Introduction: There are a number of publications in the literature on managing post-operative pain and early rehabilitation after primary total hip replacement (THR). However, there has been very little work in the literature to study the influence of the anaesthetic technique used on the post-operative length of hospital stay following primary THR. We, therefore, wished to particularly study the influence of anaesthetic technique and the anaesthetist concerned on the length of hospital stay, as well as the effect of age and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: We studied 121 consecutive THRs in 109 patients. All procedures in our study were performed by the same surgeon using the same posterolateral approach, the same prosthetic design and the same physiotherapy protocol for all patients. Patients received either general anaesthesia alone (50 THRs) or a combination of general and local anaesthesia (lumbar plexus block; 71 THRs) from three separate anaesthetists. The mean age at the time of operation was 66.5 years (33 to 88). The influence of anaesthetist, anaesthetic technique, age of the patient and BMI on length of stay after primary THR was assessed separately.

Results: Our analysis showed that the length of hospital stay was greatly influenced by the anaesthetic technique used, those patients who received a lumbar plexus block having a shorter median length of hospital stay (3 days) than those who received general anaesthesia alone (5 days; p < 0.0001). The age of the patient was also critical (p = 0.003) as was the anaesthetist concerned (p = 0.01). BMI was unimportant.

Conclusions: For those surgeons who believe that a reduction in the length of hospital stay after primary THR is a worthwhile objective, we have one over-riding observation–the anaesthetic technique used is critical.

Background: Pathological medial plica is known to cause anteromedial knee pain. However, clinical diagnosis of pathological medial plica is poorly defined in the literature and therefore, arthroscopic diagnosis remains gold standard. We report a system of clinical diagnosis based on the criteria set by us for these painful conditions of the knee.

Methods: We prospectively studied forty-eight symptomatic patients (sixty-six knees) with clinical suspicion of pathological medial plica based on five “essential” and four “desirable” criteria set by us. All patients were subjected to arthroscopic examination, to confirm or disprove our clinical diagnosis and, for treatment.

Results: Arthroscopic examination confirmed our clinical diagnosis of medial plicae in forty-four (sixty-two knees) of these patients showing a diagnostic accuracy of 91.7% (95% confidence interval: 80.0%, 97.7%), sensitivity of 100% (95% CI: 92.0%, 100.0%) with our method. Those with pathological medial plicae at arthroscopy (forty-four patients; sixty-two knees), were treated by arthroscopic resection. Thirty-nine patients (fifty-five knees) showed satisfactory outcome (95% CI: 75.4%, 96.2%) after arthroscopy.

Conclusions: We believe that our method of clinical diagnosis of pathological medial plica is simple, non-invasive, economic and reliable. Symptomatic medial plica can be successfully treated by arthroscopy. This study has changed our clinical practice and also allowed us to decrease substantially the cost of diagnostic imaging.

Introduction: Ankle syndesmotic injury is currently assessed by radiographic criteria defined by Pettrone. These indices are based on the assumption that the ankle is in the correct rotation when the radiographs are taken. This study shows that computerized tomographic (CT) scans of an ankle in its mortice orientation demonstrate a greater range of values for the tibio-fibular overlap (TFO), and the tibial clear space (TCS) than that proposed by Pettrone. This study also demonstrates how rotation of the ankle in the transverse axis changes the values for the TFO and TCS.

Materials and Method: 20 uninjured ankle CT scans were studied to evaluate the syndesmosis. The images were orientated so that measurements were taken 1cm above the tibial plafond with the ankle in a mortice orientation. Each image was rotated 5° from 15° external rotation to 20° internal rotation. Bony landmarks were confirmed prior to taking measurements. These were taken by 2 orthopaedic surgeons on 2 separate occasions.

Results: The range for the TFO is 0–11.6mm; the range for the TCS is 2–6.1mm. The range for the values is greater than that proposed by previous studies. The TFO and TCS change with rotation of the leg.

Conclusion: On the AP radiograph syndesmotic disruption is indicated by a TCS > 5mm, a TFO < 10mm and on the mortise view a TFO < 1mm. A normal ankle should therefore have a TCS less than 5mm and TFO greater than 10mm on the AP and greater than 1mm on the mortise view.

There is a greater normal range of syndesmotic width found on CT scans than suggested by previous studies. Values change with rotation of the leg in its transverse plane. Syndesmotic injury cannot be reliably diagnosed using the current radiological criteria.

