Bearing Change to Metal-On-Polyethylene for Ceramic Bearing Fracture in Total Hip Arthroplasty; Does It Work?

We evaluated the short-term to midterm results of reoperation with bearing change to metal-on-polyethylene (MoP) after ceramic bearing fracture in ceramic-on-ceramic total hip arthroplasty. Nine third-generation ceramic bearing fractures (6 heads and 3 liners) were treated with bearing change to MoP. Mean age at reoperation was 52.7 years. Mean follow-up was 4.3 years. During follow-up, 2 of 3 liner-fractured hips and 1 of 6 head-fractured hips showed radiologic signs of metallosis and elevated serum chromium levels. Re-reoperation with bearing rechange to a ceramic head was performed for the hips with metallosis. One liner-fractured hip had periprosthetic joint infection. Dislocation occurred in 3 hips. From our experience, bearing change to MoP is not a recommended treatment option for ceramic bearing fracture in total hip arthroplasty.

Subchondral insufficiency fracture of the femoral head in elderly people.

We evaluated the clinical course of subchondral insufficiency fracture of the femoral head (SIFFH) and its characteristic findings with special regard to joint space narrowing (JSN). Thirty-one cases of SIFFH of mean age 68.9 yr initially underwent limited weight-bearing conservative treatment. During the follow-up period, the patients with intractable pain underwent total hip arthroplasty (THA). For radiographic evaluation, lateral center-edge angle, JSN and femoral head collapse (FHC) were documented, and the extent of FHC was classified as mild (<2 mm), moderate (2-4 mm), and severe (>4 mm). The progression or new development of FHC more than 2 mm was evaluated on sequential plain radiographs. The relationship between radiographic parameters and clinical outcomes were evaluated. THAs were performed in 15 cases (48.4%). There was no significant correlation between clinical outcomes and the extent of initial FHC. However, a significantly larger proportion of patients that underwent THA showed JSN and FHC progression compared to the symptom improvement group. The risk factor significantly associated with failed conservative treatment was JSN (P=0.038; OR, 11.8; 95% CI, 1.15-122.26). Clinical results of conservative treatment for SIFFH in elderly patients are relatively poor. The patients with JSN are at higher risk of failed conservative treatment.

Epidemiology of hip replacements in Korea from 2007 to 2011.

We analyzed national data collected by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in Korea from 2007 to 2011; 1) to document procedural numbers and procedural rate of bipolar hemiarthroplasty (BH), primary and revision total hip arthroplasties (THAs), 2) to stratify the prevalence of each procedure by age, gender, and hospital type, and quantified, 3) to estimate the revision burden and evaluate whether the burden is changed over time. Our final study population included 60,230 BHs, 40,760 primary THAs, and 10,341 revision THAs. From 2007 to 2011, both the number and the rate of BHs, primary THAs increased steadily, whereas there was no significant change in revision THAs. Over the 5 yr, the rate of BHs and primary THAs per 100,000 persons significantly increased by 33.2% and 21.4%, respectively. The number of revision THAs was consistent over time. The overall annual revision burden for THA decreased from 22.1% in 2007 to 18.9% in 2011. In contrast to western data, there were no changes in the number and rate of revision THAs, and the rates of primary and revision THAs were higher for men than those for women. Although 5 yr is a short time to determine a change in the revision burden, there have been significant decreases in some age groups.

Impact of the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic and Related Vaccination in an Orthopedic Clinic in the United Arab Emirates: An Observational Study.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has influenced hospital visiting patterns. Although vaccination has decreased infection rates and disease severity, hospital visiting patterns and associated treatment changes related to orthopedics remain unexplored in the Middle East. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination on individual departments dealing with musculoskeletal disorders in the United Arab Emirates. Relationships between publicly available national data on the number of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction tests and confirmed and recovered cases during May 2020-July 2021 and hospital data on the number of outpatients, inpatients, operations, and physiotherapy consultations were analyzed. In January 2021, the relationship between vaccination rate and orthopedic unit utilization was evaluated after vaccination campaign initiation. Multifactorial analysis revealed that an increased number of COVID-19-related deaths correlated with a decreased number of joint operations. Negative linear relationships were observed among confirmed and death cases with inpatient treatment and joint operation as well as recovered cases with inpatient treatment. Recovered cases with inpatient treatment and joint operation showed a positive linear relationship. Inpatient spine treatment showed a positive relationship with vaccination rates. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced orthopedic treatment in the Middle East, and vaccination campaigns facilitated inpatient spine treatment.

