We present a review of 97 consecutive BioPro^® metallic hemiarthroplasties performed in 80 patients for end-stage hallux rigidus, with a minimum of five years follow-up.

The mean age of the cohort was 55 (22 to 74) years. No patient was lost to follow-up. There were 15 revisions performed, one for infection, two for osteolysis, and 12 for pain. The all cause survival rate at five years was 85.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) 83.5 to 87.9). Younger age was a significant predictor of revision (odds ratio 1.09, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.17, p=0.014) on excluding infection and adjusting for confounding variables (Cox regression). Significant improvements were demonstrated at 5 years in the Manchester Oxford foot questionnaire (13.9, 95% CI 10.5 to 17.2) and in the physical component of the short form 12 score (6.5, 95% CI 4.1 to 8.9). The overall satisfaction rate was 72%. The cost per quality-adjusted-life-year at 5 years, accounting for a 3% per year revision rate, was £3,714.

The BioPro offers good short to mid-term functional outcome and is a cost effective intervention. The relative high revision rate is associated with younger age and the use of this implant may be limited to older patients.

This study reports on the natural history of acetabular fracture dislocations. We retrospectively reviewed patients who sustained an acetabular fracture associated with a posterior hip dislocation from a prospective database. Patient characteristics, complications and the requirement for further surgery were recorded. Patient outcomes were measured using the Oxford Hip score and Short Form SF-12 health survey.

A total of 99 patients were treated over a 24 year period. The mean age was 41 years. Open reduction and internal fixation was performed in the majority (n=87), 10 were managed conservatively following closed reduction and two underwent primary total hip replacement (THR). At a median follow up of 12.4 years (range 4–24 years) patient outcomes were available for 53 patients. 12 patients had died. 19 patients went onto have a THR as a secondary procedure, of which 11 had confirmed avascular necrosis. Median time to THR was 2 years (range 1–17 years). The mean Oxford hip score was 35 (range 2–48), SF-12 physical component score (PCS) was 40 and a third of the patients used a walking aid. In THR group the mean Oxford score was 32 (range 3–46), SF-12 PCS was 39 and almost all required a walking aid.

This is the first study to present the long term outcomes following an acetabular fracture dislocation. Our study suggests there is considerable disability in this group of patients and the requirement for subsequent THR has inferior patient reported outcomes.

There has been recent interest in the treatment of Dupuytren's disease by minimally invasive techniques such as needle fasciotomy and collagenase injection, but only few studies have reported the outcomes following open fasciotomy. This study attempts to address this gap, with a retrospective analysis of a large series of patients who underwent an open fasciotomy by a single surgeon over a five-year period. The aim of the study was to determine the requirement for re-operation in the cohort and to analyse the revisionary procedures performed.

Theatre coding data was used to identify a consecutive series of patients who underwent open fasciotomy over a five-year period between 2000 and 2005. Within this group medical records were obtained for those patients who underwent a secondary procedure for recurrence. All procedures were carried out by a single surgeon in a regional hand unit using an unmodified open technique.

A total of 1077 patients underwent open fasciotomy for Dupuytren's disease. Of these, 865 (80.3%) were male and 212 (19.7%) were female. The mean age at initial surgery was 64.4 years (range 21.7 to 93.7 years) for males and 68.3 (range 43.6 to 89.8 years) for females. Of the 1077 patients who underwent open fasciotomy, 143 patients (13.3%) subsequently underwent a second procedure for recurrence.

The medical records were available for 97 patients. The median time to re-operation in this group of patients was 42.0 months (95% CI, 8.3 to 98.0 months). The most common revision procedure being dermofasciectomy (54.2%), followed by fasciectomy (32.6%) and re-do open fasciotomy (13.2%). Mean pre-operative total extension deficit was 88 degrees (range 30–180 degrees) with intra-operative correction to a mean of 9.5 degrees (range 0–45 degrees).

