Use of Teriparatide in preventing delayed bone healing and nonunion: a multicentric study on a series of 20 patients.

BACKGROUND: Delayed bone healing and nonunions represent a great challenge for the orthopedic surgeon. In addition to traditional surgical approaches, increasing attention is being given to the use of systemic anabolic therapy with Teriparatide, whose efficacy in preventing osteoporotic fractures is widely validated and whose application as a promoter of bone healing has been described but it is still debated. The aim of the study was to evaluate bone healing in a series of patients with delayed unions or nonunions treated with Teriparatide in conjunction with eventual appropriate surgical procedure. METHODS: Twenty patients with an unconsolidated fracture that were treated at our Institutions from 2011 to 2020 with Teriparatide were retrospectively included into the study. The pharmacological anabolic support was used off-label with a planned duration of 6 months; radiographic healing was evaluated at 1-, 3- and 6-months follow-up outpatient visits over plain radiographs. Also, eventual side-effects were registered. RESULTS: Radiographic signs indicative of favorable evolution of the bone callus were observed as early as at 1 month of therapy in 15% of cases; at 3 months, healing progression was appreciated in 80% of cases and complete healing in 10%; at 6 months, 85% of delayed and nonunions had healed. In all patients, the anabolic therapy was well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: In accordance to Literature, this study suggests that Teriparatide plays a potentially important role in the treatment of some forms of delayed unions or nou-nions, even in the presence of failure of hardware. The results suggest a greater effect of the drug when associated with a condition in which the bone is in an active phase of callogenesis, or with a "revitalizing" treatment which represents a local (mechanical and/or biological) stimulus to the healing process. Despite the small sample size and the variety of cases, the efficacy of Teriparatide in treating delayed unions or nonunions emerged, highlighting how this anabolic therapy can represent a useful pharmacological support in the treatment of such a pathology. Although the results obtained are encouraging, further studies, particularly prospective and randomized, are needed to confirm the efficacy of the drug, and define a specific treatment algorithm.

Periprosthetic Atypical Femoral Fractures Exist: A Retrospective Study at a Single Institution. Prevalence on 115 Periprosthetic Femoral Fractures Around a Primary Hip Stem.

BACKGROUND: Some periprosthetic femoral fractures (PFFs) present history and radiographic aspect consistent with an atypical femoral fracture (AFF), fulfilling the criteria for AFF except that PFFs by themselves are excluded from the diagnosis of AFFs. The aim of this study is to evaluate in a single institution series of PFFs if any of them could be considered a periprosthetic atypical femoral fracture (PAFF), and their prevalence. METHODS: Surgical records were searched for PFFs around a primary hip stem from January 2013 to December 2019. Cases were classified according to Vancouver classification. Demographic and medical history was extracted. Fisher's exact test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: One hundred fifteen PFFs were identified, 59 of them were type B1 and 16 were type C. Radiographs and medical records were available for all patients. Twenty-four patients (32%) have been treated with bisphosphonates (BPs) for longer than 4 years. Four patients presented a fracture with characteristics of PAFF. When enlarged to all PFFs of the series, no other PAFF was found: prevalence of PAFFs was 5.3% for type B1 and C cases and 3.5% for all surgically treated PFFs. Statistical significative difference between PAFFs and PFFs was found for prolonged BP assumption and for the level of fracture clear of the stem. CONCLUSION: Fracture with characteristics of AFFs can also happen over a prosthetic stem, configuring themselves as PAFFs, and they are related to prolonged BP use. As a correct diagnosis is mandatory for proper treatment, a revision of criteria for AFFs should be considered, accepting that PAFFs exist.