Intermittent Pneumatic Compression for the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism after Total Hip Arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a relatively common and potentially life threatening complication after major hip surgery. There are two main types of prophylaxis: chemical and mechanical. Chemical prophylaxis is very effective but causes bleeding complications in surgical wounds and remote organs. On the other hand, mechanical methods are free of hemorrhagic complications but are less effective. We hypothesized that mechanical prophylaxis is effective enough for Asians in whom VTE occurs less frequently. This study evaluated the effect of intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) in the prevention of VTE after major hip surgery. METHODS: Incidences of symptomatic VTE after primary total hip arthroplasty with and without application of IPC were compared. A total of 379 patients were included in the final analysis. The IPC group included 233 patients (106 men and 127 women) with a mean age of 54 years. The control group included 146 patients (80 men and 66 women) with a mean age of 53 years. All patients took low-dose aspirin for 6 weeks after surgery. IPC was applied to both legs just after surgery and maintained all day until discharge. When a symptom or a sign suspicious of VTE, such as swelling or redness of the foot and ankle, Homans' sign, and dyspnea was detected, computed tomography (CT) angiogram or duplex ultrasonogram was performed. RESULTS: Until 3 months after surgery, symptomatic VTE occurred in three patients in the IPC group and in 6 patients in the control group. The incidence of VTE was much lower in the IPC group (1.3%) than in the control group (4.1%), but the difference was not statistically significant. Complications associated with the application of IPC were not detected in any patient. Patients affected by VTE were older and hospitalized longer than the unaffected patients. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that IPC might be an effective and safe method for the prevention of postoperative VTE.

Adhesive capsulitis of the hip.

PURPOSE: Adhesive capsulitis of the hip (ACH) is not a well-defined disease entity. We evaluated the change in the clinical features of patients whose chief complaint was inability to sit cross-legged on the floor. All patients had painful limitation in hip joint motion. Based on the diagnosis of ACH, active stretching exercise (ASE) was recommended. METHODS: In February 2013 and June 2014, a total of 44 patients (50 hips), who visited outpatient clinic in 2011, were evaluated by telephone interviews. Recovery of hip motion was analyzed according to compliance with ASE and abnormalities found on plane radiographs and magnetic resonance (MR) images. RESULTS: There were 27 women and 17 men with mean age of 51.7 years. In the first telephone interview, 40 patients (45 hips) reported improvement in hip motion but 4 patients (5 hips) reported absolutely no improvement. Compliance with ASE did not affect recovery of motion ( p = 0.225). On plain radiographs, 10 patients (22.7%) had abnormal finding in both hips. Those abnormal findings were not correlated with symptom and did not show adverse effect on motion recovery. Sixteen patients took MR images outside, and abnormal findings such as round ligament or labral tear were observed in nine patients. Those abnormal findings neither correlated with the symptom nor affected motion recovery adversely. In the second telephone interview, nine hips of further improvement and two hips of recurrence were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Most cases showed improvement in the range of motion with or without ASE. Surgical treatments including arthroscopy seemed to be unnecessary for these patients.

Primary hybrid THA using a polymethyl methacrylate-precoated stem: A single-center experience with a 10-year minimum follow-up.

The high failure rate of cemented femoral components in the 1970s facilitated the improvement of the cementing technique and surface finishes such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)-precoated stems, reporting a survival rate of >95% at 10 years from some studies. However, controversy persists regarding whether precoated femoral stems are associated with a longer revision-free prosthesis survival. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcomes of PMMA-precoated femoral stems, and analyze factors associated with implant survival. We retrospectively reviewed 73 primary hybrid total hip arthroplasties performed using PMMA-precoated femoral stems. The mean age of the patients was 61 years. During the mean follow-up period of 13 years, 18 hips (24.7%) underwent aseptic loosening, and all of the loosened stems were subjected to revision surgery 8.8 years (range 4.6-15.5 years) from the index surgery. Younger age and poor cementing were significantly associated with aseptic loosening (P = 0.013 and P < 0.001, respectively). However, the aseptic loosening rate was also high at 13.1% even with a good cementing technique. In conclusion, the PMMA-precoated stem failed to show expected advantages and needs to be replaced with other surface finish stem designs. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1300-1306, 2017.

Meniscal repair in vivo using human chondrocyte-seeded PLGA mesh scaffold pretreated with platelet-rich plasma.

