Aims. The aim of this paper is to describe the impact of COVID-19 on spine surgery services in a district general hospital in England in order to understand the spinal service provisions that may be required during a pandemic. Methods. A prospective cohort study was undertaken between 17 March 2020 and 30 April 2020 and compared with retrospective data from same time period in 2019. We compared the number of patients requiring acute hospital admission or orthopaedic referrals and indications of referrals from our admission sheets and obtained operative data from our theatre software. Results. Between 17 March to 30 April 2020, there were 48 acute spine referrals as compared to 68 acute referrals during the same time period last year. In the 2019 period, 69% (47/68) of cases referred to the on-call team presented with back pain, radiculopathy or myelopathy compared to 43% (21/48) in the 2020 period. Almost 20% (14/68) of spine referrals consisted of spine trauma as compared to 35% (17/48) this year. There were no confirmed cases of cauda equine last year during this time. Overall, 150 spine cases were carried out during this time period last year, and 261 spine elective cases were cancelled since 17 March 2020. Recommendations. We recommend following steps can be helpful to deal with similar situations or new pandemics in future:. 24 hours on-call spine service during the pandemic. Clinical criteria in place to prioritize urgent spinal cases. Pre-screening spine patients before elective operating. Start of separate specialist trauma list for patients needing urgent surgeries. Conclusion. This paper highlights the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in a district general hospital of England. We demonstrate a decrease in hospital attendances of spine pathologies, despite an increase in emergency spine operations. Cite this article: Bone Joint Open 2020;1-6:281–286

Introduction. Titanium (Ti) alloys are used as porous bone ingrowth materials on non-cemented knee arthroplasty tibial tray implants. Nano-surface mechanism that increase the osseointegration rate between Ti alloys, and surrounding tissue has been recognized to improve the interface to ultimately allow patients to weight bear on non-cemented arthroplasty implants sooner. Bioactive TiO. 2. nanotube arrays has been shown to accelerate osseointegration. Ideally, these surfaces would both increase the adhesion of bone to the implant and help to reduction of infection to substitute for antibiotic bone cement. This study examines a combination treatment of both TiO. 2. nanotubes combined with silver nano-deposition, that simultaneously enhances osseointegration while improving infection resistance, by testing ex vivo implantation stability in an equine cadaver bone followed by in vitro and in vivo analysis to understand the biocompatibility and early stage osseointegration. Methods. 100nm diameter and 300nm length TiO. 2. nanotubes were formed on a CP titanium surface using anodization method at 20V for 45mins using 1% HF electrolyte. Silver deposition on TiO. 2. nanotubes were performed using 0.1M AgNO. 3. solution at 3V for 45s. Figure 1 shows SEM images showing (a) TiO. 2. nanotubes of 300nm length and (b) nanotubes with silver coating). Ti anodized samples with and without silver nanotubes implanted into an equine cadaver bone in an ex vivo manner to study the stability of nanotubes and the adherence of silver deposition. Silver release study was performed for a period of 14 days in a similar ex vivo manner. Dimensions for implantation samples: 2.5 mm diam. × 15 mm. For cell culture, circular disc samples 12.5mm in diameter and 3 mm in thickness were used to study the bone cell-material interactions using human fetal osteoblast (hFOB) cells. To evaluate the cell proliferation, MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay was used. The in vitro cell-materials interaction study was performed for a period of 4 and 7 days. In vivo study was performed using rat distal femur model for a period of 12 weeks with dense Ti samples as control (Sample dimensions: 3mm diam. × 5mm). At the end of 12 weeks, the samples were analyzed for early stage osseointegration using histological analysis and SEM imaging. Results. No significant changes in the morphology of nanotubes was observed due to the implantation process which signifies the damage resistance these nanotubes can endure during implantation and explantation. Figure 2 shows SEM images of (a) & (b) nanotubes without silver coating before and after implantation and (c) & (d) nanotubes with silver coating before and after implantation respectively. Silver nanocoatings can be observed after implantation which shows the adherence of the antimicrobial nano-coating on the surface of nanotubes. Cumulative release profiles of silver ions after 14 days showed the total release was in the effective range for antimicrobial characteristics and was well below the toxic limit specified for human cells (10 ppm) Figure 3(a) shows cumulative release profile of silver after 14 days. MTT assay and SEM images show good cell proliferation, antimicrobial effect, and increase in cell density after 7 days for samples with nanotubes and silver with no cytotoxic effects and good cell attachment on the samples as shown in Figure 3(b) MTT assay results showing cell densities after 4 and 7 days and Figure 3(c) SEM images showing cell attachment after 4 and 7 days on samples. Histological analysis and SEM images showed osteoid formation around the implant with improved bonding towards the implant and bone showing signs of early stage osseointegration. Figure 4 shows histological and SEM images showing bonding between bone and implant surface for respective samples after 12 weeks. Conclusions. Mechanically stableTiO. 2. nanotubes with strongly adhered antimicrobial silver coating were grown on the surface of titanium which were biocompatible and non-toxic. In vitro and in vivo tests indicate improved cell-materials interaction with signs of early stage osseointegration. This nano-surface treatment shows promise towards simultaneously improving early stage osseointegration and providing an infection barrier on bone ingrowth materials

