The prognostic significance of surgical resection margins for local recurrence, distant metastasis, and overall survival in sarcoma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Surgical resection with microscopically negative margins constitutes one of the key elements of a curative therapeutic approach for localized sarcomas. However, the prognostic value of quantitative margin width remains controversial. We sought to determine the prognostic significance of margin status and margin width for local recurrence (LR), distant recurrence (DR), and overall survival. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 210 patients undergoing resection of localized sarcoma between 1997 and 2018 at a national sarcoma reference center. RESULTS: Logistic regression did not reveal an effect of metric margin width as a prognostic factor for LR (odds ratio [OR] = 0.98, p = 0.574), DR (OR = 1, p = 0.908), or overall survival (hazard ratio = 0.98, 95% confidence interval = 0.73-1.20, p = 0.609). Subgroup analysis revealed no differences between complete first resections (R0) and re-resections (re-R0) following unplanned R1-resections for LR (p = 0.727) and overall survival (p = 0.125), but a significantly higher DR-rate in re-R0 cases (p = 0.022). CONCLUSIONS: Achieving a negative margin is essential in sarcoma surgery, however, metric margin width was not associated with disease-specific outcomes. Re-resection of unplanned R1-resections should be performed to control for LR and overall survival rates. As re-R0 cases were at significantly higher risk of DR, these patients should be followed up closely in standardized surveillance protocols.

SPECT/CT of Total Ankle Arthroplasty.

Use of SPECT/CT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Computed Tomography) is increasing providing additional information in patients with inconclusive clinical examination and unremarkable imaging findings presenting with chronic pain after total ankle arthroplasty. To differentiate the cause of pain after total ankle arthroplasty can be challenging. SPECT/CT combines structural and metabolic imaging as a hybrid tool leading to higher specificity and overall diagnostic accuracy presumably in cases of gutter impingement, prosthetic loosening, and osteoarthritis of adjacent joints. Moreover, SPECT/CT can complement diagnostic work up in periprosthetic joint infections. Basal tracer enhancement has to be considered for the interpretation of imaging findings.

Drain fluid cultures can rule in but cannot rule out infection persistence after surgical treatment of periprosthetic joint infections.

BACKGROUND: Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is one of the most common reason for implant failure in arthroplasty. Surgical therapy is essential but there is no standardized guideline to determine infection eradication in multiple-step revision surgery. To date, clinical and laboratory inflammation markers and preoperative arthrocentesis are controversial to evaluate the infection status before reimplantation and therefore are often combined. Drain fluid cultures enable a microbiological analysis without need for further invasive procedure after revision surgery. This retrospective study evaluates the diagnostic performance of drain fluid cultures in diagnosing infection persistence according to the MSIS definition of PJI. METHODS: Drain samples have been taken after every revision surgery for microbiological testing. Afterwards, the results have been assigned to the infection status according to the diagnostic criteria of the MSIS definition of PJI. RESULTS: 1084 revision surgeries in 183 patients have been included, resulting in a total sample size of 1552 drain fluid cultures. Overall sensitivity was 36.0%, specificity was 90.7% and ROC-AUC was 0.63. CONCLUSION: Due to a high specificity and a low sensitivity drain fluid cultures can rule in but cannot rule out infection persistence in PJI.

[Diagnosis and Therapy of Acute Achilles Tendon Ruptures]. / Diagnose und Therapie der akuten Achillessehnenruptur.

Diagnosis and Therapy of Acute Achilles Tendon Ruptures Abstract. Acute Achilles tendon ruptures are a common pathology and often affect young athletic patients. Diagnosis is mostly clinical and by ultrasound. Conservative and operative treatment algorithms exist. The result of the treatment is mostly influenced by the elongation of the tendon during healing. Operative procedures tend to lead to less elongation but have a complication risk. After-treatment should be functional to reduce complication rate and faster rehabilitation. Treatment results are good in general, but some weakness is often found on the injured side.

Implantation of an attachment tube preserves knee extension after nonunion of Felix IV fracture: a case report.

BACKGROUND: While commonly utilized to fix tissue and muscles to megaprostheses to restore function and stability after tumor surgery, an attachment tube was used as a synthetic reconstruction of the knee joint's extension mechanism after nonunion of Felix IV C fracture. Fixation of the tibial fragment, and therefore its osteointegration, is complicated after total knee arthroplasty, causing tibial tubercle dislocation. CASE PRESENTATION: A 61-year-old German patient presented to our clinic with Felix IV C fracture, persistent knee pain, and reduced knee extension strength. In this special case, mobilization and reattachment of the tibial tubercle was not possible because of necrosis and underlying tibial component. Therefore, we covered the defect with cement and used an polyethylene terephthalate tube for knee extension system augmentation. Follow-up after 10 months demonstrated a good clinical result. CONCLUSION: The management of Felix IV C fractures is complicated by the underlying prosthesis resulting in redislocation of the fragment and persistent symptoms of pain and reduced functionality. We here present a new surgical technique to treat periprosthetic fracture complicated by tibial tubercle dislocation. Good clinical and radiologic results on follow-up after 10 months indicate the use of attachment tubes as a suitable surgical technique to restore knee joint extension and to reduce knee pain after dislocated Felix IV C fracture.

Higher revision rate for posterior cruciate-retaining than posterior-stabilized total knee arthroplasty for the treatment of valgus osteoarthritis.

PURPOSE: Determining the point at which a valgus deformity requires a more invasive therapy-in this case PS TKA-is surgically challenging. Retaining the posterior cruciate ligament has both advantages and disadvantages. The aim was to evaluate the failure rate and clinical outcomes. METHODS: 248 patients with valgus gonarthrosis underwent surgical treatment: 167 CR TKA cases and 81 PS TKA cases. The KOOS and the OKS were recorded, and 201 patients (133 CR, 68 PS) were recruited into the retrospective study. The influence of BMI and degree of preoperative valgus deformity on the clinical outcome was determined. The revision rate was documented and analysed. RESULTS: Of 201 patients, 10 required revision surgery owing to instability (10/133 CR, 0/68 PS). Based on the KOOS and the OKS, no significant difference between CR TKA and PS TKA was found. BMI and degree of valgus deformity had no effect on the clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: No difference in the clinical outcome between the CR and PS TKA patients was found. In the CR group, significantly more patients showed 'excellent' OKS than in the PS group. However, 8.0% of the patients in the CR group and none in the PS group underwent surgery due to instability. A higher rate of dissatisfied patients in the CR group is likely. In our clinic, we no longer perform CR TKA for valgus cases.

TLR-4+ peripheral blood monocytes and cardiovascular events in patients with chronic kidney disease--a prospective follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory process mediated by circulating immune cells, including monocytes. There is accumulating evidence for the involvement of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) as a mediator of atherogenesis. METHODS: We evaluated the association between CD14+/TLR-4+ monocytes in peripheral blood (flow cytometry) and future cardiovascular events (CVE), e.g. myocardial infarction, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (including stenting), aortocoronary bypass, stroke and angiographically verified stenosis of peripheral arteries and cardiovascular (CV) death, in 191 patients with chronic kidney disease Stage V receiving hemodialysis therapy. RESULTS: At baseline, CD14+/TLR-4+ monocytes correlated significantly with age (r = 0.2; P = 0.007), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (r = 0.2; P = 0.008) and mean arterial pressure (r = -0.2; P = 0.02), but not with gender (P = 0.5), smoking (P = 0.6) and the presence of diabetes (P = 0.5). During a median follow-up period of 36 [1-54] months, 79 (41%) patients experienced a CVE. A total of 55 patients died during the follow-up period, 25 of those due to a confirmed CV cause. Log-rank test did not reveal statistical significance for TLR-4+ monocytes concerning incident CVE (P = 0.3), CV death (P = 0.85) and overall death (P = 0.8). In a multiple Cox-regression analysis, we identified age (P = 0.003) and smoking (P = 0.001) as the only independent variables associated with incident CVE. CONCLUSIONS: Unexpectedly, we could not detect an association between CD14+/TLR-4+ monocytes and incident CVE as well as CV death in stable hemodialysis patients. Further studies have to clarify the potential role of this cell population for CV outcome in this population.