Acta orthopaedica
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Recent randomized controlled trials have shown that for the active and lucid elderly patient with a displaced femoral neck fracture, a primary total hip replacement (THR) is superior to internal fixation (IF) regarding the need for secondary surgery, hip function and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Despite the high failure rate for IF, the method is still recommended for this patient cohort by some authors. One argument is that if IF fails, there is always the possibility of performing a secondary salvage THR. The main aim of our study was to determine whether a primary THR, as compared to a secondary THR after failed IF, gives a better outcome after 2 years. ⋯ We found that a secondary THR after failed IF results in inferior hip function compared to a primary THR for a displaced femoral neck fracture in the active and lucid elderly patient. Moreover, the patients with failed IF had to undergo at least one re-operation and experienced a significant reduction in HRQoL before the salvage THR.
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There is no consensus regarding the best treatment of patients with multilevel lumbar stenosis. We evaluated the clinical and radiological findings in 41 patients with complex degenerative spinal stenosis of the lumbar spine who were treated surgically. ⋯ The above-mentioned technique gives good and long lasting clinical results, when selection of patients is done carefully and when the spinal levels that are to be decompressed are selected accurately.
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Comparative Study
Impulse-forces during walking are not increased in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Impulsive forces in the knee joint have been suspected to be a co-factor in the development and progression of knee osteoarthritis. We thus evaluated the impulsive sagittal ground reaction forces (iGRF), shock waves and lower extremity joint kinematics at heel strike during walking in knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients and compared them to those in healthy subjects. ⋯ OA patients and healthy subjects show similar impulse-forces and joint kinematics at heel strike. Following pain relief in the patient group, changes in tibial PA and in hip and knee joint angles were observed but these were still within the normal range. Our findings make us question the hypothesis that impulse-forces generated at heel strike during walking contribute to progression of OA.
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Hook-plate fixation of unstable lateral clavicle fractures has given promising results in previous reports, but numbers of patients have been small. We assessed the results of this technique in 63 patients. ⋯ Clavicle hook-plate fixation of unstable lateral clavicle fractures results in a good union rate and good shoulder function.