Aim. Reveal the rate of surgical site infection (SSI) after primary hip and knee arthroplasty in patients with inflammatory joint disease and analyse if the infection rate was correlated to the given anti-rheumatic treatment. The background is that since 2006 patients operated at the orthopaedic department at Skåne University hospital, Lund, Sweden, have continued treatment with TNF-alpha inhibitors during the perioperative period. Method. During 2006 to 2015 494 planned primary hip and knee arthroplasties were performed on 395 patients (236 hip arthroplasties and 239 knee arthroplasties). Data on age, sex, diagnosis, BMI, operation time, ASA-classification, treatment with cDMARDs (conventional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs) and bDMARDs (biological disease modifying antirheumatic drugs) and use of prednisolone was collected. The primary outcome variable was prosthetic joint infection (PJI) within 1 year from surgery with a secondary outcome variable being superficial SSI. Results. In 32% (n=159) of the cases the patient was treated with a TNF-alpha inhibitor. The rate of PJI was 1.4% (n=7). The overall rate of infection, including superficial infections, was 2.4% (n=12). All the PJIs occurred after a knee arthroplasty and only 1 patient was treated with a TNF-alpha inhibitor (etanercept). Conclusions. We could not find that continuing treatment with TNF-inhibitors perioperatively led to a higher incidence of PJI or SSI than generally would be expected in a group of patients with an inflammatory joint disease. Based on these results there is no need to discontinue treatment with TNF-inhibitors when performing arthroplasty surgery

The causes of a stiff elbow are numerous including: post-traumatic elbow, burns, head injury, osteoarthritis, inflammatory joint disease and congenital. Types of stiffness include: loss of elbow flexion, loss of elbow extension and loss of forearm rotation. All three have different prognoses in terms of the timing of surgery and the likelihood of restoration of function. Contractures can be classified into extrinsic and intrinsic (all intrinsic develop some extrinsic component). Functional impairment can be assessed medicolegally; however, in clinical practice the patient puts an individual value on the arc of motion. Objectively most functions can be undertaken with an arc of 30 to 130 degrees. The commonest cause of a Post-traumatic Stiff elbow is a radial head fracture or a complex fracture dislocation. Risk factors for stiffness include length of immobilisation, associated fracture with dislocation, intra-articular derangement, delayed surgical treatment, associated head injury, heterotopic ossification. Early restoration of bony columns and joint stability to allow early mobilisation reduces incidence of joint stiffness. Heterotopic ossification (HO) is common in fracture dislocation of the elbow. Neural Axis trauma alone causes HO in elbows in 5%. However, combined neural trauma and elbow trauma the incidence is 89%. Stiffness due to thermal injury is usually related to the degree rather than the site. The majority of patients have greater than 20% total body area involved. Extrinsic contractures are usually managed with a sequential release of soft tissues commencing with a capsular excision (retaining LCL/MCL), posterior bundle of the MCL +/− ulna nerve decompression (if there is loss of flexion to 100 degrees). This reliably achieved via a posterior incision, a lateral column exposure +/− ulna nerve mobilisation. A medial column exposure is a viable alternative. Arthroscopic capsular release although associated with a quicker easier rehabilitation is associated with increased neural injury. Timing of release is specific to the type of contracture, i.e. flexion contractures after approx. six months, extension contractures ASAP but after four months, loss of forearm rotation less 6 to 24 months. The use of Hinged Elbow Fixators is increasing. The indications include reconstructions that require protection whilst allowing early movement, persistent instability or recurrent/late instability or interposition arthroplasty. Post-operative rehabilitation requires good analgesia, joint stability and early movement. The role of CPM is often helpful but still being evaluated

Purpose. To report clinical results and demonstrate any posterior femoral translation (PFT) in medial rotation total knee arthroplasty (TKA) of posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) retaining type. Materials and Methods. A prospective study was performed upon thirty consecutive subjects who were operated on with medial rotation TKA of PCL retaining type (Advance® Medial Pivot prosthesis with ‘Double High’ insert; Wright Medical Technology, Arlington, TN, USA) (Fig. 1). between March 2009 and March 2010 and had been followed up for a least 2 years. Inclusion criteria were age between 60 and 75 years and primary degenerative joint disease of knee graded as Kellgren Lawrence grade III or higher. Exclusion criteria were age under 60 years, any inflammatory joint disease including rheumatoid arthritis, early stage of primary degenerative joint disease of knee or any history of previous osteotomy around knee. Clinically, the knee society knee score and function score were used to evaluate pain and function. At last follow-up, all subjects performed full extension, thirty degree flexion and full active flexion sequentially under fluoroscopic surveillance. In each of these lateral radiographs, anteroposterior(AP) condylar position was pinpointed and the magnitude of PFT was determined by degree of transition of AP condylar position from full extension to full active flexion radiograph (Fig. 2 A–B). Statistical methods used were paired t-test, Pearson correlation, Steadman rank correlation and regression analysis. Component migration and radiolucent line were also observed. Results. At last follow-up, the mean knee society knee score and the mean function score improved significantly compared to preoperative scores (from 61.5 to 90.4 and from 57.8 to 84.7 respectively). The mean maximum flexion of knee increased postoperatively compared to preoperative one without any significant difference (105.5Ëš±11.2Ëšvs 109.3Ëš±9.8Ëš, p=0.051, β=0.387). Neverthless, regression analysis showed a good linear association (r = 0.53, p=0.0027) between the pre- and post-operative maximum flexions of knee. The AP condylar positions were consistently posterior to midline throughout the entire range of flexion. The mean maximum PFT was 10.5 mm (± 4.3 mm) and the magnitude of maximum PFT was greater in higher flexion cases (r = 0.57, p = 0.0009) (Fig. 3). There were no cases having either component migration or radiolucent line except for one case showing instability related to trauma. Conclusions. In medial rotation total knee arthroplasty of PCL retaining type, clinical outcomes were satisfactory and the maximum obtainable flexions tended to be in narrower ranges than those of preoperative ones and smaller than those of other TKA prostheses. Nonetheless, reliable posterior femoral translations were observed during progressive flexions of knees, which was considered to be one of important kinematic factors in increasing the level of knee flexion of medial-rotation TKA in longer follow-ups by providing greater posterior clearance and reduced femoro-tibial impingement

We compared the use of broth culture medium for samples taken in theatre with the standard practice of placing tissue samples in universal containers. A total of 67 consecutive patients had standard multiple samples of deep tissue harvested at surgery and distributed equally in theatre either to standard universal containers or to broth culture medium. These samples were cultured by direct and enrichment methods. The addition of broth in theatre to standard practice led to an increase in sensitivity from 83% to 95% and an increase in negative predictive value from 77% to 91%. Placing tissue samples directly into broth in the operating theatre is a simple, inexpensive way to increase the sensitivity of cultures from infected patients, and does not appear to compromise the specificity of these cultures.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:1566–70.

Post-discharge surveillance of surgical site infection is necessary if accurate rates of infection following surgery are to be available. We undertook a prospective study of 376 knee and hip replacements in 366 patients in order to estimate the rate of orthopaedic surgical site infection in the community. The inpatient infection was 3.1% and the post-discharge infection rate was 2.1%. We concluded that the use of telephone interviews of patients to identify the group at highest risk of having a surgical site infection (those who think they have an infection) with rapid follow-up by a professional trained to diagnose infection according to agreed criteria is an effective method of identifying infection after discharge from hospital.