Aims

The present study aimed to investigate whether patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) undergoing joint arthroplasty have a higher incidence of adverse outcomes than those without IBD.

The June 2012 Research Roundup. 360. looks at: platelet-rich plasma; ageing, bone and mesenchymal stem cells; cytokines and the herniated intervertebral disc; ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and anti-inflammatories; the effect of NSAIDs on bone healing; osteoporosis of the fractured hip; herbal medicine and recovery after acute muscle injury; and ultrasound and the time to fracture union

Aim. Patient quality of life (QoL) in untreated bone infection was compared to other chronic conditions and stratified by disease severity. Method. Patients referred for treatment of osteomyelitis (including fracture related infection) were identified prospectively between 2019 and 2023. Patients with confirmed infection completed the EuroQol EQ-5D-5L questionnaire. Clinicians blinded to EQ-index score, grouped patients according to JS-BACH Classification into ‘Uncomplicated’, ‘Complex’ or ‘Limited treatment options’. A systematic review of the literature was performed of other conditions that have been stratified using EQ-index score. Results. 257 patients were referred, and 219 had suspected osteomyelitis. 196 patients had long bone infection and reported an average EQ-index score of 0.455 (SD 0.343). 23 patients with pelvic osteomyelitis had an average EQ-index score of 0.098 (SD 0.308). Compared to other chronic conditions, patients with long-bone osteomyelitis had worse QoL when compared to different types of malignancy (including bladder, oropharyngeal, colorectal, thyroid and myeloma), cardiorespiratory disease (including asthma, COPD and ischaemic heart disease), psychiatric conditions (including depression, pain and anxiety), endocrine disorders (including diabetes mellitus), neurological conditions (including Parkinson's disease, chronic pain and radiculopathy) and musculoskeletal conditions (including osteogenesis imperfecta, fibrous dysplasia and x-linked hypophosphataemic rickets). QoL in long-bone infection was similar to conditions such as Prada-Willi syndrome, Crohn's disease and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Patients who had a history of stroke or multiple sclerosis reported worse QoL scores compared to long-bone infection. Patients who had pelvic osteomyelitis gave significantly lower QoL scores when compared to all other conditions that were available for comparison in the literature. In long bone infection, 41 cases (21.0%) were classified as ‘Uncomplicated’, 136 (69.4%) as ‘Complex’ and 19 (9.7%) as ‘Limited treatment options available’. Within classification stratification, patients with ‘Uncomplicated’ long bone infections reported a mean EQ-index score of 0.618 (SD 0.227) which was significantly higher compared to ‘Complex’ (EQ-index: 0.410 SD 0.359, p=0.004) and ‘Limited treatment options available’ (EQ-index: 0.400 SD 0.346, p=0.007). Conclusions. Bone and joint infections have a significant impact on patient quality of life. It is much worse when compared to other common chronic conditions, including malignancy, cardiovascular and neurological diseases. This has not been previously reported but may focus attention on the need for more investment in this patient group

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSC) have been proposed as a potential therapy for a broad range of diseases including those affecting the musculoskeletal system. MSCs have received market authorization for treatment of graft versus host disease and fistulizing Crohn's disease. In addition, there are clinical trials underway for diseases affecting all organ systems. GMP manufactured cells are required for these clinical trials and suitable facilities with regulatory approval are thus crucial for the translational process. In this presentation I will review the process whereby such a facility has been constructed at NUI Galway and discuss challenges in operations and sustainability. Researchers at REMEDI and spin out company Orbsen Therapeutics are currently involved in 7 clinical trials using MSCs, 4 of which are EU wide consortia funded by the EU Commission. The presentation will also discuss issues such as source of MSCs, cell sorting, use of bioreactors and xeno-free processes

