We report 16 cases of erythematous eruption on the skin within the flaps of the surgical incision after primary total hip replacement over an eight-year period. The symptoms began within nine months of operation in 13 hips, and two to three years after in three. Four patients had recurrent episodes. All were treated with antibiotics (15 intravenous, one oral) with complete resolution of the eruption within one to six days. The mean follow-up after the last episode of cellulitis was 27 months (14 to 76). There were no cases of periprosthetic sepsis or other sequelae

Twenty-three patients, aged from 10 to 60 years, underwent open reduction for untreated posterior dislocations of the elbow. The dislocations had been unreduced for periods varying from one month to two years. All patients underwent a standard procedure based on the Speed technique. Complications after operation included one case of gross sepsis and five cases of ulnar neuritis. Most patients gained a useful range of flexion-extension of the elbow. Neither the age of the patient nor the duration of the unreduced dislocation influenced the result

1. A method of medullary nailing of fractures of the shaft of the tibia with a straight clover-leaf nail of large calibre is described. The nail is introduced, without exposure of the fracture, through the deep infrapatellar bursa. No external splint is used and the patient is usually allowed to walk as soon as the wound is healed. The technique is essentially that of Küntscher. 2. The results obtained in the first fifty patients so treated are described. The average period of absence from work for those twenty-five whose treatment was satisfactory was eleven weeks. There were no cases of sepsis or non-union; the only difficulties encountered were mechanical ones

We used gadolinium-enhanced fat-suppressed MRI to investigate 67 patients with persistent pain after lumbar discectomy. Twenty-five patients had reoperations for lesions diagnosed in this way. Eleven were for recurrent disc prolapse at the same level and sciatica was relieved by all but one. Five operations were for prolapse at an adjacent level and all were successful. The diagnosis of sepsis was less precise, but extension of tissue enhancement into the operated disc space was found to be significant. Only three patients had evidence of arachnoiditis which suggests that this condition has been too often diagnosed as a cause of persisting low back pain

Between April 1992 and November 1998 we used 34 massive proximal femoral allografts for femoral reconstruction at revision hip arthroplasty. Seven patients have died and two have been lost to follow-up. There were thus 25 grafts in 24 patients for review. The mean follow-up was 53 months (16 to 101). By the time of the review two patients had undergone a further revision for failure of the allograft. Another had required secondary plating and grafting at the graft-host junction for symptomatic nonunion. One had recurrence of deep sepsis and was being managed conservatively. Trochanteric union was considered to have occurred radiologically in 16 of the 25 grafts and union at the host-graft junction in 20. Resorption of the allograft was significant in only two hips. We recommend this technique in cases in which femoral bone loss has been catastrophic

Intra-articular injections of steroid into the hip are used for a variety of reasons in current orthopaedic practice. Recently their safety prior to ipsilateral total hip replacement has been called into question owing to concerns about deep joint infection. We undertook a retrospective analysis of all patients who had undergone local anaesthetic and steroid injections followed by ipsilateral total hip replacement over a five-year period. Members of the surgical team, using a lateral approach to the hip, performed all the injections in the operating theatre using a strict aseptic technique. The mean time between injection and total hip replacement was 18 months (4 to 50). The mean follow-up after hip replacement was 25.8 months (9 to 78), during which time no case of deep joint sepsis was found. In our series, ipsilateral local anaesthetic and steroid injections have not conferred an increased risk of infection in total hip replacement. We believe that the practice of intra-articular local anaesthetic and steroid injections to the hip followed by total hip replacement is safer than previously reported

Fifty-three ununited fractures with a median time since injury of 28 months were treated by electrical stimulation using pulsing electromagnetic fields. Union was achieved in 38 cases (71.7 per cent) in a median time of six months. For ununited fractures of the tibia the success rate was higher at 86.7 per cent. Previous or active sepsis, the presence of plates or nails, the age of the patient or the time since the injury did not affect the results. Analysis of the failures suggests that inadequate immobilisation, a fracture gap of more than five millimetres or the presence of a screw in the fracture gap was responsible. In four patients no cause of failure could be determined