There is no standard definition for recurrence after Dupuytren's surgery. We have looked at the rate of revision surgery after open fasciotomy, in a relatively fixed population serviced over a 5-year period by a single hand surgeon. A low re-operation rate has been identified, with good intra-operative correction achieved by secondary surgery.

Background

Bioresorbable materials offer the potential of developing fracture fixation plates with similar properties to bone thereby minimising the “stress shielding” associated with metal plates and obviating the need for implant removal. Phosphate glass fibre reinforced (PGF)-polylactic acid (PLA) composites are bioresorbable and have demonstrated sufficient retention of mechanical properties to enable load bearing applications.

Background

Bioresorbable materials offer the potential of developing fracture fixation plates with similar mechanical properties to bone thereby minimizing stress shielding and obviating the need for implant removal.

Background

Fractures of the scaphoid are uncommon in the paediatric population. Despite their rarity a significant number of children are referred to the fracture clinic for a suspected scaphoid fracture. The aim of this study is to report on the incidence and pattern of injury of the paediatric scaphoid fracture and present a new classification.

Background

The functional outcome and risk of recurrence following arthroscopic stabilisation for recurrent anterior shoulder instability is poorly defined in large prospective outcome studies. This is the first study to prospectively evaluate these outcomes in patients who have been treated using this technique.

Introduction

Revision knee arthroplasty is an increasingly common procedure and can be challenging in the presence of bone defects, ligament instability and soft-tissue deficiencies. Current treatment options in addressing tibial and femoral bone loss in the revision setting include cement, morselised or structural allograft, metal wedges and augments and custom or hinge prosthesis. The aim of this study is to describe our early experience using unique femoral and tibial metaphyseal sleeves as an alternate for dealing with significant tibial and femoral bone loss.

Background

Degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) with stenosis is now typically treated by decompression and instrumented fusion. This treatment method does produce predictable results at the spondylolisthetic level, but later stenosis will occur commonly at the adjacent level due to the rigidity of the construct. Pedicle screw fusion may also be a significantly invasive procedure for an elderly patient.

Background: Chronic prosthetic joint infection is a cause of patient morbidity and can be challenging to treat. Surgeons performing revision arthroplasty of the hip and knee are confronted with a growing number of patients with extensive loss of bone stock. The use of a modular endoprosthesis is a possible method of treatment in such patients.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess the functional outcomes and the success of a single and two stage revision procedure in eradicating chronic prosthetic joint infection using a femoral endoprosthesis.

Methods: A prospective database was reviewed of 20 patients who underwent a proximal, total or distal femoral endoprosthetic replacement after chronic prosthetic infection. Radiographs performed at the time of latest follow up were evaluated for signs of loosening, osteomyelitis and implant failure. The functional status was assessed using the Short Form (SF)-36 health survey score, Toronto extremity salvage score (TESS) and the Enneking score.

Results: Thirteen patients underwent a single stage revision procedure and seven had been treated with a staged revision. At the latest follow up none of the 13 patients treated with a single stage procedure had evidence of ongoing infection. Of the seven patients who had a staged revision, 3 patients had evidence of ongoing infection. The mean pre operative Enneking score for the entire group was 17.1 points and this improved to 47.5 points post operatively (p< 0.0002). The mean pre operative TESS score for the entire group was 42% and this improved to 59% post operatively (p< 0.005). There was also a statistically significant improvement in all of the components of the SF-36 score.

Conclusion: We believe that the use of a modular endo-prosthesis in the treatment of chronic prosthetic joint infection is a successful and viable option in eradicating infection, preserving the limb and providing a good functional result.

Introduction: With an aging population, the number of hemiarthroplasties and Total Hip Replacements is on a rise. Though uncommon, one of the serious postoperative complications is periprosthetic fracture of femur. Dall Miles cable plate system is widely used for fixation of these fractures.

Patient and Methods: We present a series of of 19 patients who underwent Dall Miles cable plate fixation for periprosthetic fracture over a hemiarthroplasty or a total hip replacement during the last 5 years, reporting clinical and radiological outcome measures.