High rate of vertebral refracture after vertebroplasty in patients taking glucocorticoids: a prospective two-year study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess vertebral fracture (VFx) occurrence after percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) in patients with osteoporosis (OP), primary or secondary to chronic glucocorticoid (GC) therapy. METHODS: Prospective study of a 2-year follow-up. PRIMARY OUTCOME: proportion of patients with new VFx 24 months after PVP. Eligible patients were osteoporotic patients with VFx and pain resistant to conventional therapy, under GC therapy (n=70) or not (n=71), who underwent PVP. X-rays of dorso/lumbar spine were performed before PVP and 12 and 24 months after the procedure. All the patients were given secondary fractures prevention with oral bisphosphonates plus calcium and vitamin D. RESULTS: The two groups were comparable with respect to male to female ratio, age, BMI, pain score, number of prevalent VFx and their score according to Genant, time interval between VFx and PVP, number of VFx that were treated, vitamin D and PTH plasma levels, and bone mineral density at femur sites. The proportion of patients with new VFx was higher at 12 and 24 months in the group taking GC; at 24 months was 44.3% in GC group and 22.6% in non-GC group (RR 1.96; 95% CI 1.19-3.26, p=0.0087). All new VFx were clinically evident. GC-treated patients had more falls than the patients who were not on GC: 43 falls per 100 pts/y and 32 falls per 100 pts/y, respectively (p<0.05); however, only 4 and 6 falls, respectively, caused a VFx (p=NS). Finally, logistic regression model showed that the increased risk of new VFx was associated with GC use (OR 4.53; 95% CI 1.50-13.69, p=0.0073) and low femoral neck T-scores (OR 3.57; 95% CI 1.82-7.02, p=0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: Patients under treatment with GC show a two-fold increased risk of new VFx after PVP with respect to patients with primary OP. This should be weighed in the individual risk/benefit assessment of the procedure.

LARS versus hamstring tendon autograft in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a single-centre, single surgeon retrospective study with 8 years of follow-up.

PURPOSE: The choice of graft type in the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction remains a subject of controversy. The aim of this study was to assess the outcomes in ACL reconstructions performed using a four-strand hamstring tendon graft (4SHG) or a LARS ligament comparing the effectiveness of the two grafts at a medium follow-up of 8 years. METHODS: This retrospective, single-centre, single surgeon study evaluated the clinical, functional and radiographic outcomes in 50 patients who underwent ACL reconstruction (25 4SHG and 25 LARS). Patients who underwent surgery after more than 6 months from injury and showed radiographically visible degenerative changes at time of surgery were excluded from the study. RESULTS: None of the patients underwent re-surgery in the same knee. The range of motion of the operated knee, compared to the contralateral, was good for both groups. The anterior drawer test resulted negative in 21 patients (84%) in the LARS group and eight patients (32%) in the 4SHG group (P = 0.039). The Lachman test was negative in 19 patients (76%) in the LARS group and in 11 patients (44%) in the 4SHG group (P = 0.045). Although other results of ACL reconstruction measured by Lysholm scores, IKDC evaluation, Tegner scores and radiographic images showed using a LARS graft tended to be superior to using a 4SHG, there were no statistically significant differences calculated. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that 4 years after ACL reconstruction using a LARS ligament or 4SHG dramatically improves the function outcome, while the patients in the LARS group displayed a higher knee stability than those in the 4SHG group.

Histological study of atraumatic periprosthetic fractures: does atypical periprosthetic fracture exist?

PURPOSE: Is it possible a correlation between some periprosthetic femoral fractures and atypical fractures? CASE: We present a case of a 77-year-old woman with atypical periprosthetic femoral fracture. The patient had a history of long-term bisphosphonate use. We performed an open reduction, a synthesis of the fracture and a histological exam. The patient stopped the bisphosphonate (BF) therapy. Three months later, before starting the teriparatide treatment, the patient had a re-fracture so we did a second osteosynthesis and began a teriparatide therapy. After six months, the radiography showed a bone healing at the fracture site. RESULT: The histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of atypical femoral fracture. CONCLUSION: At first, the fracture showed a delayed union which led to a new surgery, as often happens in BF-related atypical fractures. Appropriate treatment (BF suspension and teriparatide beginning) permitted fracture healing. The atypical characteristic of the fracture was confirmed by histological exam.Some periprosthetic femoral fractures in patients treated with BF, especially in long time therapies, should be suspected as atypical fractures and a specific medical treatment should be performed, as well as a correct surgical treatment.

