We investigated fixed flexion deformity (FFD) after total knee replacement (TKR). Data relating to 369 cruciate-retaining unilateral TKRs performed at a single institution were collected prospectively. Fixed flexion was measured pre-operatively and at one week, six months, 18 months, three years and five years after surgery.

Using binary logistic regression, pre-operative FFD was a predictor of post-operative FFD > 10° at one week (p = 0.006) and six months (p = 0.003) following surgery. Gender was a predictor at one week (p = 0.0073) with 24% of women showing a FFD > 10° compared with 37% of men.

We have shown that a gradual improvement in knee extension can be expected up to three years after surgery in knees with FFD. By this time residual FFD is mild or absent in the majority of patients, including those who had a severe pre-operative FFD.

Aims

The number of revision total knee arthroplasties (TKA) that are performed is expected to increase. However, previous reports of the causes of failure after TKA are limited in that they report the causes at specific institutions, which are often dependent on referral patterns. Our aim was to report the most common indications for re-operations and revisions in a large series of posterior-stabilised TKAs undertaken at a single institution, excluding referrals from elsewhere, which may bias the causes of failure.

A small proportion of patients have persistent pain after total knee replacement (TKR). The primary aim of this study was to record the prevalence of pain after TKR at specific intervals post-operatively and to ascertain the impact of neuropathic pain. The secondary aim was to establish any predictive factors that could be used to identify patients who were likely to have high levels of pain or neuropathic pain after TKR.

A total of 96 patients were included in the study. Their mean age was 71 years (48 to 89); 54 (56%) were female. The mean follow-up was 46 months (39 to 51). Pre-operative demographic details were recorded including a Visual Analogue Score (VAS) for pain, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression score as well as the painDETECT score for neuropathic pain. Functional outcome was assessed using the Oxford Knee score.

The mean pre-operative VAS was 5.8 (1 to 10); and it improved significantly at all time periods post-operatively (p < 0.001): (from 4.5 at day three to five (1 to 10), 3.2 at six weeks (0 to 9), 2.4 at three months (0 to 7), 2.0 at six months (0 to 9), 1.7 at nine months (0 to 9), 1.5 at one year (0 to 8) and 2.0 at mean 46 months (0 to 10)). There was a high correlation (r > 0.7; p < 0.001) between the mean VAS scores for pain and the mean painDETECT scores at three months, one year and three years post-operatively. There was no correlation between the pre-operative scores and any post-operative scores at any time point.

We report the prevalence of pain and neuropathic pain at various intervals up to three years after TKR. Neuropathic pain is an underestimated problem in patients with pain after TKR. It peaks at between six weeks and three-months post-operatively. However, from these data we were unable to predict which patients are most likely to be affected.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:1227–33.

Frozen shoulder is commonly encountered in general orthopaedic practice. It may arise spontaneously without an obvious predisposing cause, or be associated with a variety of local or systemic disorders. Diagnosis is based upon the recognition of the characteristic features of the pain, and selective limitation of passive external rotation. The macroscopic and histological features of the capsular contracture are well-defined, but the underlying pathological processes remain poorly understood. It may cause protracted disability, and imposes a considerable burden on health service resources. Most patients are still managed by physiotherapy in primary care, and only the more refractory cases are referred for specialist intervention. Targeted therapy is not possible and treatment remains predominantly symptomatic. However, over the last ten years, more active interventions that may shorten the clinical course, such as capsular distension arthrography and arthroscopic capsular release, have become more popular.

This review describes the clinical and pathological features of frozen shoulder. We also outline the current treatment options, review the published results and present our own treatment algorithm.

There are many types of treatment used to manage the frozen shoulder, but there is no consensus on how best to manage patients with this painful and debilitating condition. We conducted a review of the evidence of the effectiveness of interventions used to manage primary frozen shoulder using the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, the Physiotherapy Evidence Database, MEDLINE and EMBASE without language or date restrictions up to April 2009. Two authors independently applied selection criteria and assessed the quality of systematic reviews using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) tool. Data were synthesised narratively, with emphasis placed on assessing the quality of evidence.

In total, 758 titles and abstracts were identified and screened, which resulted in the inclusion of 11 systematic reviews. Although these met most of the AMSTAR quality criteria, there was insufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions about the effectiveness of treatments commonly used to manage a frozen shoulder. This was mostly due to poor methodological quality and small sample size in primary studies included in the reviews. We found no reviews evaluating surgical interventions.

More rigorous randomised trials are needed to evaluate the treatments used for frozen shoulder.

