Total knee arthroplasty in valgus knee deformity: is it still a challenge in 2021?

Total knee arthroplasty in valgus knee deformities continues to be a challenge for a surgeon. Approximately 10% of patients who undergo total knee arthroplasty have a valgus deformity. While performing total knee arthroplasty in a severe valgus knee, one should aware with the technical aspects of surgical exposure, bone cuts of the distal femur and proximal tibia, medial and lateral ligament balancing, flexion and extension gap balancing, creating an appropriate tibiofemoral joint line, balancing the patellofemoral joint, preserving peroneal nerve function, and selection of the implant regarding constraint. Restoration of neutral mechanical axis and correct ligament balance are important factors for stability and longevity of the prosthesis and for good functional outcome. Thus, our review aims to provide step by step comprehensive knowledge about different surgical techniques for the correction of severe valgus deformity in total knee arthroplasty.

Osteochondral scaffold reconstruction for complex knee lesions: a comparative evaluation.

BACKGROUND: The primary aim of the present study is to evaluate the results obtained in challenging knee lesions with the implant of an osteochondral scaffold and concomitant treatment of all comorbidities. The secondary aim is to compare the results obtained with those found when a chondral scaffold was applied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients affected by complex lesions of the knee articular surface were included. "Complex cases" were defined according to the following criteria: previous clinical history of intra-articular fracture, lesion located at the tibial plateau, concurrent knee axial realignment procedure, concurrent meniscal scaffold or allograft implantation, and multiple articular surface lesions treated. Thirty-three patients were treated with the implantation of an osteochondral scaffold. The results of a homogeneous group of 23 patients previously treated and prospectively evaluated after implantation of a chondral scaffold were analyzed and compared. RESULTS: IKDC subjective score improved significantly from pre-operative (40.4±14.1) to 12months' follow-up (69.6±17.0; p<0.0005) with a further improvement at the final evaluation at 24months (75.5±15.0; p=0.038). The same positive trend was confirmed by the VAS and Tegner scores. At final follow-up the group treated with the osteochondral scaffold presented a better subjective IKDC score with respect to the group treated with the chondral scaffold (p=0.034). CONCLUSIONS: A regenerative procedure to address the entire osteochondral unit, together with the treatment of all comorbidities, might offer good results also in complex cases otherwise doomed to non-biological resurfacing. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III: Comparative study.

Postpartum thyroiditis is associated with fluctuations in transforming growth factor-beta1 serum levels.

Postpartum thyroiditis (PPT) is characterized by a rapid evolution and recovery of euthyroidism. Therefore, it can represent a good model to study early cytokine fluctuations in autoimmune thyroid diseases. TGFbeta1 is an immunosuppressive cytokine, as it inhibits T and B cell proliferation, natural killer cell cytotoxic activity, and the generation of T cell cytotoxicity. The aim of this study was to assess serum concentrations of TGFbeta1 during pregnancy and to study possible serum fluctuations of this cytokine during the different phases of PPT. Thyroid biochemical pattern, antithyroid autoantibodies (ATA), and total and active TGFbeta1 (aTGFbeta1) serum concentrations were evaluated in 63 pregnant women. Thirty-four of them were ATA(+), and 29 were ATA(-). Twenty of the 34 ATA(+) women were followed in the postpartum year. Nine of these 20 women developed PPT; 11 remained euthyroid. All of the PPT women became euthyroid during the follow-up. Our results showed 1) detectable serum levels of aTGFbeta1 in 50% of ATA(+) pregnant women, suggesting that the presence of autoantibodies may characterize a favorable condition for TGFbeta1 activation; and 2) decreased total TGFbeta1 and increased aTGFbeta1 serum levels during the active phase of PPT in ATA(+) women. This seems to suggest that inflammation may be responsible for TGFbeta1 activation and autoantibody increase because of antigen release. Although further studies of women with persistent hypothyroidism after the postpartum year are needed, the possibility that the enhanced activation of TGFbeta1 may contribute to resolution of thyroid inflammation postpartum cannot be excluded.

Preoperative reduction of spondylolisthesis.

The treatment of SL, especially in some cases, is mostly surgical. This lesion can be considered an extremely localised kyphosis (only two vertebrae) or a localized (sub-)luxation: at most hearetically pre-operative reduction should represent the first stage of the treatment, also because reduction makes further surgery easier and enables us to obtain the best results. After a glance at the various surgical techniques that have been used in the past, we describe our method of preoperative reduction in case of severe SL, an improvement of Scaglietti's original technique. According to the parameters taken into consideration, spondylolisthesis (SL) of the 4th and, above all, the 5th lumber vertebrae can be considered, especially in severe cases, as kyphosis or displacement (or even dislocation in the case of ptosis). In SL-kyphosis the antero posterior axes of the contiguous vertebral bodies are no longer parallel but tend to over-impose one to the other anteriorly forming an open posterior angle of varying degrees. It is an extremely short kyphosis (only two vertebrae) but from all points of view, even therapeutic, it reflects the characteristics of all types of vertebral kyphosis. SL-subluxation or SL-luxation (ptosis) is characterized by the respectively partial or total loss of normal alignment between the vertebrae involved. This can be explained by the fact that nearly all those who have dealt with the problem of treating SL, especially of L5, always ask themselves beforehand if it is possible and/or opportune to eliminate or improve the condition before surgery. In other words the question of reduction (pre or intraoperative, partial or total) of more or less severe L5 SL is always considered by all authors, even if their conclusions are often in disagreement.

