Objectives. To assess the effectiveness of a modified tibial tubercle osteotomy as a treatment for arthroscopically diagnosed chondromalacia patellae. Methods. A total of 47 consecutive patients (51 knees) with arthroscopically proven chondromalacia, who had failed conservative management, underwent a modified Fulkerson tibial tubercle osteotomy. The mean age was 34.4 years (19.6 to 52.2). Pre-operatively, none of the patients exhibited signs of patellar maltracking or instability in association with their anterior knee pain. The minimum follow-up for the study was five years (mean 72.6 months (62 to 118)), with only one patient lost to follow-up. Results. A total of 50 knees were reviewed. At final follow-up, the Kujala knee score improved from 39.2 (12 to 63) pre-operatively to 57.7 (16 to 89) post-operatively (p < 0.001). The visual analogue pain score improved from 7.8 (4 to 10) pre-operatively to 5.0 (0 to 10) post-operatively. Overall patient satisfaction with good or excellent results was 72%. Patients with the lowest pre-operative Kujala score benefitted the most. Older patients benefited less than younger ones. The outcome was independent of the grade of chondromalacia. Six patients required screw removal. There were no major complications. Conclusions. We conclude that this modification of the Fulkerson procedure is a safe and useful operation to treat anterior knee pain in well aligned patellofemoral joints due to chondromalacia patellae in adults, when conservative measures have failed

Aims

Insufficient treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients requires novel treatment strategies to halt disease progression. The potential benefit of combination of cytokine-inhibitors in RA is still unclear and needs further investigation. To explore the impact of combined deficiency of two major cytokines, namely interleukin (IL)-1 and IL-6, in this study double deficient mice for IL-1αβ and IL-6 were investigated in different tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-driven inflammatory bone disorders, namely peripheral arthritis and sacroiliitis, as well as systemic bone loss.

Objectives

It has been hypothesized that patellofemoral pain, a common knee condition in adolescents and young adults, may be a precursor of degenerative joint changes and may ultimately lead to patellofemoral osteoarthritis. Since both conditions share several mechanical disease characteristics, such as altered contact area between the femur and patella and increased joint stress, we investigated whether these conditions share similar and different shape characteristics of the patella compared with normal controls.

Objectives

Sustained intra-articular delivery of pharmacological agents is an attractive modality but requires use of a safe carrier that would not induce cartilage damage or fibrosis. Collagen scaffolds are widely available and could be used intra-articularly, but no investigation has looked at the safety of collagen scaffolds within synovial joints. The aim of this study was to determine the safety of collagen scaffold implantation in a validated in vivo animal model of knee arthrofibrosis.

Objectives

Matrix-assisted autologous chondrocyte transplantation (MACT) has been developed and applied in the clinical practice in the last decade to overcome most of the disadvantages of the first generation procedures. The purpose of this systematic review is to document and analyse the available literature on the results of MACT in the treatment of chondral and osteochondral lesions of the knee.

Objectives

Numerous complications following total knee replacement (TKR) relate to the patellofemoral (PF) joint, including pain and patellar maltracking, yet the options for in vivo imaging of the PF joint are limited, especially after TKR. We propose a novel sequential biplane radiological method that permits accurate tracking of the PF and tibiofemoral (TF) joints throughout the range of movement under weightbearing, and test it in knees pre- and post-arthroplasty.