Introduction: Although there are a number of publications in the literature on managing post-operative pain and early rehabilitation after surgery in general, there has been little work on the influence of anaesthetic technique on the post-operative length of hospital stay following primary total hip replacement (THR). We wished to particularly study the influence of anaesthetic technique and the anaesthetist concerned on the length of hospital stay, as well as the effect of age and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: We studied 121 consecutive THRs in 109 patients. All procedures were performed by the same surgeon using the same posterolateral approach, prosthetic design and the same physiotherapy protocol. Patients received either general anaesthesia alone (50 THRs) or a combination of general and local anaesthesia (lumbar plexus block; 71 THRs) from three separate anaesthetists. The influence of anaesthetist, anaesthetic technique, age, and BMI on length of stay after primary THR was assessed separately.

Results: Our analysis showed that the length of hospital stay was greatly influenced by the anaesthetic technique used (p < 0.0001), those patients who received a lumbar plexus block having a shorter median length of hospital stay (3 days) than those who received general anaesthesia alone (5 days). The age of the patient was also critical (p = 0.003) as was the anaesthetist concerned (p = 0.01). BMI was unimportant.

Discussion: For those surgeons who believe that a reduction in the length of hospital stay after primary THR is a worthwhile objective, we have one over-riding observation – the anaesthetic technique used, and the anaesthetist involved, are critical.

Aims: Resurfacing arthroplasty of the hip is increasing in popularity. Recently concerns have been raised about resorbtion of the femoral neck after hip resurfacing, which may increase the risk of femoral neck fracture. We conducted a study to assess the degree of femoral neck resorbtion after using a cemented femoral component at hip resurfacing arthroplasty and to compare this with an uncemented femoral component.

Patients and Methods: We included 130 patients who had undergone a hip resurfacing arthroplasty in our study. Our uncemented group included 70 consecutive patients who had received an uncemented Cormet hip resurfacing arthroplasty (Corin, Cirencester, UK). Our cemented group included 60 patients who had received a cemented Birmingham hip resurfacing arthroplasty (Smith and Nephew, Cambridge, UK). All patients were regularly followed up for a minimum of two years. Clinical outcome was assessed using Harris hip scores. Femoral neck resorbtion was assessed by measuring the cup-neck ratio on post-operative radiographs by two independent observers.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 50.7 years for the cemented resurfacing group and 51.5 years for the uncemented resurfacing group. No difference was found in Harris hip scores between the two groups at any of the follow-up periods. The overall survival rate at two years was 100% for the cemented group and 98.6% for the uncemented group. There was however, a significant increase in femoral neck resorbtion for the cemented resurfacing group compared to the uncemented resurfacing group (median cup-neck ratio 1.11 vs. 1.04), p< 0.0001

Conclusion: We found a significant increase in femoral neck resorbtion with the use of a cemented femoral component at hip resurfacing arthroplasty compared with an uncemented femoral component. This may increase the risk of femoral neck fracture and could affect the long-term outcome if a cemented femoral component is used.

Metal-on-metal hip resurfacing arthroplasty has been reintroduced as an alternative to total hip replacement. Uncemented acetabular fixation is now the gold standard for this procedure. However, uncemented femoral component fixation is less common. We thus report our preliminary results of an uncemented, hydroxyapatite-coated femoral implant at resurfacing arthroplasty. Between June 2001 and July 2002 we undertook 70 uncemented resurfacings in 66 patients. The survival rate of the femoral implants after a minimum of two years’ follow-up was 98.6%. The mean Harris hip scores for pain and function pre-operatively were 12.0 (maximum possible score 44) and 28.3 (maximum possible score 47) respectively. Postoperatively, at final follow-up, these scores were 39.25 and 43.07 respectively (Z= −6.94, p< 0.0001 for function and Z= −7.19, p< 0.0001 for pain). There have been no femoral fractures, aseptic loosening or radiolucencies around the stem. Thinning of the femoral neck at the inferomedial cup-neck rim has been a frequent radiological finding but with no clinical implications so far. The cup-neck ratio immediately after surgery was a mean of 1.05 while at last follow-up was 1.1 and this difference was statistically significant (Z= −4.14, p< 0.0001). Increased height (p=0.02) seemed to protect patients against neck thinning, whereas increased weight (p=0.06) seemed to favour it. Our preliminary results with a hydroxyapatite-coated femoral implant in metal-on-metal hip resurfacing have been promising with excellent survival rates and clinical outcomes. Longer follow-up studies are needed, particularly to interpret the clinical significance of neck thinning