1. Forty-five arthroplasties of the knee with the Walldius prosthesis are reported in forty-two patients, thirty-seven with rheumatoid arthritis and five with osteoarthritis. 2. There has been no structural failure of the prosthesis. 3. Sepsis required removal of the prosthesis in three cases, but arthrodesis was obtained in two of the three. 4. Serious loosening of the prosthesis occurred in one case only. Varus deformity occurred in one patient. 5. Radiological evidence of some movement of the prosthesis was present in six other cases but this did not seem to affect function. 6. It is concluded that this operation has a place in the treatment of the more seriously disabled patient, but should not be used when heavy demands are likely to be made on the joint

Revision hip arthroplasty in patients with massive acetabular bone deficiency has generally given poor long-term results. We report the use of an 'anti-protrusio cage', secured to the ischium and ilium, which bridges areas of acetabular bone loss, provides support for the acetabular socket, and allows pelvic bone grafting in an environment protected from excessive stress. Forty-two failed hip arthroplasties with massive acetabular bone loss were revised with the Burch-Schneider anti-protrusio cage and evaluated after two to 11 years (mean five years). There was failure due to sepsis in five hips (12%) and aseptic loosening in five (12%); the remaining 32 hips (76%) showed no evidence of acetabular component failure or loosening

We present the results of 506 consecutive Howse hip arthroplasties with a minimum follow-up of 10 years. The mortality within one month of surgery was 0.79%. The early dislocation rate was 1.38%, two hips requiring revision. Nine hips developed deep sepsis (1.78%), eight of which required revision. At 10 years 42 hips (8.3%) had required revision, including 14 with aseptic acetabular loosening and 11 with femoral stem fractures. We feel that as judged by the dislocation rate and the need for subsequent revision, the Howse arthroplasty is an acceptable form of total hip replacement, particularly in the older patient and in those requiring total replacement for femoral neck fractures

We reviewed the clinical and radiological results of 131 patients who underwent acetabular revision for aseptic loosening with impacted bone allograft and a cemented acetabular component. The mean follow-up was 51.7 months (24 to 156). The mean post-operative Merle D’Aubigné and Postel scores were 5.7 points (4 to 6) for pain, 5.2 (3 to 6) for gait and 4.5 (2 to 6) for mobility. Radiological evaluation revealed migration greater than 5 mm in four acetabular components. Radiological failure matched clinical failure. Asymptomatic radiolucent lines were observed in 31 of 426 areas assessed (7%). Further revision was required in six patients (4.5%), this was due to infection in three and mechanical failure in three. The survival rate for the reconstruction was 95.8% (95% confidence interval 92.3 to 99.1) overall, and 98%, excluding revision due to sepsis. Our study, from an independent centre, has reproduced the results of the originators of the method

Aims

Osteopetrosis (OP) is a rare hereditary disease that causes reduced bone resorption and increased bone density as a result of osteoclastic function defect. Our aim is to review the difficulties, mid-term follow-up results, and literature encountered during the treatment of OP.

We reviewed 15 patients with an arthrodesis of the elbow using an AO compression-plate technique, after an average follow-up of 24 months. The most common indication was an open, infected high-energy injury with associated bone loss. Arthrodesis was successful in all but one patient in whom severe deep infection necessitated amputation. Eight patients were treated with the metal partly exposed in an infected wound. After removal of the metal, all wounds healed secondarily and none had clinical or radiographic signs of sepsis at latest review. Compression-plate arthrodesis of the elbow is a generally applicable method that can be used even in cases of severe bone loss. There appears to be greater certainty of union than with other techniques, and no increased risk of subsequent fracture

We performed 83 consecutive cemented revision total hip arthroplasties in 77 patients between 1977 and 1983 using improved cementing techniques. One patient (two hips) was lost to follow-up. The remaining 76 patients (81 hips) had an average age at revision of 63.7 years (23 to 89). At the final follow-up 18 hips (22%) had had a reoperation, two (2.5%) for sepsis, three (4%) for dislocation and 13 (16%) for aseptic loosening. The incidence of rerevision for aseptic femoral loosening was 5.4% and for aseptic acetabular loosening 16%. These results confirm that cemented femoral revision is a durable option in revision hip surgery when improved cementing techniques are used, but that cemented acetabular revision is unsatisfactory

