Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology

Patients in the extremes of old age with a femoral neck fracture represent a challenging subgroup, and are thought to be associated with poorer outcomes due to increased numbers of comorbidities. Whilst many studies are aimed at determining the optimum time for surgical fixation, there is no agreed consensus for those over 90. The aim of this study is to report the surgical outcome of this population, to understand the role surgical timing may have on operative outcomes using the orthopaedic POSSUM scoring system and to identify whether medical optimization occurs during the period of admission before surgery. We conducted a prospective observational study; data was collected from two district general hospitals over 32 consecutive months. All patients aged 90 and above who were deemed suitable for surgical fixation were included. Each one had their orthopaedic POSSUM score calculated at admission and at surgery, using their computerised and paper medical records. Assessment of outcome was based on morbidity and mortality at 30 days. A total of 146 consecutive patients above the age of 90 underwent surgery and were followed. The average age of the patients was 93 years, 123 (84 %) were female and 23 (16 %) male. Sixty-one patients were operated on within 24 h from admission, 52 patients within 24 and 48 h and 33 had surgery after 48 h from admission. In total, 21 deaths (14.4 %) were recorded and 81 patients (55.5 %) had a post-operative complication within 30 days. The orthopaedic POSSUM scoring system predicted 30-day mortality in 23 patients and morbidity in 83 patients. This gave observed to predicted ratios of 0.91 and 0.98 respectively. Overall, there was a small improvement in physiological scores taken just prior to surgery compared to those at admission. Mortality and morbidity rates were higher for those operated on or after 24 and 48-h cutoffs compared to those proceeding to surgery within 24 h (P = 0.071 and P = 0.021 respectively and P = 0.048 and P = 0.00011 respectively). When stratified according to their POSSUM scores, patients with scores of 41+ and surgery after 48 h had a significantly higher mortality rate than if they had surgery earlier (P = 0.038). Morbidity rates rose after 24 h of surgical delay (P = 0.026). Patients with a total POSSUM score between 33 and 40 exhibited a higher morbidity after a 24-h delay to surgery (P = 0.0064). As life expectancy increases, older patients are becoming commoner in our hospital systems. We believe the orthopaedic POSSUM scoring system can be used as an adjuvant tool in prioritising surgical need, and allow for a more impartial evaluation when changes to practice are made. Our findings show that timing of surgery has an important bearing on mortality and morbidity after hip surgery, and older patients with higher orthopaedic POSSUM scores are sensitive to delays in surgery.

Introduction of new bone cements into clinical practice should include radiostereometric studies.

A prospective randomised radiostereometric study was performed, comparing SmartSet HV and Palacos R acrylic bone cements (without antibiotics) using third-generation cementing techniques in primary total hip arthroplasty. Thirty-five patients (36 hips) undergoing Charnley total hip arthroplasty were randomised to receive either of the two cements and were followed with repeated clinical, radiographic and radiostereometric examinations over 24 months. Twenty-seven patients (28 hips) attended 2 years postoperatively.

The mean distal translation observed was −0.15 mm for SmartSet HV and −0.16 mm for Palacos R. The mean rotation around the longitudinal axis was 0.9° for SmartSet HV and 1.2° for Palacos R. The Merle d’Aubigne Postel score was the maximum of 18 points for all patients in both groups.

No statistically significant difference in stem fixation with use of SmartSet HV and Palacos R was found at 2-year follow-up.

Femoral neck fracture is an unusual complication of intramedullary fixation of a broken femur. We report on two cases of femoral neck fractures attributed to misplacement of an end cup and subsequent invasive maneuvers in an effort to remove it. Iatrogenic fractures of the femoral neck during or after intramedullary nailing are reported in the medical literature. Authors associate it with many possible technical mistakes performed during the procedure, yet no complications after missed end cup placement were noted. We suggest that the fractures described below were a consequence of injury to the vascular supply and bone stock of the initially intact femoral neck.