Infection therapy in cementless T.H.A.

Reimplantation (when possible) represents today the method of choice when dealing with and attempting to resolve cases of deep infection in total hip arthroplasty. In recent years we have, however, had the chance to treat some cases of infection in cementless arthroplasty (without loosening) by conservative treatment: surgical debridement and specific antibiotic therapy (2 cases), or medical therapy alone (1 case), both associated with immobilization in a plaster cast for 2-3 weeks. The long-term results proved to be quite encouraging: none of the 3 patients treated conservatively showed (after 5-6 years) clinical-radiographic signs of recurrence of the infection.

Reimplantation or explantation in the treatment of septic prosthetic loosening.

Indications for the surgical treatment of septic loosening of hip arthroplasty vary depending on different parameters. Explantation is indicated when patients are elderly, in generally poor condition, when there are veterate infections, particularly if these were caused by gram negative bacteria, and when there is severe skeletal injury. Reimplantation is instead indicated in patients whose general conditions are good, and who are young and motivated.

Failed back syndromes: opinions and personal experiences.

The authors consider poor results in lumbar disc surgery to be commonly caused by the following conditions: 1) recurrence of the hernia; 2) postoperative instability; 3) scarring entrapment of the spinal nerve roots; 4) coexisting local or general pathology; 5) arachnoiditis; 6) psychological causes and those where insurance is involved. In particular patients with insurance-related motivations or those affected with depressive syndromes are frequently observed among those submitted to lumbar surgery. The only indications for surgery include recurrence of disc herniation and postoperative instability. In any of the other situations further surgery often results in worsening of the patient's conditions, or it at any rate does not guarantee improvement in the conditions of the patients.

The surgical treatment of spondylolisthesis.

The authors report the results obtained in 244 patients submitted to anterior interbody fusion. The method involves preoperative reduction in plaster (when necessary) and anterior surgical stabilization, facilitated by improvement in the anatomical and biomechanical conditions obtained with reduction. This method obtained excellent results in 85% of the cases, with fusion and absence of symptoms, and good results in 10% of the cases, with occasional symptoms and/or fibrous. Results were unsatisfactory in 5% of the cases because of residual radiculopathy (4 cases), non-union of the fusion (3 cases), retrograde ejaculation (2 cases), loosening of the graft (1 case) or unthreading of a screw (1 case). It is our opinion that anterior interbody fusion is the best surgical method for the stabilization of Meyerding grades III, IV and V spondylolisthesis. Posterolateral fusion is used to treat some cases with slippage equal to less than 25% (grade I) and cases where more than one level is involved.

Surgical treatment of unresolved Osgood-Schlatter lesion.

The Osgood-Schlatter lesion is considered a traction apophysitis. Treatment is generally conservative, and only rarely does a surgical treatment become necessary for the persistence of pain and swelling over the tibial tubercle. The most widely used procedure consists of the excision of all intratendinous ossicles with or without removal of the prominent tibial tubercle. In 15 cases treated in this manner compared with 11 cases treated with various procedures before 1975, the results were clearly better with the former. There was only one fair and no poor results. Removal of all loose intratendinous ossicles associated with prominent tibial tubercles is the procedure of choice, both from the functional and the cosmetic point of view.

Avulsion fractures of the scapula: report of eight cases.

Fractures of the scapula from indirect trauma represent 0.01% of all skeletal fractures treated in our Institute. They are avulsion fractures that result from the violent pulling of the muscles, the ligaments, or both on their bony insertion. In our series of eight cases any possible direct trauma to the scapula was carefully excluded. In all patients treatment did not represent a particular problem and it was always conservative. Clinical results were always good, with excellent recovery of shoulder function except in one case with a circumflex nerve lesion leaving a deltoid muscle deficit.

Tibial osteotomy in the treatment of genu recurvatum in the adult.

The authors analyse the results of 23 cases of high tibial osteotomy for genu recurvatum in adults performed at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute from 1968 to 1983. The osteotomy is at the supratuberosity level. After detaching the patella tendon an anterior bone wedge is inserted and the tendon reinserted at a higher level. This operation has produced better results than other surgical techniques. It is indicated in the osseous type of recurvatum or in the combined type in which the osseous component is predominant. In the combined type with a capsulo-ligamentous prevalence, the poor results obtained with osteotomy alone indicate the need for combining the operation with a plastic reconstruction of the posterior capsulo-ligamentous structures.