Single-Use Instrumentation Technologies in Knee Arthroplasty: State of the Art.

The surgical site contamination and the resulting periprosthetic infections are an important cause of morbidity and socio-economic impact. In total knee arthroplasty, the single-use instrumentation is developed to simplify the surgical procedure, reduce the chance of instrument contamination, improve the operating room efficiency, and reduce overall costs (low cost of instrument washing and sterilization as well as personnel management). Surgical single-use instrumentations on the market are complete with all you need for the surgical procedure-cutting guides, conventional or PSI (patient-specific instrumentation), femoral cutting block, re-cutting block, trials components, alignment rods, inserts, and impactors. In recent years, PSI (patient-specific instrumentation) was introduced. It decreases operative time and blood loss without violating the intramedullary canal. It also allows the surgeon to preoperatively plan the patient's component size, position, and alignment. We reported an average of 30 minutes saved for each surgical procedure, a saving of 60€ for each surgical tray. Moreover, we avoided surgery cancellation or delay due to un-sterile, missing, or dysfunctional instruments. We think that this technology is the first step in developing implants that are entirely customized for each patient, and we believe that it will have a more relevant role in knee surgery in the future.

Giant Schwannoma of the Saphenous Nerve in The Distal Thigh: A Case Report.

CASE: Schwannomas are benign nerve myelin sheath tumors that can occur anywhere in the peripheral nervous system. It is very rare for Schwannomas to become malignant, but surgery is still the principal treatment to eliminate symptoms and to correctly diagnosis the tumor. We report an interesting case of a schwannoma of the saphenous nerve at the distal third of the posteromedial thigh: the patient complained of muscle weakness at left lower limb and vague anteromedial knee pain, mimicking a meniscal tear. Magnetic resonance images of the thigh showed a well-defined and oval mass lesion measuring 8.5 cm x 4.5 cm. Before investigating for a possible meniscal tear, we decided to remove the mass from the thigh, because we felt that it could itself be the cause of the mild pain complained about by the patient. Post-surgery, histological analysis conducted confirmed that this was a benign schwannoma. DISCUSSION: Schwannomas generally can be asymptomatic or present as a mass. The clinical presentation of this rare tumor makes the diagnosis difficult. CONCLUSION: This reported case is particularly interesting because of the rarity of the lesion localization along the course of the saphenous nerve. The combination of the location, and especially the large size of the tumor, led us to believe that there is a correlation with the particular clinical presentation.

Algodystrophy: complex regional pain syndrome and incomplete forms.

The algodystrophy, also known as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), is a painful disease characterized by erythema, edema, functional impairment, sensory and vasomotor disturbance. The diagnosis of CRPS is based solely on clinical signs and symptoms, and for exclusion compared to other forms of chronic pain. There is not a specific diagnostic procedure; careful clinical evaluation and additional test should lead to an accurate diagnosis. There are similar forms of chronic pain known as bone marrow edema syndrome, in which is absent the history of trauma or triggering events and the skin dystrophic changes and vasomotor alterations. These incomplete forms are self-limited, and surgical treatment is generally not needed. It is still controversial, if these forms represent a distinct self-limiting entity or an incomplete variant of CRPS. In painful unexplained conditions such as frozen shoulder, post-operative stiff shoulder or painful knee prosthesis, the algodystrophy, especially in its incomplete forms, could represent the cause.

Efficacy of a specific rehabilitation protocol in postural control of a young woman with multiple fragility vertebral fractures: a case report.

The fragility vertebral fractures have a considerable impact on an individual's health-related quality of life due to pain, limitations in activity, social participation, altered mood and balance impairment. Physiotherapy interventions may have an important role in improving quality of life, balance and reducing the fracture risk in people with osteoporotic vertebral fractures. In literature there are only a few studies that examine exercise interventions in osteoporotic populations with vertebral fracture and few studies that examine the effects on balance with instrumental measurements. In this paper we present a case of a woman with fragility vertebral fractures and a related balance impairment and the effects of a specific rehabilitation program using both clinical evaluations that instrumental measurements.

