Spinal Anesthesia for Primary Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: Comparative Rates of Transient Neurological Symptoms and Urinary Retention Using Lidocaine, Mepivacaine, and Bupivacaine.

BACKGROUND: Short-acting spinal anesthetics enable rapid recovery after hip and knee arthroplasty; however, concerns with transient neurological symptoms (TNS) cause some to avoid using lidocaine. Postoperative urinary retention (POUR) is also a concern with spinal anesthesia. We sought to study the comparative rates of TNS and POUR between lidocaine, mepivacaine, and bupivacaine in a high-volume hip and knee arthroplasty setting. METHODS: Data for 1,217 primary THA, TKA, and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty cases were reviewed and grouped by spinal anesthetic agent (lidocaine, mepivacaine, or bupivacaine). Of the 1,217 cases, utilization was 523 lidocaine, 573 mepivacaine, and 121 bupivacaine. The incidence of TNS and POUR requiring catheterization was measured both by clinical evaluation as well as a questionnaire sent to patients 14 days postoperatively. RESULTS: The overall rate of TNS was 8%. With the numbers available, there was no difference in rates of TNS between groups (6.9% lidocaine, 9.2% mepivacaine, and 4.1% bupivacaine; P = .297). There was no difference in rates of TNS or POUR between THA and TKA/unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. Bupivacaine had a significantly higher rate of urinary retention (9.1%; P < .001) than mepivacaine (2.8%) or lidocaine (1.5%). CONCLUSION: This study showed no difference in the rate of TNS between the 3 common agents used in spinal anesthesia. Short-acting spinal anesthetics such as lidocaine and mepivacaine can lower the rate of POUR requiring catheterization, helping to enable rapid recovery after hip and knee arthroplasty.

Low dose vancomycin-loaded spacers for two-stage revision knee arthroplasty: High success, low toxicity.

BACKGROUND: Two-stage revision arthroplasty is a widely used treatment method for infected knee arthroplasty. Loading high doses of antibiotics to spacer during the first stage is standard practice. However, there are reported systemic side effects attributed to antibiotic-loaded spacers. The aim of our study is to investigate the success rate and systemic toxicity following the first stage revision knee arthroplasty with low-dose vancomycin-loaded spacers. METHOD: We included patients with infected knee arthroplasty eligible for two-stage revision arthroplasty from 2001 to 2020. One gram of vancomycin is added per pack of bone cement. Spacers were handmade in the operating theatre. Following the first stage, pre-operative and postoperative culture results, infection parameters, kidney and liver function tests, and functional scores were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was done to determine the success rate. RESULTS: Fifty patients with a mean follow-up of 48 months (24-108) were included in the study. A five-year survival analysis showed an 88.5% success rate. Fourteen percent of the patients had acute kidney injury with creatinine levels between 1.12-2.80 mg/dl, and 8% had a mild drug-induced liver injury with elevated serum ALT levels between 223-540 U/L and total bilirubin levels between 0.59-1.23 mg/dl. None of the patients required dialysis. All of the systemic side effects were reversible. CONCLUSION: Our results have suggested that low dose antibiotic-loaded spacers are comparable to the studies with high dose antibiotic loaded spacers regarding infection eradication and survival rates. They are less likely to cause severe systemic side effects. Therefore we suggest low dose antibiotic-loaded spacers should be considered when treating patients with vancomycin sensitive Staphylococcal species and culture negative infected knee arthroplasty.

Does pelvic tilt change with a peri-acetabular osteotomy?

Change in pelvic tilt (PT) during and after peri-acetabular osteotomy (PAO) is important for surgical planning. The aims of this study were to (i) determine how PT varies throughout the course of treatment in patients undergoing PAO, (ii) test what factors influence the change in PT and (iii) assess whether changes in PT influenced achieved correction. This is an retrospective, single-centre, consecutive case series of 111 patients treated with PAO for global (n = 79), posterior (n = 49) or anterior dysplasia (n = 6) (mean age: 27.3 ± 7.7 years; 85% females). PT was determined on supine, anteroposterior pelvic radiographs pre-, intra-, 1 day, 6 weeks and 1 year post-operatively, using the sacro-femoral-pubic (SFP) angle, a validated, surrogate marker of PT. An optimal acetabular correction was based on the lateral centre-edge angle (25°-40°), acetabular index (-5° to 10°) and cross-over ratio (<20%). There was a significant difference across pre- (70.1° ± 4.8°), 1-day (71.7° ± 4.3°; P < 0.001) and early post-operative SFP (70.6° ± 4.7°; P = 0.004). The difference in SPF between pre-operative and 1-year post-operative was -0.5° ± 3.1° (P = 0.043), with 9% of cases having a difference of >5°. The difference in SFP did not correlate with age, sex, body mass index, type of dysplasia or achievement of optimal acetabular correction (P = 0.1-0.9). In the early post-operative period, PT is reduced, leading to a relative appearance of acetabular retroversion, which gradually corrects and is restored by annual follow-up. The degree of change in PT during PAO did not adversely affect fragment orientation. PT does not significantly change in most patients undergoing PAO and therefore does not appear to be a compensatory mechanism.

Do modic changes, disc degeneration, translation and angular motion affect facet osteoarthritis of the lumbar spine.

The objective of the study is to identified the correlation between Modic changes (MCs), disc degeneration, motions (translation and angulation) and facet osteoarthritis in lumbar spine. 425 patients who underwent multi-positional lumbar MRI were reviewed. A total of 2250 lumbar spinal segments in neutral position were evaluated for MCs, disc degeneration grading, translation and angulation motion, and facet osteoarthritis. The chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U test, Pearson's correlation and linear regression were used to test for statistically significant difference between parameters. MCs type 2 showed the most translational motion. The presence of MCs was significantly correlated with advanced disc degeneration (grade 4-5, Odds ratio 6.29, 95% CI 4.48-8.83) and the presence of facet osteoarthritis (Odds ratio 9.50, 95% CI 6.18-14.62). The presence of facet osteoarthritis had significantly more translation motion than non-osteoarthritis facet (p=0.04). The facet osteoarthritis grade was positively correlated with disc degeneration grade (r=0.309, p-value<0.001). The facet osteoarthritis correlated with the presence of MCs and more translation motion. The severity of facet osteoarthritis was correlated with the advanced disc degeneration. The MCs, translation motion, and disc degeneration were the significant parameters which affected lumbar facet osteoarthritis.

Effect of mental health on post-operative infection rates following cervical spine fusion procedures.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine whether having an existing psychiatric disorder is a risk factor for developing post-operative infection following anterior cervical discectomy with fusion (ACDF) and posterior cervical fusion (PCF). RESULTS: A total of 34,007 patients within Humana database was included in this study. Patients with mental disorders had post-operative infection rates of 3.2% and 4.4% within 1 and 3months, compared to 2.5% and 3.5% in patients without a psychiatric disorder (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with mental disorders had significantly higher rates of post-operative infection compared to patients who were never diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder.