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Introduction: Effective management of postoperative pain in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) poses a significant challenge for surgeons. Achieving rapid recovery without pain and promoting early ambulation in immediate and early postoperative periods are essential for patient satisfaction. There are many pain management protocols including nerve blocks. Nerve blocks procedures were done using USG and anaesthetist dependent. This cadaveric study aimed to define the VMO (Vastus medialis obliquus) triangle to target the 'safe zone' of the saphenous nerve during TKA: A surgeon's friendly technique. Methods: 12 formalin-fixed embalmed cadaveric lower limbs were dissected to explore anatomy, trajectory, the relation of saphenous nerve and measured the distances from the nearby palpable bony landmarks. Results: The average distance to target the saphenous nerve i.e target point from midpoint of superior pole of the patella was 10.6cm, the average angle to target the saphenous nerve is the angle between the line joining the medial epicondyle to the midpoint of the superior pole of the patella is found to be 64.2°. The average distance from midpoint of superior pole patella to medial epicondyle is found to be 8.1cm. Therefore, triangle so formed using these three points (1. Medial epicondyle, 2. The midpoint of superior pole of the patella, 3. Target point of the saphenous nerve) is called a VMO triangle. Conclusions: The saphenous nerve course, relations, and the distances from intraoperative bony landmarks for the VMO triangle during TKA which is a reproducible triangle so may be useful for arthroplasty surgeons to achieve successful saphenous nerve block and to avoid related complications during total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
RESUMO
PURPOSE: To find clinical outcome of in-vivo standard 80 N tensioning of quadrupled hamstring graft during arthroscopic single bundle ACL reconstruction in comparison to traditional graft tensioning. METHODS: Sixty cases of isolated ACL tears were included in this study. All cases underwent Arthroscopic ACL reconstruction with Tibial attachment sparing quadrupled hamstring graft. Cases were divided into group I and group II (30 cases each). Graft Tensioning in group 1 was conventional one-handed unmeasured pull and in group II it was measured tension of 80 N with tensionometer during graft fixation. Pre-operative and post-operative (12 months) Anterior tibial translation (ATT) was measured with KT-1000 arthrometer. Clinical outcome was measured using Lysholm knee scoring system at 6weeks, 3months, 6months, 12 months and compared statistically among both groups. RESULTS: The mean pre-op ATT of 10.6 ± 2.04 mm (group I) & 10.83 ± 2 mm (group II) improved to 3.63 ± 1.16 mm (group I) & 3.63 ± 0.92 (group II) respectively at one year without significant difference (p value 1). The mean pre-op Lysholm score was 46.73 ± 6.77 (group I) and 45.97 ± 8.68 (group II). The mean Lysholm score at 6 weeks was 91.5 ± 2.78 (group I) and 93.43 ± 3.02 (group II) with significant difference (p value 0.014). At 3 months it was 95.4 ± 2.99 (group I) and 97.07 ± 2.07 (group II) with significant difference (p value 0.025). At 6 months it was 95.53 ± 2.46 (group I) and 97.5 ± 1.2 (group II) with significant difference (p value 0.0002). At 1 year it was 95.73 ± 2.22 (group I) and 97.8 ± 0.979 (group II) with significance (p value 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The clinical score of ACL reconstruction is better when in-vivo 80 N tension is applied using tensionometer during graft fixation in comparison to conventional manual tensioning but there is no difference in ATT.