Underdiagnosis of osteoporotic vertebral fractures in patients with fragility fractures: retrospective analysis of over 300 patients.

Osteoporosis (OP) is a silent disease unless a fracture occurs; it is a major health problem, mainly due to fragility fractures, that occur at vertebral and peripheral sites. Vertebral fractures (VF) are probably the most common fragility fractures, but they go often unrecognized. The main clinical symptoms of VF are acute and chronic back pain, spinal deformity, reduced mobility and impaired quality of life. They are frequently associated with other fragility fractures. We examined 478 patients at our outpatient clinic, who were referred for fragility fracture occurrence. The most common fragility fractures was hip fractures. However, after execution of spine X-rays in patients who had sustained hip fracture, we found that a large proportion of them had VF, which had not been reported in their medical history.

Up-to-date Review and Cases Report on Chondral Defects of Knee Treated by ACI Technique: Clinical-instrumental and Histological Results.

The limited regenerative potential of a full thickness defect of the knee joint cartilage has certainly conditioned the development of therapeutic strategies that take into account all the aspects of the healing process. The most common treatments to repair chondral and osteochondral lesions are bone marrow stimulation, osteochondral autograft transplantation, autologous matrix-induced chondrogenesis, and autologous chondrocyte implantation. We like to emphasize the difference between a chondral and an osteochondral lesion because the difference is sometimes lost in the literature. In the context of treatment of injuries of the knee joint cartilage, the second-generation autologous chondrocyte transplant is a consolidated surgical method alternative to other techniques. Our experience with the transplantation of chondrocytes has had exceptional clinical results. We report 2 complete cases of a group of 22 in knee and ankle. These 2 cases had histological and instrumental evaluation. We cannot express conclusions, but can only make considerations, stating that, with the clinical functional result being equal, we obtained an excellent macroscopic result in both cases of second look. Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is a multiple surgical procedure with expensive chondrocyte culture, but even with this limitation, we think that it must be the choice in treating chondral lesions, especially in young patients.

Treatment of Tendon Injuries of the Lower Limb with Growth Factors Associated with Autologous Fibrin Scaffold or Collagenous Scaffold.

Tendon injuries are an increasing problem in orthopedics as we are faced with a growing demand in sports and recreation and an aging population. Tendons have poor spontaneous regenerative capacity, and often, complete recovery after injury is not achieved. Once injured, tendons do not completely re-acquire the biological and biomechanical properties of normal tendons due to the formation of adhesions and scarring, and often these abnormalities in the arrangement and structure are risk factors for re-injury. These problems associated with the healing of tendon injuries are a challenge for clinicians and surgeons. This study examined 9 cases of subcutaneous injuries including quadriceps tendon (2 cases), patellar tendon (1 case), and Achilles tendon (6 cases), incomplete and complete, treated consecutively. The surgical technique has provided, as appropriate, the termino-terminal tenorraphy, techniques of plastics of rotation flap, reinsertion with suture anchors, and in one case tendon augmentation with cadaver tissue. In cases where we needed mechanical support to the suture, we used preloaded growth factors on porcine collagen scaffold; in cases where we needed only one biological support, we used fibrin scaffold.

