Background: Authors used a new bipolar sealer system (TissueLink Medical Inc., Dover, New Hampshire) for electrocoagulation in major orthopaedic surgery such as total hip and knee arthroplasty and spinal surgery. The bipolar sealer is an electrosurgical device which delivers radiofrequency energy to saline for haemostatic sealing and coagulation of soft tissue at the operative site providing haemostasis at much lower temperatures than conventional electrocautery (< 100°C).

Materials and Methods: Since October 2004 through June 2007 the authors conducted a randomized study on 800 patients – total hip or Knee arthroplasty or spinal surgery–to compare the clinical outcomes in two groups. In the study cohort the bipolar sealer device was used, in the matching group conventional electrocautery. Both cohorts were evaluated for intraoperative blood loss, transfusion rate, postoperative drainage, number of transfusions and haemoglobin levels. Patients with known coagulation and peripheral circulation disorders were excluded. No preoperative autologous blood donation was utilized.

Results: All patients recovered without complications and no re-operations became necessary in both groups. A significant reduction in post-operative and total blood loss (p=0.05 and p=0.02, respectively) occurred, as well as absence of tissue charring and smoke production in the bipolar sealer group. The mean decline in haemoglobin was significantly lower for the treatment group compared to the control group. The allogenic blood transfusion rates were extremely low in both groups (4.4% control vs. 0% treatment group). The mean volume of post-operative drainage was 451 milliliters (range, 1500 to 815 milliliters) for the standard electrocautery group and 256 milliliters (range, 0 to 743 milliliters) for the bipolar sealer group (p=0.002).

Discusssion and conclusion: Results suggest that use of this bipolar sealing device is at least as effective as standard cautery devices and may reduce blood loss, tissue damage and smoke production in major orthopaedic surgery without affecting outcome. Lesser bleeding results in faster recovery of the patient, better wound healing and lower complication rates

In view of possible clinical applications of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), interesting results in repairing the Achilles tendon have been achieved in rabbit models since 1997. Histological and immunochemical studies have demonstrated the quality of repair. A basic problem in tissue repair is the way to administer stem cells. Several questions remain:

have the cells to be differentiated or not?

Attempting to cure, as a clinical model, horses with a pathological core lesion in the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT), MSCs were recovered from autologous bone marrow, expanded ex vivo, suspended in autologous serum and re-injected directly into the core lesion.

All 11 horses implanted with autologous MSCs exhibited no adverse reaction due to the implantation of the cells, either locally or systemically. After rehabilitation therapy nine MSC-treated animals recovered from their clinical conditions, had an excellent ultrasound image of tendons after a period ranging from 3 to 6 months, and returned to racing with good or even optimal results in the previous category of competition in 9 to 12 months without any re-injuring event. All of them are still active more than 2 years from diagnosis. One of the 2 remaining horses received less than 1×106 of MSCs, and its tendon did not heal relapsing after rehabilitation, the other was lost to follow-up. In contrast, most of horses from the control group showed tendon ultrasound images that revealed fibrosis during the healing process, and all of them were re-injured after a median time of 7 months.

The ability of tissue microenvironments to induce cell differentiation could render unnecessary a partial or total ex vivo differentiation and direct infusion of undifferentiated MSCs could represent a safe therapeutic approach to tendon repair.