There have been no previous reports of a spinal subdural haematoma occurring as a complication of spinal surgery. We highlight the pitfalls in the diagnosis and management of a subacute subdural haematoma resulting from a dural tear which occurred as a surgical complication of microdiscectomy.

We report an unusual presentation of a solitary plasma-cell myeloma of the spine in an adolescent patient. Our case indicates the need to consider plasma-cell myeloma as a differential diagnosis even in younger patients.

We compared 74 total hip arthroplasties (THAs) carried out after previous proximal femoral osteotomy with a diagnosis-matched control group of 74 primary procedures performed during the same period. We report the perioperative results and the clinical and radiological outcome at five to ten years.

We anticipated a higher rate of complications in the group with previous osteotomy, but found no significant difference in the rate of perioperative complications (11% each) or in the septic (8% v 3%) and aseptic (4% each) revision rates. There was a trend towards improved survival in the group without previous osteotomy (90% v 82%), but this difference was not statistically significant. The only significant differences were a higher rate of trochanteric osteotomy (88% v 14%) and a longer operating time in the osteotomy group.

Our study indicates that THA after previous osteotomy is technically more demanding but not necessarily associated with a higher rate of complications. Furthermore, proximal femoral osteotomy does not jeopardise the clinical and radiological outcome of future THA enough to exclude the use of osteotomy as a therapeutic alternative in younger patients.

We describe an unusual injury to the upper cervical spine sustained during ejection from an aircraft. MRI provided an accurate and direct diagnosis of the severe ligamentous injuries.