Stemless humeral component in reverse shoulder prosthesis in patient with Parkinson's disease: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: In patients with Parkinson's disease falling is very common and for this reason, the prosthetic surgical indication in shoulder is reserved for special cases. PD has been linked to several interrelated factors that may contribute to failure of shoulder arthroplasty. CASE PRESENTATION: A 65-year-old woman with PD, severe pain, recurrent bursitis, swelling and functional limitation to all movements in left shoulder presented to our attention. Radiographic and CT exams show cuff-tear arthropathy. The patient was submitted to implantation of a Reverse Shoulder Comprehensive Nano cementless modular system (Biomet(®), Warsaw, IN, USA) with anterosuperior surgical approach. We chose this kind of solution of stemless humeral component after bone mineral consideration. DISCUSSION: Reverse shoulder arthroplasty represents an option in the management of glenohumeral arthritis. Poor functional results of RTSA in patients with PD have been attributed to increased muscle tone, severity of tremor and an increased mortality rate. In general, post operative complications related to the humeral component are dominated by fractures (between 1 and 3%): in patients with PD this percentage is higher because of falls often occur. With a stemless implant revisions can be performed easily. Overall, the anterosuperior surgical exposure gives a low risk of postoperative instability. CONCLUSION: In selected cases of patients with PD, after carefully analysis of bone quality, the use of a stemless component is of benefit in the possible revision cases for periprosthetic fractures and the use of an anterosuperior exposure reduces the percentage of instability. The results obtained about the pain relief are excellent in contrast with functional outcomes that remain poor.

Total hip replacement in osteoarthritis: the role of bone metabolism and its complications.

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common joint disorder. For treatment of hip symptomatic osteoarthritis, when conservative medical therapy has failed, total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a successful orthopaedic procedures that reduces pain and improves function and quality of life. Incidence of osteoarthritis is constantly increasing with raising life expectancy. This aging process also has led to an increasing number of patients with osteoporosis who need hip replacement for osteoarthritis. Osteoporosis have 3 major potential complications in total hip arthroplasty: perioperative fracture, an increased risk of periprosthetic fracture, and late aseptic loosening. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of osteoporosis on total hip replacement procedure outcome and highlight the importance of adequate study of calcium-phosphorus metabolism in patient candidate for hip surgery, and the need to start a suitable therapy to recover the bone mass before surgery. Bone quality of the hip joint has become an important risk factor limiting the durability of THA.

Three-dimensional parametric mapping in quantitative micro-CT imaging of post-surgery femoral head-neck samples: preliminary results.

Osteoporosis and pathological increased occurrence of fractures are an important public health problem. They may affect patients' quality of life and even increase mortality of osteoporotic patients, and consequently represent a heavy economic burden for national healthcare systems. The adoption of simple and inexpensive methods for mass screening of population at risk may be the key for an effective prevention. The current clinical standards of diagnosing osteoporosis and assessing the risk of an osteoporotic bone fracture include dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and quantitative computed tomography (QCT) for the measurement of bone mineral density (BMD). Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is a tomographic imaging technique with very high resolution allowing direct quantification of cancellous bone microarchitecture. The Authors performed micro-CT analysis of the femoral heads harvested from 8 patients who have undergone surgery for hip replacement for primary and secondary degenerative disease to identify possible new morphometric parameters based on the analysis of the distribution of intra-subject microarchitectural parameters through the creation of parametric images. Our results show that the micro-architectural metrics commonly used may not be sufficient for the realistic assessment of bone microarchitecture of the femoral head in patients with hip osteoarthritis. The innovative micro-CT approach considers the entire femoral head in its physiological shape with all its components like cartilage, cortical layer and trabecular region. The future use of these methods for a more detailed study of the reaction of trabecular bone for the internal fixation or prostheses would be desirable.

Cement extractor device in revision prosthesis of the humerus.

In revision arthroplasty the surgeon is often faced with the problem of removal of residual cement in the medullary canal. Conventional manual cement removal by hand or power-driven instruments can be time-consuming, can require osteotomy, and can be associated with complications such as cortical perforation, fracture, or bone loss. Ultrasonic devices offer an alternative method of cement removal, but the potential for thermal injury exists, in particular for the humerus and the radial nerve. Considering these problems with the use of ultrasound, and whereas the old cement mantle may be left in place in the hip or knee but not in the shoulder, we tried this new mechanical cement extractor also in the humerus. We utilized this extractor in 5 cases, and we eliminated all residual resin in an accurate and complete way without bone loss and without iatrogenic fractures in all cases. We believe this system, which was designed for revisions of hip and knee surgery, is also suitable for the shoulder.

The hip prosthesis in lateral femur fracture: current concepts and surgical technique.