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the spine and diarthrodial joints is by far the most common cause of chronic disability in people over 50 years of age. The disease has a striking impact on quality of life and represents an enormous societal and economic cost, a burden that will increase greatly as populations age. OA is a complex condition with broad pathology. Damage to the articular cartilage is a consistent feature, accompanied by changes to the subchondral bone and synovium. Progression of the disease involves further degeneration of the articular cartilage, damage to the underlying bone and morphological changes that include subchondral bone thickening, development of cysts, osteophytes and inflammation of the synovium. Enhanced production of proinflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases accelerates degradation of the articular cartilage. It is striking that no approved pharmacological intervention, biological therapy or procedure prevents the progressive destruction of the OA joint. All current treatments, without exception, produce symptomatic rather than regenerative results. While there have been some exciting developments in the search for OA treatments in the last decade, including matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors, anti-TNF and anti-IL1 drugs for example, none of these has to date emerged as an effective medicinal product. There is thus an urgent and compelling need to identify, validate and test new biological therapeutics. Stromal cell therapy represents one such compelling approach. The results from several early clinical studies have indicated that this approach holds a great deal of promise for the treatment of OA. Most studies have involved direct intraarticular injection of a suspension of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) for treatment of knee OA. Results from a number of controlled patient studies have suggested that this treatment results in an effective repair response. Although data regarding mechanism of action are limited, it appears that the cells have an anti-inflammatory effect, possibly targeting cells within the synovium, rather than a direct cartilage repair effect. Several recent reports have highlighted a dramatic and sustained response in patients receiving MSC treatment. For example, allogeneic expanded adipose-derived MSCs have been shown to be safe and effective in the treatment of complex perianal fistulas in Crohn's disease. Also, allogeneic bone marrow-derived MSCs has a been shown to have a positive effect in pediatric acute graft versus host disease. These observations point to a mechanism of action that involves host immunomodulation, but this needs further examination. Within the field of musculoskeletal disease effective translation of MSC technology has been hindered by a lack of randomized controlled patient studies, severe inconsistencies regarding the preparation and characterization of the cell product, and an incomplete understanding of the therapeutic mechanism. Direct to consumer clinics have flourished in some countries, providing cell treatments to OA patients. Most or all of these utilize unexpanded cell fractions from marrow or fat without even rudimentary product characterization and may report an exaggerated clinical outcome. Data from these clinics is not likely to yield information that will be useful. In fact, a recent systemic review of clinical trials involving MSC treatment in OA indicated that only a limited number of studies provided high quality evidence and long term follow up. Many suffered from a lack of consistency, including a diversity of methods for MSC preparation, and thus did not contribute to a supporting evidence base. There is a compelling need to provide clear and unambiguous clinical proof of concept relating to MSC treatment for OA. The ADIPOA2 study, currently active in Europe, will go some way towards achieving this. This is a 150 patient, phase 2b study designed to to assess the efficacy of a single injection of autologous adipose-derived MSCs in the treatment of mild to moderate OA of the knee, active and unresponsive to conservative therapy for at least 12 months

Pyomyositis in a temperate climate is a rare condition in children according the number of reports. Most authors postulate trauma with simultaneous bacteriemia is the most likely mechanism. We reviewed 8 cases, 4 boys and 4 girls. Their mean age was 9,2 y. ( 5 to 16 y.). Pain, tenderness, limp and fever were the most common signs. Duration of symptoms before initial evaluation was 8,1 d. (5 to 15 d.). 6 patients had fever (> 38,5°C), all had leukocytosis and a shift to the left in the WBC, and a elevated ESR 69,3 mm/h(32 to110), as well as an increased C-protein reactive (mean=10). All cases had radiographs, US in 6, CT scan in 6 and MRI in 5. These studies demonstrated involvement of psoas muscle in 4, obturator internus and externus in 3, and gluteal and quadratus femoris in 1. We found simultaneous involvement of ischiopubic ramus in 3, one iliac osteomyelitis, one piogenic sacro-ileitis, one supurative lymphadenitis and one resection for Crohn’s disease. Incision and drainage of muscular abcess (5 cases)plus IV antibiotics(8 cases) provided uneventfully resolution. 4 cultures were positive to Staf Aureus, 1 to E. Coli and 3 negatives. In this series we found 87% of pelvic pyomyositis with simultaneous septic factors. We consider them more causative factors than predisponing, and pyomyositis as a secondary entity. Previous reports propose pyomyo-sitis as a primary condition after a speculative bacter-aemia with a muscle strain, as the likeliest cause. MRI could be helpful to determine bone involvement or other regional problems in pelvic pyomyositis