Introduction. Traditionally complex spinal surgery in Belfast has been performed at the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH). Since an amalgamation the RVH has become effectively the level 1 trauma centre for the province. The ever increasing complexity of spinal surgery in addition to changes in practice such as the management of metastatic spinal cord, are placing significant demands on the service. At a time when resources are scarce trends in patient profiles are highly important to allow adequate planning of our service. Aim. To establish trends in patient profiles in a level one trauma centre also managing spinal pathology over the last 10 years and to examine the impact of this on our service. Methods. The Fracture Outcome Research Data base (FORD) was interrogated to provide data for patient profiles from 2000 to 2010. The Hospital planning and performance department contacted for finance data. Results. In 2000 the most common admission was for a fractured neck of femur (n=1014). This has not significantly changed over the ten years. In 2000 fractured tibia (n= 386), fractured forearms (n= 324), fractured ankles (n= 312) and spinal cases (n=335) were admitted. By 2010 a 49% increase had occurred in spinal admissions making them the second most common patient admitted to the unit. Of spinal case admissions, tumours have increased by 333%, spinal fractures by 10%, cervical disc surgery by 163% and suspected cauda equine cases by a staggering 537%. Conclusions. The throughput of spinal admissions to the unit has significantly increased between 2000 and 2010 making them now the second most common admission to the unit. The impact of this on bed days, theatre usage and oncall arrangements is huge and must be taken into account in stratregic planning of our service especially given the background of ongoing financial constraint

INTRODUCTION. Osteochondral defects are still a challenge for the orthopaedic surgeon, since most of the current surgical techniques lead to fibrocartilage formation and poor subchondral regeneration, often associated to joint stiffness and/or pain. Thinking of the ideal osteochondral graft from both the surgical an commercial point of view, it should be an off-the-shelf product; this is the research direction and the explanation for the new biomaterials recently proposed to repair osteochondral defect inducing an “in situ” cartilage regeneration starting from the time of the implantation into the defect site. For the clinical pilot study we performed, a newly developed nanostructured biomimetic scaffold was used to treat chondral and osteochondral lesions of the knee; its safety and manageability, as much as the surgical procedure reproducibility and the clinical outcome, were evaluated in order to test its intrinsic potential without any cells colture aid. MATERIALS AND METHODS. A new osteochondral scaffold was obtained by enucleating equine collagen type 1 fibrils with hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in 3 different layers with 3 different gradient ratios at physiological conditions. 30 patients (9F, 21M, mean age 29,3yy) affected by either chondral or osteochondral lesions of the knee (8 medial femoral condyles, 5 lateral femoral condyles, 12 patellae, 8 femoral throcleas) underwent the scaffold implantation from January to July 2007. The sizes of the lesions were in between 2 and 6 squared cm. All patients and their clinical outcome were analyzed prospectively at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months using the Cartilage standard Evaluation Form as proposed by ICRS and an high resolution MRI. RESULTS. We observed a statistically significant scores improvement and function recovery comparing the pre-operative to the follow-up parameters evaluated. Moreover, we noticed a better improvement from 12 to 24mm follow up while the good results gained at 2yy were confirmed at 3yy follow up evaluation. The MOCART scoring scale was used to analyze the MRIs. In 80% of cases we obtained a complete filling of the cartilage defect and in some patients we even appreciated articular surface congruency. In this series we report 1 failure followed by a re-operation with different technique. CONCLUSIONS. This new minimally invasive one-step surgical approach to osteochondral defects seems to be an easy and effective procedure. The results obtained are very encouraging and this procedure show satisfactory outcomes even in big osteochondral defects

Tendinopathy is a debilitating musculoskeletal condition which can cause significant pain and lead to complete rupture of the tendon, which often requires surgical repair. Due in part to the large spectrum of tendon pathologies, these disorders continue to be a clinical challenge. Animal models are often used in this field of research as they offer an attractive framework to examine the cascade of processes that occur throughout both tendon pathology and repair. This review discusses the structural, mechanical, and biological changes that occur throughout tendon pathology in animal models, as well as strategies for the improvement of tendon healing.

Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2014;3:193–202.