Meta-analysis of factors influencing anterior knee pain after total knee arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a mature procedure recommended for correcting knee osteoarthritis deformity, relieving pain, and restoring normal biomechanics. Although TKA is a successful and cost-effective procedure, patient dissatisfaction is as high as 50%. Knee pain after TKA is a significant cause of patient dissatisfaction; the most common location for residual pain is the anterior region. Between 4% and 40% of patients have anterior knee pain (AKP). AIM: To investigate the effect of various TKA procedures on postoperative AKP. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane from January 2000 to September 2022. Randomized controlled trials with one intervention in the experimental group and no corresponding intervention (or other interventions) in the control group were collected. Two researchers independently read the title and abstract of the studies, preliminarily screened the articles, and read the full text in detail according to the selection criteria. Conflicts were resolved by consultation with a third researcher. And relevant data from the included studies were extracted and analyzed using Review Manager 5.4 software. RESULTS: There were 25 randomized controlled trials; 13 were comparative studies with or without patellar resurfacing. The meta-analysis showed no significant difference between the experimental and control groups (P = 0.61). Six studies were comparative studies of circumpatellar denervation vs non-denervation, divided into three subgroups for meta-analysis. The two-subgroup meta-analysis showed no significant difference between the experimental and the control groups (P = 0.31, P = 0.50). One subgroup meta-analysis showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (P = 0.001). Two studies compared fixed-bearing TKA and mobile-bearing TKA; the results meta-analysis showed no significant difference between the experimental and control groups (P = 0.630). Two studies compared lateral retinacular release vs non-release; the meta-analysis showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (P = 0.002); two other studies compared other factors. CONCLUSION: Patellar resurfacing, mobile-bearing TKA, and fixed-bearing TKA do not reduce the incidence of AKP. Lateral retinacular release can reduce AKP; however, whether circumpatellar denervation can reduce AKP is controversial.

Induction of lncRNA MALAT1 by hypoxia promotes bone formation by regulating the miR-22-3p/CEBPD axis.

Adaptation to hypoxia promotes fracture healing. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unknown. Increasing evidence has indicated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in several diseases, including fracture healing. In the present study, lncRNA microarray analysis was performed to assess the expression levels of different lncRNAs in MC3T3-E1 cells cultured under hypoxic conditions. A total of 42 lncRNAs exhibited significant differences in their expression, including metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1), maternally expressed 3, AK046686, AK033442, small nucleolar RNA host gene 2 and distal-less homeobox 1 splice variant 2. Furthermore, overexpression of MALAT1 promoted osteoblast differentiation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and matrix mineralization of MC3T3-E1 cells, whereas its knockdown diminished hypoxia-induced cell differentiation, ALP activity and matrix mineralization in these cells. Moreover, functional analysis indicated that MALAT1 regulated the mRNA and protein expression levels of CCAAT/enhancer binding protein δ by competitively binding to microRNA-22-3p. Adenoviral-mediated MALAT1 knockdown inhibited fracture healing in a mouse model. Taken together, the results indicated that MALAT1 may serve a role in hypoxia-mediated osteogenesis and bone formation.

Preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma immunohistochemistry as an adjunct for differential diagnosis in acral lentiginous melanoma and acral nevi.

Preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma (PRAME) has shown promising utility in distinguishing benign melanocytic lesions from melanomas, but knowledge of its expression pattern in acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) and acral nevi (ANs) is limited. Immunohistochemical expression of PRAME was examined in 75 ALMs and 34 ANs. The clinical and histopathologic characteristics of patients with ALM were collected. PRAME was immunoreactive in 89.3% (67/75) of ALMs, but entirely negative in 94.1% (32/34) of ANs. When staining at least 50% of lesional melanocytes was determined as positivity, the sensitivity and specificity of PRAME for distinguishing ALM from ANs were 69.3% and 100%, respectively. Seventy-one cases of ALMs had tumor cells in the epidermis; 71.8% (51/71) of them showed positive for PRAME. By contrast, 61 ALMs had tumor cells in the dermis; 65.6% (40/61) exhibited positive expression. Twenty-nine of 39 (74.4%) epithelioid cell ALMs were observed to be positive for PRAME. By comparison, 63.8% (23/36) of ALMs with spindle tumor cells were positive for PRAME. However, PRAME positive expression was not associated with any clinical and histopathologic characteristics of patients with ALM, including Breslow thickness, ulcer, cytomorphology, lymph node metastasis, or tumor-infiltrated lymphocytes (TILs). Nevertheless, we observed that 82.6% (19/23) of ALMs with lymph node involvement at diagnosis expressed PRAME, compared with 57.6% (20/35) of those without. In summary, PRAME immunohistochemistry can serve as a helpful adjunct in the differential diagnosis of ALMs and ANs with good sensitivity and high specificity. Additionally, PRAME tends to have a higher positive rate in epidermal melanocytes than in the dermis and is inclined to express in epithelioid cells than in spindle cells of ALMs.

Immediate reduction under general anesthesia and single-staged anteroposterior spinal reconstruction for fracture-dislocation of lower cervical spine.

