Resumo

VERGARA-AMADOR, Enrique  e  LARGO GONZALEZ, Jorge Andrés. Progressive fibrosis of the quadriceps muscle. rev.fac.med. [online]. 2011, vol.59, n.2, pp.125-131. ISSN 0120-0011.

Background. Fibrosis of the quadriceps in children is a frequently reported pathology which is associated with antibiotics having been injected into the thigh. This study presents a series of patients having a common background of having had a single pentavalent vaccine dose or injectable vitamin K and presenting progressive fibrosis of the quadriceps muscle. Materials and methods. Seven children were found who had progressive unilateral retraction of the knee. Six of them had a background of a single dose of vaccine having been given when they were four months old, suffering muscle contractions/spasms 4 to 8 weeks after the application; one child had been given vitamin K when born. Results. Magnetic resonance revealed alterations in the intermediate vastus medialis obliquus (VMO) without intra-articular pathology. Average age when surgery was performed was 18 months (16-20 month range) and preoperational flexion was 26° (20°-30°). The quadriceps central tendon was stretched, without quadriceplasy, flexion being improved to 90° in 1 case and 100° to 120° in the remaining ones. Minimum follow-up lasted six months, average post-operational flexion being 109° (90°-120°). Discussion. The intermediate VMO has been used for applying drugs. There is evidence that this muscular portion has poor perfusion in children. The fibrosis's physiopathology is still not exactly known. Many children are given a poor diagnosis, this being confused with articular pathologies so that they wrongly receive other types of surgery.

Palavras-chave : fibrosis; contracture; quadriceps muscle; vaccines.

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