There is an increasing incidence of revision for periprosthetic joint infection. The addition of vancomycin to beta-lactam antimicrobial prophylaxis in joint arthroplasty may reduce surgical site infections, however, the efficacy and safety have not been established.

This was a multicenter, double-blind, superiority, placebo-controlled trial. We randomized 4239 adult patients undergoing joint arthroplasty surgery to receive 1.5g vancomycin or normal saline placebo, in addition to standard cefazolin antimicrobial prophylaxis. The primary outcome was surgical site infection at 90-days from index surgery. Perioperative carriage of Staphylococcus species was also assessed.

In the 4113 patients included in the modified intention-to-treat population, surgical site infections occurred in 72/2069 (3.5%) in the placebo group and 91/2044 (4. 5%) in the vancomycin group (risk ratio 1.28; 95% confidence interval 0.94 to 1.73; p value 0.11). No difference was observed between the two groups for primary hip arthroplasty procedures. A higher proportion of infections occurred in knee arthroplasty patients in the vancomycin group (63/1109 [4.7%]) compared with the placebo group (42/1124 [3.7%]; risk ratio 1.52; 95% confidence interval 1.04 to 2.23; p value 0.031). Hypersensitivity reactions occurred in 11 (0.5%) patients in the placebo group and 24 (1.2%) in the vancomycin group (risk ratio 2.20; 95% confidence interval 1.08, 4.49) and acute kidney injury in 74 (3.7%) patients in the placebo group and 42 (2.1%) in the vancomycin group (risk ratio 0.57; 95% confidence interval 0.39, 0.83). Perioperative Staphylococcus aureus carriage was detected in 1089/3748 (29.1%) of patients.

This is the first randomized controlled trial examining the addition of a glycopeptide antimicrobial to standard beta-lactam surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis in joint arthroplasty. The addition of vancomycin to standard cefazolin prophylaxis was not superior to placebo for the prevention of surgical site infections in hip and knee arthroplasty surgery.

There is growing interest in the peri-operative management of patients with indications for hip and knee arthroplasty in the setting of modifiable risk factors such as morbid obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and smoking. A recent survey of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) found that 95% of respondents address modifiable risk factors prior to surgery. The aim of this study was to poll Australian arthroplasty surgeons regarding their approach to patients with modifiable risk factors.

The survey tool used in the AAHKS study was adapted for use in the Australian context and distributed to the membership of the Arthroplasty Society of Australia via Survey Monkey.

Seventy-seven survey responses were received, representing a response rate of 64%. The majority of respondents were experienced, high volume arthroplasty surgeons. Overall, 91% of respondents restricted access to arthroplasty for patients with modifiable risk factors. Seventy-two percent of surgeons restricted access for excessive body mass index, 85% for poor diabetic control, and 46% for smoking. Most respondents made decisions based on personal experience or literature review rather than hospital or departmental pressures.

Despite differences in healthcare systems, our findings were similar to those of the AAHKS survey, although their responses were more restrictive in all domains. Differences were noted in responses concerning financial considerations for potentially underprivileged populations. The survey is currently being administered by arthroplasty societies in six other countries, allowing comparison of orthopaedic practice across different healthcare systems around the world.

In conclusion, over 90% of Australian arthroplasty surgeons who responded to the survey address modifiable risk factors prior to surgery.

The purpose of our study was to assess the reproducibility and reliability of traditional radiographic methods of diagnosing trochlear dysplasia compared with the gold standard of MRI.

Plain radiographs and MRI scans of 36 knees in 28 patients with proven trochlear dysplasia were compared with 18 controls in a single surgeon's practice. The sulcus angle on MRI and axial radiographs was measured. The lateral radiograph was assessed for adequacy, the crossing sign and the trochlear bump sign.

The mean axial (radiograph) and MRI sulcus angles in the dysplastic group were 145° and 158° respectively (p=0.0001) compared to 135° and 138° in the control group (p=0.09). The crossing sign was present in 34 out of 36 lateral radiographs in the dysplastic group and 8 out of 18 in the control group equating to a sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 56%. The quality of the lateral radiograph did not significantly alter the sensitivity or specificity of the crossing sign (p=0.01). The bump sign was present in 22 out of 36 lateral radiographs in the dysplastic group and 1 out of 18 in the control group equating to a sensitivity of 61% and specificity of 94%.

Our study shows that an increased radiographic sulcus angle is reliable in diagnosing trochlear dysplasia but underestimates it. The bump sign is a reliable predictor of trochlear dysplasia. The crossing sign is sensitive but not specific in diagnosing dysplasia.

