility the dramatic choice of amputation is often avoided by external fixator; in a short time mission for civilian populations, amputations are more often used but if conservative treatment is preferred, external fixator must be widely used.
[Abdomino-pelvic-gluteal war injuries. Principles of treatment].
From a series of 316 cases of war wounds, the authors selected those cases in which the entry or exit wound was situated between the iliac crests and the inferior gluteal fold and report a series of 21 wounds (including 17 assault gunshot wounds) involving the perineal, pelvic and/or gluteal regions. Wounds of these regions are characterized by their immediate severity (10% mortality in this series), due to the complexity of combined lesions (urethra, rectum, hip, abdominal and vascular lesions) and the severity of sequelae. This series included 5 anorectal wounds, 5 urethral wounds and 4 hip wounds. Based on this series and a review of the literature, the authors discuss diagnostic problems (risk of missing abdominal penetration, a retroperitoneal rectal wound or an articular wound). Principles of treatments are also described (wide debridement and drainage, systematic colostomy for wounds of the rectum and large soft tissues wounds, systematic cystostomy for bladder and urethral wounds and alignment of urethral wounds whenever possible, articular lavage and immobilization by external fixation of hip wounds).
[Surgical activity at the military health service antenna during the Turquoise operation in Rwanda June-August 1994].
The military health service provided a surgery antenna during the two months of the Turquoise operation in Zaire and Rwanda. During this period, the antenna functioned as a back-up station for the French troop and the local populations subjected to various conditions: Rwanda refugees who had escaped the massacres, subjects wounded by canon shots, war wounds, surgery emergencies in the refugee population. There were 315 operations performed including 33% in children and 70% for lesions of the limbs. The activity during the mission was analyzed on the basis of strategy for surgical diagnosis and treatment under local conditions (lack of complementary examinations, limited number of personnel, disrupted families in the refugee population, no possibility for transfer, major cholera and dysentery epidemic...).
[Rwanda and Zaire: a surgical outpost during Operation Turquoise].
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[Surgical treatment of rupture of the plantar fascia].
Among the various lesions of the hindfoot in athletes, plantar fascia ruptures are not well documented and their surgical treatment is not often reported in the literature. The purpose of the current work was to more precisely define therapeutic indications and to evaluate the results of the surgical treatment based on the excision-release of the plantar fascia. Between 1986 and 1991, 19 patients (5 females, 14 males, average age 32 years) were operated on by one surgeon. All patients were either recreational or competitive athletes. The plantar fascia rupture occurred 18 times during sports activity. Surgical treatment was indicated when pain persisted despite a well conducted conservative treatment. In 17 cases, MRI allowed to plan the operative strategy by showing the fascia lesion. The patients were operated after an average of 8 months following the initial injury (6-16 months). One patient was lost for follow-up, 2 had a follow-up below 6 months, thus 16 patients were available for analysis. The clinical outcome was evaluated through persistence of pain, return to sports, and functional activity. With a 16-month average follow-up (6-51 months) it was observed that pain constantly disappeared and that 11 patients over 16 returned to the same level of sports activity after 6 months with a time-stable result. After failure of a well conducted conservative treatment, surgical treatment of plantar fascia rupture must be proposed. Surgical technique is based not only on fascia release but also on the excision of the pathological scar tissue in order to avoid the restoration of the continuity of the fascia with the calcaneus.