Significance of strontium ranelate in healing of surgically fixed tibial diapyseal fractures treated with strontium ranelate vs placebo; a randomised double blind controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the surgical outcome of patients with axial cervical spine fractures. METHODS: The randomised double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical study was conducted at the Indus Hospital, Karachi, from August 2011 to August 2013. Patients were randomised to receive placebo or strontium ranelate postoperatively after surgical fixation of tibial diaphyseal fractures. Assessment of fracture healing was done clinically and radiologically at 30, 60 and 90 days. SPSS 21 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Initially, 76 patients were enrolled, but 63(82.9%) completed the study. Out of 63 patients, 32(50.8%) were randomly assigned to group A and 31(49.2%) to group B, which was administered the placebo. Overall enhancement of fracture healing efficacy of strontium ranelate group was 20(62.5%) versus 9(29%) of the placebo group. CONCLUSIONS: Strontium ranelate was effective in enhancing fracture healing based on clinical and radiological assessment. Hence, it can be considered an effective therapeutic agent for accelerating fracture healing.

Anthropomorphic mismatch between distal femurs and a standard total knee replacement system in Pakistani population.

AIMS: To compare the measurements of distal femurs of a Pakistani population and with the implants used. METHODS: The single-centre prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at the Indus Hospital, Karachi, from 01-06-2011 to 31-10-2011, and comprised total knee replacement patients. Surgeries were performed by the same team. Each measurement was taken after the resection of the trochlea (flush to the anterior femoral cortex), the distal cut and the anterior chamfer cuts. Measurements were taken intraoperatively with a sterile vernier calliper. SPSS 17was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: The mean age of the 33 patients in the study was 59.3±7years. There were 4(12.1%) males and 29(87.9%) females. A mismatch was found in per-operative measurements with the mean aspect ratio being 0.79±0.05and the standardised aspect ratio of the implants being 0.90 (SD±0.0). CONCLUSIONS: There are differences between anthropomorphometry of our skeleton and Caucasian designed implants. This could have implications in the long term.