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) pretreatment on a poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) mesh scaffold enhances the healing capacity of the meniscus with human chondrocyte-seeded scaffolds in vivo, even when the seeded number of cells was reduced from 10 million to one million. A flexible PLGA mesh scaffold was pretreated with PRP using a centrifugal technique. One million human articular chondrocytes were seeded onto the scaffold by dynamic oscillation. After 7 days, scaffolds were placed between human meniscal discs and were implanted subcutaneously in nude mice for 6 weeks (n = 16/group). Fluorescence microscopy demonstrated uniform attachment of the chondrocytes throughout the scaffolds 24 h following seeding. Cell attachment analysis revealed a significantly increased number of chondrocytes on PRP-pretreated than non-treated scaffolds (p < 0.05). Field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed chondrocytes attached to the PRP-pretreated scaffolds interconnecting their cellular processes with the fibrin network at 24 h and day 7 of culture. Of the 16 constructs containing PRP-pretreated scaffolds implanted in mice, six menisci healed completely, nine healed incompletely and one did not heal. Histological results from the 16 control constructs containing non-treated scaffolds revealed that none had healed completely, four healed incompletely and 12 did not heal. The histological outcome between the groups was significantly different (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that human articular chondrocytes on PRP-pretreated PLGA mesh scaffolds demonstrate increased cell attachment and enhance the healing capacity of meniscus with a reduced number of seeding cells in a meniscal repair mouse model. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Characteristics and trends of published adult hip research over the last decade.

PURPOSE: We designed this study to demonstrate recent trends in the proportion of adult hip research in orthopedics, to identify countries leading the adult hip research, and to evaluate the relationship between the economic power of the countries and their contributions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Studies published in seven select orthopedic journals were retrieved from PubMed. Among them, we determined the number of adult hip studies. The countries-of-origin of adult hip studies, and the economic power of the countries were investigated. RESULTS: A total of 7218 orthopedic publications and 1993 (27.6%) addressed adult hip research were identified. Adult hip studies increased from 313 (23.7%) in 2000 to 555 (27.9%) in 2011. Twenty-five countries accounted for 97.6% of the total number of adult hip studies, and gross domestic product correlated with publication volume (Spearman's rho, 0.723; p=0.000). CONCLUSION: Researchers from a limited number of developed countries have published their studies in the adult hip discipline.

The result of revision total hip arthroplasty in patients with metallosis following a catastrophic failure of a polyethylene liner.

BACKGROUND: Wear cannot be completely prevented after total hip arthroplasty. If severe polyethylene (PE) liner wear develops, the so-called catastrophic failure occurs and metallosis develops. We postulated that longevity of the new implant may be affected after revision surgery for metallosis following a catastrophic failure of a PE liner due to the substantial amount of PE wear particles and infiltration of the metal particles in this catastrophic condition. METHODS: Twenty-three hips of 23 patients were identified because they showed metallosis during revision total hip arthroplasties performed in Seoul National University Hospital between January 1996 and August 2004. They were followed for at least 6.5 years after the index revision total hip arthroplasty. The clinical and radiological results of revision total hip arthroplasties in these patients were evaluated. RESULTS: The median Harris hip score increased from 60 points before revision total hip arthroplasties to 90 points at the final follow-up. Osteolysis was detected at an average of 9.3 years after revision total hip arthroplasties in 13 hips and acetabular cup loosening at average 9.8 years after revision total hip arthroplasties in 9 hips. With radiographic evidence of osteolysis and loosening as the end points, the 15-year survival rates were 28.2% and 56.0%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The survival rate of revision total hip arthroplasty in patients with metallosis following a catastrophic failure of a PE liner was low.

Arthroscopic Treatment for External Snapping Hip.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome of arthroscopic treatment for recalcitrant external snapping hip. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between September 2011 and June 2013, we evaluated 7 patients (10 cases) with snapping hip who were refractory to conservative treatments for at least 3 months. Two patients (4 cases) were impossible to adduct both knees in 90°of hip flexion. Surgery was done in lateral decubitus position, under spinal anesthesia. We made 2 arthroscopic portals to operate the patients, and used cross-cutting with flap resection technique to treat the lesion. We performed additional gluteal sling release in those 2 patients (4 cases) with adduction difficulty. Average follow-up length was 19 months (range, 12-33 months). Clinical improvement was evaluated with visual analog scale (VAS), modified Harris hip score (mHHS), and also investigated for presence of limping or other complications as well. RESULTS: The VAS decreased from 6.8 (range, 6-9) preoperatively to 0.2 (range, 0-2) postoperatively, and the mHHS improved from 68.2 to 94.8 after surgery. None of the patients complained of post-operative wound problem or surgical complications. CONCLUSION: The clinical outcome of arthroscopic treatment for recalcitrant external snapping hip was encouraging and all patients were also satisfied with the cosmetic results.