Fracture-dislocation of the lower cervical spine is a severe traumatic lesion, most frequently resulting in tetraplegia. Treatment is usually painful and time consuming. This retrospective study evaluated the clinical curative effect of immediate reduction under general anesthesia and single-staged anteroposterior spinal reconstruction for fracture-dislocation of the lower cervical spine. Twelve cases of traumatic lower cervical spinal fracture-dislocation were retrospectively analyzed from January 2006 to December 2011. The injury level was C4/C5 in 4, C5/C6 in 5, and C6/C7 in 3 patients. The spinal cord function grades according to the American Spinal Injury Association impairment scale (2000 edition amended) before operation were as follows: grade A in 2 cases, grade B in 2 cases, grade C in 5 cases, grade D in 2 cases, and grade E in 1 case. On admission, all patients underwent immediate reduction under general anesthesia and single-staged anteroposterior spinal reconstruction by circumferential fixation/fusion. The spinal cord function grades according to American Spinal Injury Association after operation were as follows: grade A in 1 case, grade B in 1 case, grade C in 3 cases, grade D in 3 cases, and grade E in 4 cases. All 12 patients showed evidence of stability at the instrumented level on the final follow-up examination (mean follow-up, 3.7 y). Immediate reduction under general anesthesia followed by a single-stage combined anteroposterior spinal reconstruction is a safe and reliable way of treating patients with lower cervical spine fracture-dislocations.

Analysis on hidden blood loss of total knee arthroplasty in treating knee osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an important therapy for the treatment of various late-stage knee diseases. However, it has been observed that patients have lower hemoglobin (HB) counts postoperatively, which are significantly inconsistent with the measured blood loss. Although the concept of hidden blood loss has been presented in 2000, very little clinical attention has been paid since then. In this study, we investigated the characteristics and influential factor of hidden blood loss after TKA in treating knee osteoarthritis. METHODS: One hundred and eight patients, with 42 males and 66 females, were retrospectively analyzed. The perioperative blood loss and the hidden blood loss following TKA were calculated by Gross formula. Potential factors affecting perioperative and hidden blood loss included gender, surgical time, tourniquet time, hemostasis (during operation with deflating tourniquet), and reinfusion of salvaged blood. RESULTS: The average perioperative blood loss was found to be (1553 ± 356) ml and the average hidden blood loss was (793 ± 223) ml. The hidden blood loss of the male was significantly higher than that of the female, and was reduced by hemostasis during the operation with a deflating tourniquet. Hidden blood loss was not affected by postoperative blood salvage and reinfusion, surgical time, or tourniquet time. CONCLUSIONS: When calculating the value of hidden blood loss by Gross formula, the lowest value of hematocrit should be chosen as the parameter so that hidden blood loss would not be underestimated. No significant differences could be found in hidden blood loss for males compared to females. Hidden blood loss can be reduced by hemostasis during operation with a deflating tourniquet. Although reinfusion of salvaged blood could not reduce the perioperative blood loss or hidden blood loss, it was still an effective method to reduce transfusion rate.

Analysis of prosthetic replacement in treatment of femoral neck fracture on the hemiplegia side in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of prosthetic replacement in treatment of femoral neck fractures on the hemiplegia side in the elderly. METHODS: From May 1990 to May 2000, 189 elderly patients with femoral neck fractures were treated with prosthetic replacement in my hospital. Twenty-nine hemiplegia patients, who suffered from stroke previously, had Garden type III and type IV femoral neck fractures on the hemiplegia side. Thirty non-hemiplegia patients were chosen randomly. The two groups were followed-up for 27-98 months (average: 59 months). The age, hospitalization days, operating time, blood loss, blood transfusion, complications during perioperative period and long-term complications were compared between the two groups and the results of femoral head replacement and total hip replacement in the hemiplegia group were also compared. RESULTS: All the patients of the two groups survived the perioperative period. No significant difference was found in the age, hospitalization days, operation time, blood loss and blood transfusion and long-term complications between the two groups (P>0.05). However there was significant difference in complications during perioperative period between the two groups (P<0.05). Five patients died in the hemiplegia group with the mortality of 17.2% and two died in the non-hemiplegia group with the mortality of 6.7% 11 months to 5 years after operation. There was significant difference in long-term complications between the femoral head replacement and the total hip replacement in the hemiplegia group (P<0.05). The result of the total hip replacement was better than that of the femoral head replacement. CONCLUSIONS: Prosthetic replacement is a reliable method in treatment of Garden type III and type IV femoral neck fractures on the hemiplegia side in the elderly, and patients are safe during perioperative period. More complications during perioperative period occur in the hemiplegia group, and long-term complications are insignificantly different between the two groups. The mortality rate is higher in the hemiplegia group than in the non-hemiplegia group within 5 years after operation. Since the result of the total hip replacement is better than that of the femoral head replacement, total hip replacement should be chosen firstly to treat Garden type III and type IV femoral neck fractures on the hemiplegia side in the elderly if the muscular strength of the hip is beyond IV degree.