Results: Female to male ratio was 2:1. The average age was 77.33 (range from 55 to 93). Eight patients had the periprosthetic fracture after hemiarthroplasty while 11 had it after Total Hip Replacement. These two group were completely different in terms of their fitness, activities and expectations. Twelve were Vancouver B 1, 7 were Vancouver C. Five were initially managed with two plates, the remainder had one plate only.

Patients were followed up at an average of 3.1 years (range 3.2 months to 5.1 years). Three patients had died at the time of our follow up due to unrelated medical problems. One patient had deep infection that required revision and 1 had superficial infection that healed with antibiotics. 1 patient underwent revision to a THR for hip pain.

Of those managed with a single plate, 3 patients had plate/cable failure and underwent revision DM plating with 2 plates and cables along with allogenic bone grafting; all of these healed well. All of these patients had periprosthetic # following a THR.

Five patients managed initially with 2 DM plates healed without any complications.

Discussion: Even in this small series, we feel it is evident that Dall Miles plating using a single plate has a high incidence of plate failure (3 of 13). Orthogonal plating has been widely used in past for fixation of complex fractures and nonunions. We feel there is a distinct advantage of using two plates of uneven lengths to improve chances of healing, preventing implant failure and reducing stress riser effect. We advocate primary fixation of periprosthetic fractures of proximal femur over THR using 2 Dall Miles cable plates and bone graft. We would like to present our results and discuss this complex topic further.

We present two cases of metastatic lung cancer which occurred at the site of a previously united tibial fracture. Both patients were treated with a locked intramedullary nail. The patients presented with metastases at the site of their initial fracture approximately 16 and 13 months after injury respectively.

We discuss this unusual presentation and review the relevant literature. We are unaware of any previous reports of a metastatic tumour occurring at the site of an orthopaedic implant used to stabilise a non-pathological fracture. These cases demonstrate the similar clinical presentation of infection and malignancy: a diagnosis which should always be considered in such patients.

Introduction: Substantial evidence is now available that complex multi-variate models such as Artificial Neural Networks and Finite Element Analysis can predict bone strength better than DXA. In order to build such models effectively, it is essential to determine which basic individual parameters will be used. The current study attempts to improve a number of existing parameters that reflect bone structure, originating from spectral analysis of cancellous bone in radiographic images, to assess whether their correlation with mechanical strength of bone can be improved.

M& M: Sixty standard AP x-rays of cadaveric human radii, for which mechanical data was available, have been examined. The bones had been mechanically tested to destruction and the details of the test have been published previously. The x-rays were digitized at 160 mm/ pixel, using a dedicated scanner. ROI of 64x64 pixels corresponding to 1x1 cm in the original x-rays were used for the analysis. Low pass and High pass filters were moved stepwise to determine the most effective bandwidth for the identification and measurements of the magnitude peaks in the fast Fourier transform (FFT).

Results: The spectral trabecular index had a correlation with load at fracture (LF) of −0.002 and with the work at fracture (WF) of −0.07. The filtered parameter, termed spectral index of bone structure (SIBS), increased these correlations to 0.41 and 0.46 respectively. The Longitudinal trabecular index had a correlation of 0.09 with LF and 0.04 with WF. The corresponding filtered parameter, termed longitudinal trabecular index of bone structure (LIBS), increased these correlation coefficients to 0.39 with LF and 0.41 with WF. Finally the Transverse trabecular index had a correlation of −0.19 with LF and −0.04 with WF. The Transverse index of bone structure (TIBS) altered the correlations to 0.17 with LF and 0.36 with WF. For this sample size, the 5% significance threshold for correlations is 0.25 and for the 1% level is 0.325.

Discussion: This refinement of the individual spectral parameters is an essential step towards the improvement of multivariate models, leading to a potentially improved assessment of fracture risk. The general assessment of trabeculae and particularly the longitudinal ones was substantially improved by the new method of measurement. These parameters can now be incorporated into more complex models that take into account other characteristics such as age of the patients, cortical thickness and size of the bones and which are knowingly related to bone fragility.