The features are described of seven cases of "juxtacortical" chondrosarcoma, the term introduced by Jaffe for a rare but distinct entity and now accepted in the World Health Organisation classification as preferable to the term "periosteal" chondrosarcoma. In all cases the lesion involved the shaft of a long bone, most often the femur, and in two cases two different long bones were affected. Six of the seven patients were male and all were in the second decade. The characteristic appearance was that of a small tumour adjacent to the cortex with areas of spotty calcification often accompanied by radiating bone spicules perpendicular to the bone shaft and a typical Codman's triangle. Histologically all the tumours showed a cartilaginous lobular pattern, well limited on the surface and seldom infiltrating the cortex; areas of spotty calcification and enchondral ossification were often present but tumour osteoid and bone were conspicuously absent. Despite the ominous histological aspect, the prognosis proved to be relatively favourable compared with the usual central chondrosarcoma of a similar grade of malignancy

Cadaver knee joints were mounted so that life-like forces of weight-bearing were simulated. The patello-femoral contact areas were defined under load throughout the range of movement by the dye method. During movement from extension to 90 degrees of flexion a band of contact sweeps across the patella from inferior to superior pole, but the odd facet makes no contact. At about 135 degrees of flexion separate medial and lateral contact areas form, the medial one limited to the odd facet. From extension to 90 degrees of flexion the patella holds the quadriceps tendon away from the femur, but in further degrees of flexion an extensive "tendo-femoral" contact area forms. Between 90 degrees and 135 degrees of flexion the patella rotates and the ridge between the medial and odd facets engages the femoral condyle. The odd facet is shown to be a habitual non-contact area and the ridge to be subject to high load, observations which correlate with cartilage lesions described in Part 2 of the paper

1. A family is described of which several members in four generations suffered epiphysial growth disturbances of an unusual kind in the capital epiphyses of the femur, with shortness of stature. 2. This disorder forms one of a group of epiphysial growth disturbances which embraces several recognised disorders, whose effects on the epiphyses vary in severity. They may occur sporadically or they may be inherited as recessive or dominant characters. 3. Differentiation depends on the behaviour of the joint line–in other words, whether the epiphysis starts to show defects through inability to sustain the stress of weight bearing. In the most serious cases the picture is that of Morquio-Brailsford's disease; when the changes are less severe the appearance may be that of bilateral Perthes' disease. Differential diagnosis is no longer possible in later life, because the ultimate condition of the defective femoral heads is the same. Only in the hereditary cases is one able, by studying the capital epiphyses of the hip in childhood, to differentiate between the changes like those of Perthes' disease on the one hand, and micro-epiphysial dysplasia without necrosis on the other

We have made a retrospective study of 1001 custom-made prostheses used as replacements after surgery for bone tumours. There were 493 distal femoral, 263 proximal femoral and 245 proximal tibial prostheses. Aseptic loosening was shown to be the principal mode of failure of the implants, and 71 patients had revision for aseptic loosening of a cemented intramedullary stem. The probability of a patient surviving aseptic loosening for 120 months was 93.8% for a proximal femoral replacement, 67.4% for a distal femoral prosthesis and 58% for a proximal tibial implant. In patients with distal femoral replacements the age of the patient at the time of operation and the percentage of bone resected were related to the risk of aseptic loosening. Young patients with distal femoral prostheses in whom a high percentage of the femur had been replaced had the poorest prognosis for survival without aseptic loosening. The percentage of bone removed had a significant effect in the proximal tibial replacement group, but the age of the patient did not. By contrast, neither the age nor the percentage of bone removed was a factor after proximal femoral replacement. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to mechanical factors

Objectives

As one of the heat-stable enterotoxins, Staphylococcal enterotoxin C2 (SEC2) is synthesized by Staphylococcus aureus, which has been proved to inhibit the growth of tumour cells, and is used as an antitumour agent in cancer immunotherapy. Although SEC2 has been reported to promote osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), the in vivo function of SCE2 in animal model remains elusive. The aim of this study was to further elucidate the in vivo effect of SCE2 on fracture healing.

We reviewed 249 consecutive Charnley primary low-friction arthroplasties in 191 patients performed by one surgeon using a transtrochanteric approach at a minimum follow-up of ten years. Of these, 37 hips in 32 patients showed osteolysis and were compared with 41 hips in 37 matched patients with no osteolysis. We assessed in each case the wear rate, stability of the prosthesis, acetabular angle, socket angle, thickness of the acetabular and femoral cement mantle, canal flare index, femoral score, stem alignment, implant:canal ratio and stem:canal ratio. We found that a high rate of wear, component instability and osteolysis were associated. Osteolysis was three times more common in men than in women. Factors which reduced osteolysis were cement mantles of 6 mm at the acetabulum and of 3 mm in all zones of the femur, a stem:canal ratio of 60% to 70% and an implant:canal ratio of over 99%. The overall incidence of osteolysis was 14.9% but when these technical criteria were met, the incidence was 5.2%. This suggests that careful technique can dramatically reduce the risk of this complication

Objectives

The goal of this study is to investigate the relation between indicators of osteoporosis (i.e., bone mineral density (BMD), and Cortical Index (CI)) and the complexity of a fracture of the proximal humerus as a result of a low-energy trauma.