The third proximal femur fractures are divided into medial and lateral ones. For medial fractures already exists unanimity of thought for the choice of treatment that involves the prosthetic replacement of the hip joint in patients over 60 without indications to the synthesis. Regarding the lateral femur fractures this unanimity does not exist yet even if the majority of surgeons practice treatment with osteosynthesis. We want to highlight if there are any types of lateral fractures associated with patient's clinical condition in which it might be more useful to a prosthetic replacement with the aim of being able to allow a total load and earlier deambulation, reducing complications related to a possible patient immobilization.

Osteoporosis with vertebral fractures associated with pregnancy: two case reports.

Pregnancy and lactation-associated osteoporosis (PAO) is a rare condition characterized by the occurrence of fragility fractures, most commonly vertebral, in late pregnancy or the early postpartum period. The prevalence, etiology and pathogenesis of this osteoporosis are unknown, although there are several hypotheses attempting to explain the etiopathogenesis of pregnancy associated osteoporosis. In this paper we present two cases of young women who developed severe PAO with vertebral fractures: a 42-year-old woman with a family history of osteoporosis, and a 21-year-old woman affected with myasthenia gravis. The case 1 presented fragility fracture of D12, L2, and L3. She did not have any disease causing osteoporosis. However, she had a positive familial history for osteoporosis and during pregnancy (12th week) she had a detached placenta, so bed rest was prescribed for two months. The case 2 presented multiple vertebral fracture. She was affected by myasthenia gravis, which was diagnosed two years before pregnancy, and treated with corticosteroid. In summary, pregnancy and lactation-induced osteoporosis, although it is a rare disorder, should be kept in mind when pregnant women or women in postpartum period develop persistent back pain and it is important to monitor the patients with risk factors or secondary causes of osteoporosis.

Clinical and surgical approach of severe bone fragility fracture: clinical case of 4 fragility fracture in patient with heavy osteoporosis.

An accurate diagnosis of osteoporosis and a proper treatment are today recognized to be the most important facts for prevention and for a correct arrangement and treatment of fragility fractures. In the text the Authors describe a case of severe osteoporosis aggravated by 2 femur fractures and 2 periprosthetic fractures occurred in 2 months. In such cases the orthopaedic surgeon needs to formulate first a clinical osteoporotic pattern, than its treatment together with a surgery suitable choice, that has to take into consideration of the bone structural characteristics. In the case described one can note that fractures healing occurred thanks to both an improvement in surgical techniques and antiosteoporotic pharmacological support; in the specific case the Authors used strontium ranelate for its osteoinductive capacity. In our opinion is crucial that the treatment used by orthopaedic surgeons is not related only to the "by-hand" treatment but take into consideration both the underlying disease and the possibility of positively affect bone healing with specific drug therapy.

Current medical treatment strategies concerning fracture healing.

The morbidity and socioeconomic costs associated with bone healing are considerable. A number of fractures are complicated by impaired healing. This is prevalent in certain risk groups such as elderly, osteoporotics, post-menopausal women, and in people with malnutrition. The biologic process of fracture healing is complex and impacted by multiple factors. Some of them, such as the nutritional and health conditions, are patient-dependent, while others depend on the trauma experienced and stability of the fracture. Fracture healing disorders negatively affect the patient's quality of life and result in high health-care costs, as a second surgery is required to stabilize the fracture and stimulate bone biology. Future biotechnologies that accelerate fracture healing may be useful tools, which might also prevent the onset of these disorders. We list the characteristics of the drugs used for osteoporosis, but we point out in particular the use of strontium ranelate and teriparatide in our clinical practice in elderly patients, especially females, who reported fractures with risk of nonunion. This medical treatment could impaired fracture healing however, most of the evidence is obtained in animal studies and very few studies have been done in humans. Thus one could hypothesize the possibility of a medical treatment both as a preventive and as support to the synthesis. However, no clinical studies are available so far, and such studies are warranted before any conclusions can be drawn. A positive effect of osteoporosis treatments on bone healing is an interesting possibility and merits further clinical research.