Fifty-four hips converted to low friction arthroplasty between 1965 and 1975 have been reviewed one to eleven years after operation. In many cases malposition had led to degenerative changes in the opposite hip, the lumbar spine or the knee, often with severe loss of function due to pain. It was found that total replacement could give useful relief of pain and improved function, though the range of movement obtained was not as good as in primary replacement. An outstanding feature was the correction of inequality of leg length. In general, the results were much better in cases of ankylosis acquired in adult life than in cases of spontaneous fusion after sepsis in childhood. The most important complication was a single case of sciatic palsy

Patients who had a revision total hip arthroplasty using the Bürch-Schneider anti-protrusio cage (APC) by a single surgeon have been reviewed after a minimum of five years. There were 63 operations in 58 patients with an average age of 63 years (41 to 83) at the time of revision. At an average follow-up of 8.5 years (5 to 18), 15 patients (25.9%) rated their results as excellent, 38 (65.5%) as good, and five (8.6%) as fair. Five further revisions of the acetabular prosthesis were required, three due to aseptic loosening, one for recurrent dislocation and one due to sepsis. Of the remainder, one was definitely loose, two probably loose, and 12 possibly so. Impressive augmentation of bone stock can be achieved with the anti-protrusio cage, while enabling the hip to be centred in its anatomical position

We reviewed eight children (ten shoulders) who had suffered neonatal sepsis, after a mean follow-up of 14 years (11 to 15). The delay between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis was one day in five patients, two days in three and seven days in one. All ten shoulders were treated by aspiration, followed by arthrotomy in two. At follow-up, five of the ten shoulders had a full range of movement and the others had minimal restriction of external rotation. Shortening of 10 cm was present in one patient, while two with bilateral involvement had disproportionally short humeri. Early diagnosis and treatment favour the outcome in septic arthritis of the shoulder. With late diagnosis, deformation of the humeral head and shortening of the humerus cause marked cosmetic abnormality but negligible functional loss

1. The results of thirty-nine operations for correction of drop-foot in thirty-three patients with leprosy are discussed. 2. The procedure used was circumtibial, subcutaneous, two-tailed, tendon-to-tendon transfer of the tibialis posterior to extensor hallucis longus and to extensor digitorum longus and peroneus tertius. The motor slips were inserted into the recipient tendons on the dorsum of the foot. 3. Analysis of the results showed some correlation between the angle of active dorsiflexion and the range ofactive movement ofthe ankle. The angle ofdorsiflexion seemed to determine the range of movement. 4. When contracture of the tendo calcaneus was present, simultaneous lengthening improved the angle of dorsiflexion more than the range of active movement. 5. The causes of failure were sepsis, failure of re-education and unrecognised tightness of the tendo calcaneus. 6. The advantages of the present procedure are mentioned

Aims

The diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) can be difficult. All current diagnostic tests have problems with accuracy and interpretation of results. Many new tests have been proposed, but there is no consensus on the place of many of these in the diagnostic pathway. Previous attempts to develop a definition of PJI have not been universally accepted and there remains no reference standard definition.

Between December 1982 and June 1986, 98 displaced subcapital femoral neck fractures were treated using the Charnley-Hastings bipolar hemiarthroplasty. Although the patients were elderly, often with associated medical problems, the operation was well tolerated and the mortality at one and six months was 14.4% and 24.5% respectively. Fifty-four hips were reviewed after an average follow-up of 33 months; 64.8% of patients had a good or excellent result. The fair or poor results were seen mainly in patients with poor pre-operative mobility and multiple medical problems. A significant cause of morbidity was dislocation (two interprosthetic) which occurred in six hips. There were two cases of deep sepsis but neither patient was fit for further surgery. There were no cases of acetabular erosion requiring revision surgery