Aims

The aims of this study were to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcomes of the Universal-2 total wrist arthroplasty (TWA) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Aims

Knee joint distraction (KJD) is a relatively new, knee-joint preserving procedure with the goal of delaying total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in young and middle-aged patients. We present a randomised controlled trial comparing the two.

Aims

The aim of this consensus was to develop a definition of post-operative fibrosis of the knee.

Aims

Patients undergoing femoral lengthening by external fixation tolerate treatment less well when compared to tibial lengthening. Lengthening of the femur with an intramedullary device may have advantages.

Aims

To compare radiographic failure and re-operation rates of anatomical coracoclavicular (CC) ligament reconstructional techniques with non-anatomical techniques after chronic high grade acromioclavicular (AC) joint injuries.

Bariatric surgery has been advocated as a means of reducing body mass index (BMI) and the risks associated with total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, this has not been proved clinically. In order to determine the impact of bariatric surgery on the outcome of TKA, we identified a cohort of 91 TKAs that were performed in patients who had undergone bariatric surgery (bariatric cohort). These were matched with two separate cohorts of patients who had not undergone bariatric surgery. One was matched 1:1 with those with a higher pre-bariatric BMI (high BMI group), and the other was matched 1:2 based on those with a lower pre-TKA BMI (low BMI group).

In the bariatric group, the mean BMI before bariatric surgery was 51.1 kg/m² (37 to 72), which improved to 37.3 kg/m² (24 to 59) at the time of TKA. Patients in the bariatric group had a higher risk of, and worse survival free of, re-operation (hazard ratio (HR) 2.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2 to 6.2; p = 0.02) compared with the high BMI group. Furthermore, the bariatric group had a higher risk of, and worse survival free of re-operation (HR 2.4; 95% CI 1.2 to 3.3; p = 0.2) and revision (HR 2.2; 95% CI 1.1 to 6.5; p = 0.04) compared with the low BMI group.

While bariatric surgery reduced the BMI in our patients, more analysis is needed before recommending bariatric surgery before TKA in obese patients.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2015;97-B:1501–5.

Bilateral simultaneous total knee replacement (TKR) has been considered by some to be associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Our study analysed the outcome of 150 consecutive, but selected, bilateral simultaneous TKRs and compared them with that of 271 unilateral TKRs in a standardised fast-track setting. The procedures were performed between 2003 and 2009.

Apart from staying longer in hospital (mean 4.7 days (2 to 16) versus 3.3 days (1 to 25)) and requiring more blood transfusions, the outcome at three months and two years was similar or better in the bilateral simultaneous TKR group in regard to morbidity, mortality, satisfaction, the range of movement, pain, the use of a walking aid and the ability to return to work and to perform activities of daily living. Bilateral simultaneous TKR can therefore be performed as a fast-track procedure with excellent results.

This prospective study describes the outcome of the first 1000 phase 3 Oxford medial unicompartmental knee replacements (UKRs) implanted using a minimally invasive surgical approach for the recommended indications by two surgeons and followed up independently. The mean follow-up was 5.6 years (1 to 11) with 547 knees having a minimum follow-up of five years. At five years their mean Oxford knee score was 41.3 (sd 7.2), the mean American Knee Society Objective Score 86.4 (sd 13.4), mean American Knee Society Functional Score 86.1 (sd 16.6), mean Tegner activity score 2.8 (sd 1.1). For the entire cohort, the mean maximum flexion was 130° at the time of final review.

The incidence of implant-related re-operations was 2.9%; of these 29 re-operations two were revisions requiring revision knee replacement components with stems and wedges, 17 were conversions to a primary total knee replacement, six were open reductions for dislocation of the bearing, three were secondary lateral UKRs and one was revision of a tibial component. The most common reason for further surgical intervention was progression of arthritis in the lateral compartment (0.9%), followed by dislocation of the bearing (0.6%) and revision for unexplained pain (0.6%). If all implant-related re-operations are considered failures, the ten-year survival rate was 96% (95% confidence interval, 92.5 to 99.5). If only revisions requiring revision components are considered failures the ten-year survival rate is 99.8% (confidence interval 99 to 100).

This is the largest published series of UKRs implanted through a minimally invasive surgical approach and with ten-year survival data. The survival rates are similar to those obtained with a standard open approach whereas the function is better. This demonstrates the effectiveness and safety of a minimally invasive surgical approach for implanting the Oxford UKR.

The December 2014 Children’s orthopaedics Roundup³⁶⁰ looks at: predicting drift in supracondylar fractures; do normal hips dislocate?; the burden of trampoline fractures; muscle eversion activity is strongly predictive of outcome in CTEV; the modified Dunn osteotomy; plaster and moulded casts; and psychology and fractures.

