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In long-term haemodialysis patients, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) frequently occurs as a result of amyloid deposition, originating from beta-2 microglobulin, to the flexor retinaculum, paratenons and tendons themselves, which leads to an increase in carpal canal pressure and compression of the median nerve. Surgical procedures can rectify the condition, but continuing maintenance haemodialysis sometimes causes recurrence.

We endoscopically operated 1848 hands primarily, 104 recurrent post-endoscopic procedure hands and 130 recurrent post-open procedure hands using the Universal Subcutaneous Endoscope (USE) system, then analysed clinical symptoms and electrophysiological recovery for more than six months post-operatively. The patients were satisfied with the clinical results. Optimal electrophysiological improvements were reported. There were no statistical differences between three groups, except in recovery of touch sensation, which was better in the post-endoscopic group than in the post-open group. There were no complications in this series.

Our minimally invasive endoscopic procedure, using the USE system, is safe and effective for primary and recurrent CTS in haemodialysis patients.

Purpose: To compare the patients operated on for lumbar disc hernia with two different methods in view of pain, disability, physical performance, physical activity and aerobic capacity. Methods: Forty-one patients were included in the study (group I, nucleoplasty – n = 14), (group II, lumbar discectomy – n = 27). Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was performed for pain; Oswestry Disability Index for lumbar disability level; total rolling time, lie/sit, sit and stand, 50 foot walking and five-minute walk tests for physical performance measurements; the Compendium of Physical Activities (CPA) scale for activity level measurement, and VO₂ max measurements for aerobic capacity. Results: In the second month's controls, changes of pain and disability levels were insignificant in both groups, even though pain in nucleoplasty group and disability in discectomy group were found to be better. In performance measurements, group II showed better results in the second postoperative month, whereas group I had better results in the sixth postoperative month. The levels of physical activity in group I, and of aerobic capacity in group II increased significantly. Conclusion: Different physiotherapy approaches are necessary to obtain good results in terms of pain intensity, disability, physical performance, physical activity and aerobic capacity, since these parameters are found to be worse during the sixth month postoperative in patients who had undergone lumbar discectomy.

Over the last decades, facing the blooming growth of technological progress, interest in digital devices such as computed tomography (CT) as well as magnetic resource imaging which emerged in the 1970s has continued to grow. Such medical data can be invested in numerous visual recognition applications. In this context, these data may be segmented to generate a precise 3D representation of an organ that may be visualized and manipulated to aid surgeons during surgical interventions. Notably, the segmentation process is performed manually through the use of image processing software. Within this framework, multiple outstanding approaches were elaborated. However, the latter proved to be inefficient and required human intervention to opt for the segmentation area appropriately. Over the last few years, automatic methods which are based on deep learning approaches have outperformed the state-of-the-art segmentation approaches due to the use of the relying on Convolutional Neural Networks. In this paper, a segmentation of preoperative patients CT scans based on deep learning architecture was carried out to determine the target organ’s shape. As a result, the segmented 2D CT images are used to generate the patient-specific biomechanical 3D model. To assess the efficiency and reliability of the proposed approach, the 3DIRCADb dataset was invested. The segmentation results were obtained through the implementation of a U-net architecture with good accuracy.

Background: The aim of this randomised prospective study is to compare the outcomes of traditional open trigger digit release versus ultrasound-guided modified small needle-knife (SNK) percutaneous release in the treatment of trigger digits.

Methods: Patients with grade 2 and above trigger digits were enrolled into the study and randomly assigned to traditional open surgery (OS) or ultrasound-guided modified SNK percutaneous release group. The patients were followed up for 7, 30 and 180 days after treatment and data with regard to visual analogue scale (VAS) score and Quinnell grading (QG) was collected and compared between the two groups.

Results: A total of 72 patients were enrolled in the study with 30 in the OS group and 42 in the SNK group. VAS scores and QG of the two groups significantly decreased at 7 days and 30 days after treatment compared to before treatment, but there was no significant difference between the two groups. There was also no differences between the two groups at 180 days and between the values at 30 days and 180 days.

Conclusions: The outcomes of ultrasound-guided SNK percutaneous release is similar to traditional OS.

Level of Evidence: Level II (Therapeutic)