We studied the morphologic effect of immobilisation and denervation on articular cartilage (AC) and subchondral bone (SCB) in 20 lambs. The animals underwent medial arthrotomy at the left knee; ten of them also received an external fixation device to eliminate articularity. Ten right knees were used as controls. Histological analysis revealed an increase in area and width in the central part of AC of all the arthrotomised knees due to a proliferation of the intermediate layer; a gross reduction in SCB trophism was observed in immobilised articulations with respect to the arthrotomised ones and controls. This result was confirmed histomorphometrically: a significant increase in arthrotomised patellar AC with respect to the control group was observed in the central zone corresponding to the vertical ridge of patella; cartilage in the medial aspect presented a significant difference between operated groups in both area (p=0.026) and width (p=0.01). Values from non-immobilised animals were higher than in those from the immobilised animals. The total trabecular area was significantly lower in samples from immobilised knees than in the other groups in all sections. Comparing measures from non-immobilised animals, areas were higher in operated but nonimmobilised knees than in controls: this difference was significant only in the midddle (p=0.002) and medial parts of the SCB. In our model, AC trophism was dependent on share stress and direct loads more than on denervation. Moreover, early postsurgical remobilisation avoids AC atrophy and post-surgical osteoporosis through conservation of SCB area, encouraging systematic denervation of patella during total knee arthroplasty without patellar resurfacing.

Postoperative sepsis is associated with high mortality and the national costs of septicemia exceed those of any other diagnosis. While numerous studies in the basic orthopedic science literature suggest that traumatic injuries facilitate the development of sepsis, it is currently unclear whether orthopedic trauma patients are at increased risk. The purpose of this study was thus to assess the incidence of sepsis and determine the risk factors that significantly predicted septicemia following orthopedic trauma surgery. 56,336 orthopedic trauma patients treated between 2006 and 2013 were identified in the ACS-NSQIP database. Documentation of postoperative sepsis/septic shock, demographics, surgical variables, and preoperative comorbidities was collected. Chi-squared analyses were used to assess differences in the rates of sepsis between trauma and nontrauma groups. Binary multivariable regressions identified risk factors that significantly predicted the development of postoperative septicemia in orthopedic trauma patients. There was a significant difference in the overall rates of both sepsis and septic shock between orthopedic trauma (1.6%) and nontrauma (0.5%) patients (p < 0.001). For orthopedic trauma patients, ventilator use (OR = 15.1, p = 0.002), history of pain at rest (OR = 2.8, p = 0.036), and prior sepsis (OR = 2.6, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with septicemia. Statistically predictive, modifiable comorbidities included hypertension (OR = 2.1, p = 0.003) and the use of corticosteroids (OR = 2.1, p = 0.016). There is a significantly greater incidence of postoperative sepsis in the trauma cohort. Clinicians should be aware of these predictive characteristics, may seek to counsel at-risk patients, and should consider addressing modifiable risk factors such as hypertension and corticosteroid use preoperatively. Level of evidence Level III.

Multiplanar complex C3-type unstable distal femoral fractures present many challenges in terms of approach and fixation. This prospective study investigates a possible solution to these problems through double plating with autogenous bone grafting via a modified Olerud extensile approach. Twelve patients with closed C3-type injuries were included; eight of them were male, and their mean age was 33.5 years (range 22–44 years). Mechanism of injury was road traffic accident (RTA) in nine patients and fall from height in the other three cases. Eight cases were operated during the first week and four cases during the second week after injury. Mean follow-up was 13.7 months (range 11–18 months). Mean radiological healing time was 18.3 weeks (range 12-28 weeks), and all cases had good radiological healing without recorded nonunion or malunion. Clinically, two cases (16.7 %) had excellent results, five cases (41.7 %) had good results, three cases (25 %) had fair results, and two cases (16.7 %) had poor results. No cases developed skin necrosis, deep infection, bone collapse, or implant failure. However, two cases (16.7 %) had limited knee flexion to 90° and required subsequent quadricepsplasty. Use of this modified highly invasive approach facilitated anatomical reconstruction of C3-type complex distal femoral fractures with lower expected complication rate and acceptable clinical outcome, especially offering good reconstruction of the suprapatellar pouch area. It can be considered as a standby solution for managing these difficult injuries.

Revision surgery after the Latarjet procedure is a rare and challenging surgical problem, and various bony or capsular procedures have been proposed. This systematic review examines clinical and radiographic outcomes of different procedures for treating persistent pain or recurrent instability after a Latarjet procedure. A systematic review of the literature was performed using the Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, Google Scholar and Ovid databases with the combined keywords “failed”, “failure”, “revision”, “Latarjet”, “shoulder stabilization” and “shoulder instability” to identify articles published in English that deal with failed Latarjet procedures. A total of 11 studies (five retrospective and six case series investigations), all published between 2008 and 2020, fulfilled our inclusion criteria. For the study, 253 patients (254 shoulders, 79.8% male) with a mean age of 29.6 years (range: 16–54 years) were reviewed at an average follow-up of 51.5 months (range: 24–208 months). Eden–Hybinette and arthroscopic capsuloplasty are the most popular and safe procedures to treat recurrent instability after a failed Latarjet procedure, and yield reasonable clinical outcomes. A bone graft procedure and capsuloplasty were proposed but there was no clear consensus on their efficacy and indication. Level of evidence Level IV Trial registration PROSPERO 2020 CRD42020185090— www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/