Introduction: Infliximab, a monoclonal antibody against tumour necrosis factor alfa (TNFα) has been used succesfully in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. Recent animal studies suggest that TNFα also has an important role in the pathogenesis of sciatica. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of infliximab in the treatment of sciatic patients. Methods: 10 patients with acute or subacute severe sciatica (duration of symptoms from 2 to 12 weeks) were included. A disc herniation corresponding to symptoms was confirmed by MRI in each case. Patients with previous back operation or with contraindications for infliximab were excluded. A dose of 3 mg/kg body weight of infliximab in saline was infused intravenously over 2 hours. Leg pain (100-mm Visual Analog Scale) was recorded before and one hour after the infusion, and later at 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months. Changes in leg pain were compared statistically with 62 historical controls (saline group in a study of periradicular infiltration) using repeated measures analysis of variance. Changes in back pain, back-related disability on Oswestry Index and clinical status were also assessed. Results: Mean (SD) leg pain before the infusion was 80 (18) mm in the infliximab group. One hour after the infusion, there was a decrease of 49% in leg pain. At 1 week mean leg pain was 26 (21), at 2 weeks 19 (20), at 1 month 18 (19), at 3 months 10 (16) and at 6 months 13 (8). When compared with the historical controls, the difference was in favour of infliximab for leg pain (19 mm; 95% CI, 6 to 32, P=0.005) and for back-related disability on Oswestry (12%; 95%CI, 4 to 20, P=0.003) over the 6 month follow-up period. At the one-month follow-up every patient in the infliximab group had returned to work compared to 38% of control patients (P=0.02). None of the patients treated with infliximab underwent surgery during the follow-up compared to 14 (23%) in the control group (P=0.09). No immediate or delayed adverse drug reactions were observed. Conclusions: According to this study, a single infusion of infliximab seems to provide immediate, highly effective and safe treatment of sciatica through 6 months. Rapid return to work appears to be fascilitated, and surgery may possibly be avoided in some patients. There is an urgent need for a randomized trial to verify these results

Aims

Current diagnostic tools are not always able to effectively identify periprosthetic joint infections (PJIs). Recent studies suggest that circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) undergo changes under pathological conditions such as infection. The aim of this study was to analyze miRNA expression in hip arthroplasty PJI patients.

Aims

Pellino1 (Peli1) has been reported to regulate various inflammatory diseases. This study aims to explore the role of Peli1 in the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis (OA), so as to find new targets for the treatment of OA.

Aims

Mendelian randomization (MR) is considered to overcome the bias of observational studies, but there is no current meta-analysis of MR studies on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The purpose of this study was to summarize the relationship between potential pathogenic factors and RA risk based on existing MR studies.

Osteoporosis (OP) is a chronic metabolic bone disease characterized by the decrease of bone tissue per unit volume under the combined action of genetic and environmental factors, which leads to the decrease of bone strength, makes the bone brittle, and raises the possibility of bone fracture. However, the exact mechanism that determines the progression of OP remains to be underlined. There are hundreds of trillions of symbiotic bacteria living in the human gut, which have a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with the human body that helps to maintain human health. With the development of modern high-throughput sequencing (HTS) platforms, there has been growing evidence that the gut microbiome may play an important role in the programming of bone metabolism. In the present review, we discuss the potential mechanisms of the gut microbiome in the development of OP, such as alterations of bone metabolism, bone mineral absorption, and immune regulation. The potential of gut microbiome-targeted strategies in the prevention and treatment of OP was also evaluated.

Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2020;9(8):524–530.