We report a prospective study of the incidence of fractures in the adult population of Edinburgh, related to age and gender. Over a two-year period, 15 293 adults, 7428 males and 7865 females, sustained a fracture, and 5208 (34.0%) required admission. Between 15 and 49 years of age, males were 2.9 times more likely to sustain a fracture than females (95% CI 2.7 to 3.1). Over the age of 60 years, females were 2.3 times more likely to sustain a fracture than males (95% CI 2.1 to 2.4). There were three main peaks of fracture distribution: the first was in young adult males, the second was in elderly patients of both genders, mainly in metaphyseal bone such as the proximal femur, although diaphyseal fractures also showed an increase in incidence. The third increase in the incidence of fractures, especially of the wrist, was seen to start at 40 years of age in women. Our study has also shown that ‘osteoporotic’ fractures became evident in women earlier than expected, and that they were not entirely a postmenopausal phenomenon

A total of 455 patients aged over 70 years with a displaced intracapsular fracture of the proximal femur was randomised to be treated either by hemiarthroplasty or internal fixation. The preoperative characteristics of the patients in both groups were similar. Internal fixation has a shorter length of anaesthesia (36 minutes versus 57 minutes, p < 0.0001), lower operative blood loss (28 ml versus 177 ml, p < 0.0001) and lower transfusion requirements (0.04 units versus 0.39 units, p < 0.0001). In the internal fixation group 90 patients required 111 additional surgical procedures while only 15 additional operations on the hip were needed in 12 patients in the arthroplasty group. There was no statistically significant difference in mortality between the groups at one year (61/226 versus 63/229, p = 0.91), but there was a tendency for an improved survival in the older less mobile patients treated by internal fixation. For the survivors assessed at one, two and three years from injury there were no differences with regard to the outcome for pain and mobility. Limb shortening was more common after internal fixation (7.0 mm versus 3.6 mm, p = 0.004). We recommend that displaced intracapsular fractures in the elderly should generally be treated by arthroplasty but that internal fixation may be appropriate for those who are very frail

Total hip replacement using porous-coated cobalt-chrome femoral implants designed for biological fixation has been evaluated in 307 patients after two years and in 89 patients after five years. Histological study of 11 retrieved specimens showed bone ingrowth in nine and fibrous tissue fixation in two. Fixation by bone ingrowth occurred in 93% of the cases in which a press fit of the stem at the isthmus was achieved, but in only 69% of those without a press fit. The clinical results at two years were excellent. The incidence of pain and limp was much lower when there was either a press fit of the stem or radiographic evidence of bone ingrowth. Factors such as age, sex, and the disease process did not influence the clinical results. Most cases showed only slight resorptive remodelling of the upper femur, but in a few cases with a larger, more rigid stem, more extensive bone loss occurred. The results after five years showed no deterioration with time. Fixation by the ingrowth of bone or of fibrous tissue both appeared to be stable, but bone ingrowth gave better clinical results

The clinical features of nine new patients with dysplasia epiphysialis hemimelica are reported, with a long-term follow-up on a further seven patients who were described in the earliest case reports of this disease. Each of these 16 patients had only one leg involved, but 12 had multiple epiphyses affected. The distal femur, distal tibia and talus were the commonest sites and most patients presented with painless swelling or deformity. Wasting of the muscles of the affected leg was a common finding, and was occasionally disproportionate to the degree of disuse. One patient had the unique combination of involvement of the lateral and medial halves of different epiphyses in the same limb and another had unusual metaphysial changes. Diagnosis was often delayed despite typical radiographic appearances. There was no evidence for a genetic component in the aetiology nor was any common environmental factor identified. Treatment by local excision was generally effective for lesions in the vicinity of the knee, but some patients with involvement of the talus required arthrodesis around the ankle. The long-term prognosis appears to be good and so far only two of these patients have developed premature osteoarthritis

In 1957 Somerville and Scott presented their principles of management for the older child with congenital hip dislocation. They advocated preliminary traction followed, in those hips which remained dislocated, by excision of the limbus and subsequent derotation varus osteotomy of the femur. As alternative regimes are advocated it becomes increasingly important to subject each method to detailed long-term review. One hundred and forty-seven hips in 121 patients aged between 12 months and three years and treated by the standard Somerville and Scott regime have been reviewed. The age at review ranged from 16 to 31 years. The recall rate was 91 per cent. Each patient was seen regularly in a special clinic where detailed notes, radiographs and records were available. The results have been assessed clinically and radiographically by modifications of Severin's criteria to enable comparisons to be made with other published series. Attention has been focused on the good and the bad prognostic factors and on the long-term complications. The most worrying feature has been the premature onset of degenerative arthritis even in hips which seemed to have been satisfactorily reduced

