Surgical treatment of craniocervical instability: comparison of two constructs regarding clinical and radiological outcomes of 100 patients.

PURPOSE: There is an increased demand for surgical solutions to treat craniocervical instability. This retrospective study demonstrates the clinical and radiological outcomes of unstable craniocervical junction treated with occipitocervical fusion. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The mean age of 52 females and 48 males was 56.89 years. The clinical and radiological outcomes were assessed, including NDI, VAS, ASIA score, imaging, complications and bony fusion in two used constructs: a modern occipital plate-rod-screw system (n = 59) and previous bilateral contoured titanium reconstruction plates-screws (n = 41). RESULTS: Clinically and on imaging, patients presented with neck pain, myelopathy, radiculopathy, vascular symptoms and craniocervical instability. The mean follow-up was 6.47 years. A solid bony fusion was achieved in 93.81% of the patients. The NDI and the VAS improved significantly from 28.3 and 7.67 at the presentation to 16.2 and 3.47 at the final follow-up. The anterior and posterior atlantodental interval (AADI and PADI), the clivus canal angle (CCA), the occipitoaxial angle (OC2A) and the posterior occipitocervical angle (POCA) improved significantly. Six patients required early revision. CONCLUSION: Occipitocervical fusion can yield excellent results regarding clinical improvement and long-term stability with a high fusion rate. Simple reconstruction plates, though more demanding surgically, achieve similar results. Preserving a neutral patient's position for fixation avoids postoperative dysphagia and may help prevent adjacent segment disease development.

Treatment of Kienböck's Disease With Neutral Ulnar Variance by Distal Capitate Shortening and Arthrodesis to the Base of the Third Metacarpal Bone.

PURPOSE: We evaluated whether a surgical technique combining distal capitate shortening and arthrodesis to the base of the third metacarpal bone for the treatment of the early stages (stages II and IIIA) of Kienböck's disease with neutral ulnar variance resulted in pain relief, improvement in wrist motion, or changes in the radiographic evaluation. METHODS: This retrospective study reviewed 22 patients with early stages of Kienböck's disease with neutral ulnar variance, treated by distal capitate shortening and arthrodesis to the base of the third metacarpal bone. Patients were divided into 2 groups by disease stage: stage II (n = 12) and stage IIIA (n = 10). There were 8 women and 14 men, with an average age of 35.7 years. The following parameters were measured before and after surgery: visual analog scale (VAS) for pain evaluation, grip strength, range of motion (ROM), ulnar variance, carpal height index, lunate height index, and the scapholunate and scaphocapitate angles. The patients were evaluated in accordance with Modified Mayo Wrist Score (MMWS). RESULTS: The average follow-up period was 30.5 months (range, 26-36 months). The stage II group showed significant improvements in the mean VAS (58-5), ROM (57% to 73%), grip strength (54% to 75%), and MMWS (51-78). Patients in the stage IIIA group showed nonsignificant changes in mean VAS score (64-42.5), ROM (52.5% to 55.5%), grip strength (46.5% to 57.5%), and MMWS (36-50.5). Significant decreases in the carpal height index and scaphocapitate angle, and an increase in scapholunate angle in all stage IIIA patients were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Distal capitate shortening with capitometacarpal arthrodesis can alleviate pain and improve ROM and grip strength in patients with stage II Kienböck's disease, but not in those with stage IIIA. Moreover, it cannot prevent carpal collapse, especially in stage IIIA of the disease. We do not recommend this technique for treating stage IIIA patients. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic IV.

Surgical hip dislocation in treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis.

BACKGROUND: Most surgeons advocate in situ fixation of the slipped epiphysis with acceptance of any persistent deformity in the proximal femur [Aronsson DD, Loder RT, Breur GJ, Weinstein SL (2006) Slipped capital femoral epiphysis: current concepts. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 14, 666-679]. This residual deformity can lead to osteoarthritis due to femoroacetabular cam impingement (FAI) [Leunig M, Slongo T, Ganz R (2008) Subcapital realignment in slipped capital femoral epiphysis: surgical hip dislocation and trimming of the stable trochanter to protect the perfusion of the epiphysis. Instr Course Lect 57, 499-507]. OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of our study was to report the results of the technique of capital realignment with Ganz surgical hip dislocation and its reproducibility to restore hip anatomy and function. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective case series study included 30 patients (32 hips, 13 left (Lt) hips, 19 right (Rt) hips) with stable chronic slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) after surgical correction with a modified Dunn procedure. This study included 22 males and eight females. The mean age of our patients was 14 years (10-18 years). The mean follow-up period was 14.5 months (6-36 months). RESULTS: Thirty hips had excellent and good clinical and radiographic outcomes with respect to hip function and radiographic parameters. Two patients had fair to poor clinical outcome including three patients who developed Avascular Necrosis (AVN). The difference between those who developed AVN and those who did not develop AVN was statistically significant in postoperative clinical scores (p = 0.0000). The mean slip angle of the femoral head was 52.5° ± 14.6 preoperatively and was corrected to a mean value of 5.6° ± 8.2° with mean correction of 46.85° ± 14.9° (p = 0.0000). The mean postoperative alpha angle was 51.15° ± 4.2° with mean correction of 46.70 ± 14.20 (p = 0.0000). In our series, the mean postoperative Harris hip score (HHS) was (96.16 ± 9.7) and the mean improvement was (29.6 ± 9.6) (p = 0.0000). CONCLUSIONS: The modified Dunn procedure allows to restore the normal proximal femoral anatomy by complete correction of the slip angle. This technique may reduce the probability of secondary osteoarthritis and femoroacetabular cam impingement.