Trochlear dysplasia is a developmental condition characterised by an abnormally flat or dome shaped trochlea and is an important contributing factor to patellofemoral instability and recurrent patellar dislocation. We prospectively studied a cohort of 54 consecutive patients (59 knees) with patellofemoral instability secondary to trochlear dysplasia, treated with a trochleoplasty by a single surgeon over a 5 year period.

Patients were recruited from the senior author's specialist knee clinic and pre-operatively, multiple patient-centred scores were recorded. After the trochleoplasty, these were repeated along with a patient satisfaction questionnaire. Of the 54 patients and 59 knees operated, 39 of the patients (44 knees) were female and 15 (15 knees) male and 40 patients (42 knees) had follow-up of 12 months or more. Their mean age at surgery was 21 years and 6 months and mean length of follow up 2 years. One patient was unable to attend for follow up due to the development of a pelvic Ewings sarcoma. A statistically significant improvement in outcomes was demonstrated when the pre and post-operative scores were compared (mean scores of Oxford 26 to 19, WOMAC 23 to 17, IKDC 54 to 72, Kujala 62 to 76, Lysholm 57 to 78, p values <0.001 for all scores). 93% (50 patients) were satisfied with the outcome of their procedure.

We conclude that in the short and medium term, the results of trochleoplasty are encouraging in this challenging group of patients.

Introduction The outcome of conventional treatment of isolated end-stage patello-femoral arthritis is unpredictable. Encouraging success rates have been documented in the literature with the use of patello-femoral arthroplasty. A prospective study was performed to review the early outcome of patello-femoral arthroplasties at St Vincent’s Private Hospital.

Methods The prospective study involved 32 patients over a period from 1999 to 2002. There were eight males and 24 females, with a mean age at surgery of 65 years. The mean follow up was 1.6 years (0.3 – 4 years). The patients were scored pre-operatively and at each post-operative visit using the Knee Society Score. Subjective results also recorded at follow-up included 1) the patient’s satisfaction in regard to pain and function, 2) whether expectations were met from the surgery and 3) if the patient would have the same operation on the other limb if the same symptoms existed. There were 31 knees available for post-operative analysis.

Results The mean knee score pre-operatively was 65.9 and post-operatively 84.3. The mean functional score pre-operatively was 75.7 and post-operatively 83.2. The mean pre-operative total knee score was 141.6 and improved to 167.5 post-operatively. The descriptive post operative Total Knee Score equates to 26 (83.9%) patients with excellent or good results and five (16.1%) patients with fair or poor results. Subjectively 87.2% of patients had an improvement in pain, 83.9% had an improvement in function, 80.7% had their expectations met and 77.5 % would consider the surgery again if required on the other leg.

Conclusions This review of the early experience of patello-femoral arthroplasty has shown patello-femoral arthroplasty to be a viable treatment option in the short term for end stage patello-femoral arthritis.

Introduction There is a perception in the orthopaedic community that patients with workers’ compensation claims have a poorer outcome than non-compensation patients. This review aims to identify and quantify the effect of workers’ compensation claims on the outcome of orthopaedic treatment.

Methods A systematic review of the literature was performed. Studies of any language published between 1966 and 2002 that compared the outcomes of compensation against a non-compensation group for any orthopaedic treatment were included. Articles with any group less than 20 patients were excluded. Literature searching and data extraction were performed independently by both reviewers and then compared. Differences between reviewers’ findings were resolved by discussion. Measures of region specific objective outcome, where available, were pooled into satisfactory and unsatisfactory groups for comparison. The raw data was used for a meta-analysis. The total number of articles that met the search criteria was 63. Within these articles there were 7,279 patients with workers’ compensation claim and 14,368 patients with no compensation claim.

Results No articles found that the workers’ compensation group had better outcomes. Fourteen found no difference between the two groups while 49 articles described a worse outcome in the compensation group. In the 41 papers which had outcome scores available for comparison there were 3,608 compensation patients with outcome scores and the outcome was unsatisfactory in 33.7%. There were 6,607 non-compensation patients with outcome scores and the outcome was unsatisfactory in 15.1% of non-compensation patients. The difference was significant (p< 0.01). The Relative Risk (RR) of an unsatisfactory outcome in workers’ compensation patients is 2.2. The Attributable Risk (AR), which gives the percentage of poor outcomes in the compensation group directly attributable to their compensation status, was 55.1%. Subgroup analysis of the major groups (spine: n=7,815, carpal tunnel: n=743, and shoulder n=379) revealed similar findings for each group (spine: RR=2.1, carpal tunnel: RR=2.2, shoulder: RR=5.1).

Conclusions From reviewing the literature, workers’ compensation patients have a poorer outcome compared to non-compensation patients for the same orthopaedic conditions. A workers’ compensation patient has more than double the risk of having a poor outcome in comparison to the non-compensation patient. More than half of the poor results in the compensation group can be attributed to their compensation status.