Over the 10-year period 1969 to 1978, 271 consecutive cases of congenital dislocation of the hip were diagnosed at birth. Standard anteroposterior radiographs of the pelvis were obtained routinely and were analysed retrospectively. The medial gap, a measure of the separation between the proximal femur and the pelvic wall, was found to be significantly increased in cases with unilateral or bilateral dislocation when compared to normal. A medial greater than five millimetres is indicative of femoral head displacement and is of value where the clinical diagnosis is uncertain. The rate of missed dislocation at birth was 0.6 cases per thousand. Treatment with the Malmo splint was the normal routine. The Pavlik harness was applied if splintage was poorly tolerated by the infant, or in the rare instance of limited hip abduction. Failure to maintain reduction by splintage occurred in 3.3 per cent. The incidence of pressure deformities of the femoral head was 2.95 per cent and there was a residual deformity in later childhood of 1.1 per cent. It is presumed that this lesion can be attributed to the effect of splintage and it was notably avoided in the later period of the review when greater mobility of the abducted hips was encouraged

In a clinical, radiological and biochemical study of forty-two patients from Oxford with osteogenesis imperfecta, it was found that patients could be divided simply into mild, moderate and severe groups according to deformity of long bones. In the severe group (seventeen patients) a family history of affected members was uncommon and fractures began earlier and were more frequent than in the mild group (twenty-two patients); sixteen patients in the severe group had scoliosis and eleven had white sclerae; no patients in the mild group had white sclerae or scoliosis. Radiological examination of the femur showed only minor modelling defects in patients in the mild group, whereas in the severe group five distinct appearances of bone (thin, thick, cystic and buttressed bones, and those with hyperplastic callus) were seen. The polymeric (structural) collagen from skin was unstable to depolymerisation in patients in the severe group, but normal in amount, whereas the reverse was found in the mild group. This division according to long bone deformity may provide a basis for future research more useful than previous classifications

1. A detailed study of density variations with age in cortical bone samples from different areas of the femoral diaphysis has been carried out. 2. Bone of relatively high density and, conversely, of low density was found to have a spiral pattern along the bone shaft. 3. Moving distally along the femoral shaft there was a transposition of the greatest density from the anterior to the posterior aspect. 4. In the erect body posture the femoral inclination is such that areas of denser bone might be expected to be aligned vertically because of the weight-bearing characteristics of the femur. 5. Most areas of the cortex tended to decrease in density after the age of fifty, the less dense areas changing more than those with an initial high density. Thus, osteoporosis tended not only to maintain but to accentuate the spiral pattern of density distribution by increasing the difference between dense and less dense bone. 6. In the distal region of the diaphysis bone resorption was greatest anteriorly but hardly affected the posterior aspect. A densitometric comparison between these two sites provided a clear indication of the effect of osteoporosis

1. The menisco-femoral ligaments, extending from the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus to the lateral aspect of the medial femoral condyle, were found in ninety-nine (71 per cent) of the 140 knees examined. Fifty per cent of the ligaments were identified as the anterior menisco-femoral ligament while the remaining 50 per cent were of the posterior type. 2. During flexion of the knee with the foot fixed the menisco-femoral ligaments pull the posterior horn medially and slightly anteriorly, increasing the congruity between the meniscotibial socket and the lateral femoral condyle. 3. During lateral rotation of the femur with the knee flexed the menisco-femoral ligament pulls the posterior horn medially and slightly anteriorly, in this way increasing the risk of the posterior horn being crushed by the lateral femoral condyle. It is suggested that this is prevented by the contraction of the tibio-meniscal portion of the popliteus muscle which pulls the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus posteriorly. 4. When removing the lateral meniscus it may be advisable to make another incision in order to free the posterior horn from its attachment to the popliteus muscle and then to cut the menisco-femoral ligaments under direct vision

1. The relationship between histological grading and survival has been studied in a consecutive series of eighty-eight patients with osteogenic sarcomata. The grading has been based entirely upon the mitotic activity of these tumours. 2. There is a positive correlation ("r"=+0·59) between the two variates mitotic ratio and survival in months. 3. The frequency distributions of the mitotic ratios and survivals are similar and, from the observed range, mean and mode of mitotic ratios a more precise definition is proposed for the terms "low," "medium" and "high" malignancy. 4. Comment is made on those patients (20 per cent) in whom actual survival was very different from that expected on the basis of histological grading. 5. The five-year survival rates were: Grade I–67 per cent, Grade II–15 per cent, Grade III–nil, all–17 per cent. For the whole series the average survival period from the time of the presenting symptom was thirty-six months. 6. The five-year survival rate for forty-five tumours of the femur was 20 per cent; no further analysis by sites is attempted

Aims

Little is known about the relative outcomes of revision of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) and high tibial osteotomy (HTO) to total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The aim of this study is to compare the outcomes of revision surgery for the two procedures in terms of complications, re-revision and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) at a minimum of two years follow-up.

Objectives

Bisphosphonates (BP) are the first-line treatment for preventing fragility fractures. However, concern regarding their efficacy is growing because bisphosphonate is associated with over-suppression of remodelling and accumulation of microcracks. While dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning may show a gain in bone density, the impact of this class of drug on mechanical properties remains unclear. We therefore sought to quantify the mechanical strength of bone treated with BP (oral alendronate), and correlate data with the microarchitecture and density of microcracks in comparison with untreated controls.