Critical-sized bone defects of the tibia are complex injuries associated with significant problems that are difficult to treat, and they are associated with a significant burden of disease in clinical practice; however, the treatment of these cases has still been a challenge for orthopedic surgeons. The aim of this review was to evaluate the current available studies reporting on classical Ilizarov methods in the treatment of infected or noninfected critical-sized bone defects of the tibia, and to perform an analysis of treatment period and complications. This is a narrative review based on a comprehensive literature search among the studies in Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science articles. The studies included were written in the English language or translated to English and they were published between 2008 and 2018. They were appraised with narrative data synthesis. The primary outcome measures were the external fixation time (EFT), bone union rate, and bone and functional results. Secondary outcomes were complications including docking site problems and solutions. The heterogeneity of the data in the studies which were taken into consideration allowed a narrative analysis. Twenty-seven articles with 619 patients were included in this study. These included 6 prospective and 21 retrospective case series. Mean age was 36.1 (range 13–89) years. Of the cases, 88.8% were infected and the remaining 11.2% were noninfected. The external fixation time was 10.75 (range 2.5–23.2) months. The mean bone union rate was 90.2% (range 77–100)%. Radiographic outcome measures were reported in 20 studies. Functional outcome measures were reported in 18 studies. ASAMI (Association for the Study of the Method of Ilizarov) criteria are useful and give reproducible data on patient outcome measurements. Data collected from these studies showed excellent radiological outcomes in 303, good in 143, fair in 31, and poor in 25 patients. Functional outcomes were excellent in 200, good in 167, fair in 58, and poor in 19, where reported. The excellent and good rate in bone results and functional results were 88.8% and 82.6%, respectively. The poor rate in bone results and functional results were 5% and 4.5%. Mean complication rate per patient was 1.22 (range 3–60). The most common complication was pin tract infection (PTI). Its occurrence was 46.6%. Joint stiffness followed PTI with a 25% incidence. The rates of refracture, malunion, infectious recurrence, and amputation, were 4%, 8.4%, 4.58%, and 1%, respectively. This narrative review shows that the patients with infected or noninfected critical-sized tibial bone defects treated by Ilizarov methods had a low rate of poor bone and functional results. Therefore, Ilizarov methods may be a good choice for the treatment of infected or noninfected tibial bone defects. The small number of cases in some studies, the absence of homogenity between studies and the fact that most data available are derived from retrospective studies are some of the difficulties encountered in the evaluation of evidence. V.

Managing minimally displaced scaphoid fractures in young individuals doing physically demanding work remains an issue of debate due to duration of immobilisation and time required off work. Therefore, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are important to avoid short- and long-term consequences. The literature lacks the exact definition of minimally displaced scaphoid waist fractures. The objective of this review article was to discuss nonoperative and minimally invasive treatment (percutaneous screw fixation) for minimally displaced scaphoid waist fractures and to systematically review the literature, focussing on young workers with physically demanding employment. We searched for articles through the most commonly used portals using appropriate terminologies to identify the most relevant articles in the English language comparing nonoperative and percutaneous fixation methods for these fractures in patients between 16 and 40 years of age. Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria were observed. Sixty relevant published articles were found. Twenty-one of these were considered valid for inclusion and comprised five randomised controlled trials, three prospective studies, four systematic reviews, three meta-analyses, and six retrospective studies. These studies provided a reasonable account of information on the managing undisplaced and minimally displaced scaphoid waist fractures, with satisfactory clinical and statistical analysis. However, it was difficult to assess the outcomes of minimally displaced fractures in isolation. Furthermore, few of these studies relied on plain radiographs for assessing union and did not report on patients’ work status. Cast treatment has the disadvantages of longer immobilisation time, joint stiffness, reduced grip strength, and longer time to return to manual work. Percutaneous fixation is aimed at reducing damage to the blood supply and soft tissues, allowing early mobilisation of the wrist and early return to manual work. The best available evidence for percutaneous screw fixation versus cast treatment suggests that percutaneous fixation allows a faster time to union by 5 weeks and an earlier return to manual work by 7 weeks, with similar union rates. This systematic review indicates a potential requirement for a prospective randomised controlled trial to compare these two treatment modalities for minimally displaced scaphoid waist fractures in workers with physically demanding jobs in order to objectively assess functional outcomes, time to union and time to return to work. Level 3.