Our aim was to compare the outcome of arthroscopic release for frozen shoulder in patients with and without diabetes. We prospectively compared the outcome in 21 patients with and 21 patients without diabetes, two years post-operatively. The modified Constant score was used as the outcome measure. The mean age of the patients was 54.5 years (48 to 65; male:female ratio: 18:24), the mean pre-operative duration of symptoms was 8.3 months (6 to 13) and the mean pre-operative modified Constant scores were 36.6 (standard deviation (sd) 4.6) and 38.4 (sd 5.7) in the diabetic and non-diabetic groups, respectively. The mean modified Constant scores at six weeks, six months and two years post-operatively in the diabetics were 55. 6 (sd 4.7), 67. 4 (sd 5.6) and 84. 4 (sd 6.8), respectively; and in the non-diabetics 66.8 (sd 4.5), 79.6 (sd 3.8) and 88.6 (sd 4.2), respectively. A total of 15 (71%) of diabetic patients recovered a full range of movement as opposed to 19 (90%) in the non-diabetics. There was significant improvement (p < 0.01) in the modified Constant scores following arthroscopic release for frozen shoulder in both groups. The results in diabetics were significantly worse than those in non-diabetics six months post-operatively (p < 0.01) with a tendency towards persistent limitation of movement two years after operation. These results may be used when counselling diabetic patients for the outcome after arthroscopic treatment of frozen shoulder.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:1355–8.

We used a knee-sparing distal femoral endoprosthesis in young patients with malignant bone tumours of the distal femur in whom it was possible to resect the tumour and to preserve the distal femoral condyles. The proximal shaft of the endoprosthesis had a coated hydroxyapatite collar, while the distal end had hydroxyapatite-coated extracortical plates to secure it to the small residual femoral condylar fragment. We reviewed the preliminary results of this endoprosthesis in eight patients with primary bone tumours of the distal femur. Their mean age at surgery was 17.years (14 to 21). The mean follow-up was 24 months (20 to 31). At final follow-up the mean flexion at the knee was 102° (20° to 120°) and the mean Musculoskeletal Tumour Society score was 80% (57% to 96.7%).

There was excellent osteointegration at the prosthesis-proximal bone interface with formation of new bone around the hydroxyapatite collar. The prosthesis allowed preservation of the knee and achieved a good functional result. Formation of new bone and remodelling at the interface make the implant more secure. Further follow-up is required to determine the long-term structural integrity of the prosthesis.

Stiffness is an uncommon but potentially debilitating complication following total knee replacement (TKR). The treatment of this condition remains difficult and controversial. We present the results of 13 patients who underwent open arthrolysis for stiffness. The mean time between TKR and arthrolysis was 14 months. The mean follow-up was 7.2 years (2 to 10). The mean range of movement prior to arthrolysis was 55°. This increased to 91°, six months after arthrolysis (p < 0.005). The improved range of movement was maintained during the follow-up period. No patient has required revision of their components. We have found arthrolysis to be a useful and successful approach to post-TKR stiffness.

The first Cochrane Corner of 2014 reports on a bumper number of new and updated reviews from the Cochrane Collaboration. Since November the Cochrane collaboration have turned their beady eye to scrutinise several topical (and sometimes controversial) orthopaedic issues such as pin site care, the use of Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) in the rehabilitation of total knee replacement (TKR) and the efficacy of nerve blocks.

Despite a lack of long-term follow-up, there is an increasing trend towards using femoral heads of large diameter in total hip replacement (THR), partly because of the perceived advantage of lower rates of dislocation. However, increasing the size of the femoral head is not the only way to reduce the rate of dislocation; optimal alignment of the components and repair of the posterior capsule could achieve a similar effect.

In this prospective study of 512 cemented unilateral THRs (Male:Female 230:282) performed between 2004 and 2011, we aimed to determine the rate of dislocation in patients who received a 22 mm head on a 9/10 Morse taper through a posterior approach with capsular repair and using the transverse acetabular ligament (TAL) as a guide for the alignment of the acetabular component. The mean age of the patients at operation was 67 years (35 to 89). The mean follow-up was 2.8 years (0.5 to 6.6). Pre- and post-operative assessment included Oxford hip, Short Form-12 and modified University of California Los Angeles and Merle D’Aubigne scores. The angles of inclination and anteversion of the acetabular components were measured using radiological software. There were four dislocations (0.78%), all of which were anterior.

In conclusion, THR with a 22 mm diameter head performed through a posterior approach with capsular repair and using the TAL as a guide for the alignment of the acetabular component was associated with a low rate of dislocation.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:1202–6.