Open tibial fractures are associated with an increased risk of infection. The infection rate increases with increasing severity and grade of fracture. Various management options available for fracture treatment are in turn associated with complications including infection. Circular fine-wire fixators cause minimal intra-operative soft tissue disruption and possibly have a better outcome and low complication rates. To analyse the effectiveness of circular fine-wire fixators in managing open tibial fractures and to determine the incidence of complications, particularly infection associated with use of these fixators.Introduction
Objectives
To assess patterns of recurrence in patients with Dupuytren's disease after surgery for proximal interphalangeal joint (PIPJ) deformity. 81 patients (94 fingers) with Duputyren's contracture of the proximal interphalangeal joint underwent surgery to have either a ‘firebreak’ skin graft (46 fingers) or a fasciectomy (48 fingers). They were reviewed after three weeks, six weeks, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months to note the range of movement and recurrence. Both groups were similar with regard to age, gender and factors considered to influence the outcome such as bilateral disease, family history, and the presence of diabetes, smoking and alcohol intake.Objective
Methods
Sacro-coccygeal chordomas pose a difficult diagnostic and therapeutic problem due to late presentation, large size, soft-tisue extension, difficulties in obtaining adequate resection margins, higher local recurrence rate and uncertain effectiveness of adjuvant treatment. We present a series of 21 patients of sacral chordomas obtained from Scottish Bone Tumour Registry to analyse predictors of local control and survival. The clinical and morphologic features, type of treatment and follow-up of 21 consecutive patients with sacral chordoma were retrospectively reviewed and analysed.Introduction
Patients and methods
Most studies now use Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS) as the preferred and only method for assessing ‘functional outcome’ following surgery. It is thought that these questionnaires accurately reflect the patient's pain and physical function. We hypothesised that comprehensive functional examination would therefore correlate strongly with PROMS following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We prospectively assessed the function of 100 consecutive knee replacement patients, pre-operatively, then at 8, 26 and 52 weeks post-operatively. PROMS employed were the Oxford Knee Score (OKS) and the Short Form-36. Additionally, leg strength (Leg Extensor Power Rig(tm)), a validated battery of timed functional tasks (Aggregated Locomotor Function, ALF) and pain scores (numerical rating scale) were also assessed. Statistical analysis was performed using the Minitab version 15 software. Level of significance was set as p = < 0.05.Introduction
Methods
