Zeitschrift für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie
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Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is one of the most common procedures in orthopedic surgery and clinical success can be characterized by the revision rate and improvement of function, as well as the patients' satisfaction and pain. Despite the clinical success of primary TKA with 10-year survival rates as high as 95 %, about 20 % of the patients after TKA are not completely satisfied with their outcomes for several reasons. Obvious causes of failure might be identified with clinical examinations and standard radiographs only, whereas the unexplained painful TKA still remains a challenge for the surgeon. Failure can be classified into extra- and intraarticular disorders, the latter being divided into biological and mechanical origins. The onset of the pain after the operation and the differentiation between pain in motion and at rest are helpful to distinguish between mechanical and non-mechanical problems. An infection should be the first diagnosis to be ruled out in a painful TKA. It is generally accepted that a clear understanding of the failure mechanism in each case is required prior to considering revision surgery. ⋯ This diagnostic algorithm offers an important tool for a sufficient failure analysis in almost all patients with painful TKA.
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Dislocation is the second most frequently encountered complication in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) and occurs more commonly in the early postoperative rehabilitation phase. Sir Charnley recommended the "avoidance of resection of the capsule" and emphasised its contribution to hip joint stability in THA. Several authors, however, doubted its significance and considered resection of the capsule to be essential. Since 2002, some surgeons increasingly adopted a modified, less invasive technique of THA via Bauer approach, including the preservation and repair of the hip joint capsule with focus on maintaining its acetabular origin. Another group of surgeons applied the traditional technique including the resection of the joint capsule via an anterolateral approach. In this case-control study we investigated whether the dislocation rate can be reduced through joint capsule reconstruction and whether any negative impact on patient satisfaction, functional results or revision rate is observed. ⋯ Preservation and repair of the hip joint capsule causes an 88-%-reduction of the dislocation rate in primary THA in this large series including 1972 cases, operated via the Bauer or the anterolateral approach. Several authors reported comparable results after THA using similar techniques of soft tissue and capsular repair through the posterior or posterolateral approach. Sparing and reconstructing the hip joint capsule therefore seems to reduce the dislocation rate after primary THA by one order of magnitude regardless of the surgical approach and, especially, if the acetabular origin is preserved. Capsule-related specific complications such as an increased revision rate, malfunction or pain were neither recorded in our study nor by others. Thus, careful preservation and reconstruction of the hip joint capsule may be expressly recommended in primary THA.
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The study presented here investigated the short-term effectiveness of one-off lumbar caudal epidural injection (EI) in sciatica in relationship to the reported duration of pain. ⋯ In the context of acute treatment a once only lumbar caudal epidural injection represents at most a short-term effectiveness for the therapy of sciatica. The results presented here indicate that neither the duration of symptoms nor the measured psychometric variables show any effect on the success of therapy.
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Clinical Trial
[A new anatomical wing plate for osteoporotic acetabular fractures: biomechanical testing and first clinical experience].
Acetabular fractures are rare injuries, but there is an increasing number of elderly people with ventral medial instability in cases of central subluxation of the femoral head in osteoporotic acetabular fractures. Common plate osteosynthesis cannot enable medial support of the quadrilateral surface. The new "acetabular wing plate" is anatomically shaped to fix the arcuate line and the quadrilateral surface. The plate pushes the femoral head back to lateral. The aim of this study was the biomechanical comparison with common plate concepts before clinical use of the new implant. ⋯ The fracture gap movement and the fragment rotation were comparable in both groups. There was a slightly higher stability in the group of the acetabular wing plate but without statistical significance. In the pelvic low profile group two screw loosenings were found, but the models were able to be tested also with the acetabular wing plate. The new plate was clinically used in the first eight patients due to the good biomechanical results. In all cases the osteosyntheses were done by use of the Stoppa approach and the first window of the ilioinguinal approach. Application of the plate was mostly easy, the plate was also used as a reduction tool. Postoperative controls show anatomic reduction and correct implant position in all eight cases. The three month follow-up examinations confirm the continuing good reduction during fracture healing with the acetabular wing plate.