Degeneration of the sacroiliac joints (SIJs) is a common finding, while its underlying cause and development remain incompletely understood. The aim of this investigation was to describe the spatial ...distribution of degenerative SIJ changes across age groups and to investigate for the first time their relationship to anatomical form and sex. For this IRB-approved investigation, demographic data of 818 patients without SIJ disease were retrieved from electronic patient records. High-resolution computed tomography (CT) datasets of all patients were analysed retrospectively for seven predefined age groups (ten-year increments, from < 25 to ≥ 75). A structured scoring system was applied to assess sclerosis, osteophytes, joint space alterations, and anatomical form. Chi-square tests were used to compare frequencies of degenerative lesions, and logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate associations between demographic data, anatomical form, and the presence of structural lesions. Sclerosis and osteophytes were common findings, with an overall prevalence of 45.7% and 46.8%, respectively. Female sex had an odds ratio (OR) of 0.15 (95% CI: 0.08-0.27) for the presence of ventral osteophytes and of 4.42 (95% CI: 2.77-7.04) for dorsal osteophytes. Atypical joint forms were significantly more prevalent in women with 62.1% vs. 14.1% in men (p < 0.001). Accessory joints increased the likelihood of dorsal sclerosis (OR 2.735; 95% CI 1.376-5.436) while a typical joint form decreased its likelihood (OR 0.174; 95% CI 0.104-0.293). Sex and anatomical joint form have a major impact on the development of degenerative lesions of the SIJs and their spatial distribution.
Background:
Patients undergoing periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) for symptomatic developmental dysplasia of the hip are usually young and active with high functional demands. Those who participate in ...sports seek surgical therapy to resume or maintain sports activities. There is little evidence regarding the postoperative level of activity and the extent to which sports activity changes after PAO both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Purpose:
The aim of this study was to determine the change in activity level as measured using the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) activity score and the changes in qualitative and quantitative sports activity.
Study Design:
Case series; Level of evidence, 4.
Methods:
This was a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of 123 hips in 111 patients who underwent PAO for developmental dysplasia of the hip between January 2015 and June 2017. UCLA activity score, International Hip Outcome Tool 12, and Subjective Hip Value, as well as practiced sports, frequency and duration of sports activity, and time to return to sports, were assessed. Eventual changes in practiced sports and reasons for those changes were recorded.
Results:
Of the participating patients, 85% were female and 15% were male. The mean patient age at the time of surgery was 27.7 ± 7.3 years. Mean follow-up was 63 ± 10 months. UCLA score (5.08 ± 2.44 vs 6.95 ± 1.74; P < .001), International Hip Outcome Tool 12 (41.4 ± 22.2 vs 72.6 ± 22.9; P < .001), and Subjective Hip Value (42.8 ± 24.3 vs 80.4 ± 17.8; P < .001) increased significantly from pre- to postoperatively. Significantly more patients participated in low-impact sports postoperatively (31.7% vs 52%; P = .001). Participation in high-impact sports decreased (42.3% vs 36.6%; P = .361). The overall sports activity rate increased significantly (78.8% vs 90.8%; P = .008). Quantitatively, sports frequency in times per week (P < .001) as well as length of exercise per time (P = .007) increased significantly. A total of 52 patients (42%) changed sports activities postoperatively. Of these, 35 (28.4%) reported having stopped previously practiced sports after surgery, while 17 (13.8%) reported having started new sports. Reasons for starting and stopping certain sports varied and included hip- and non–hip related ones. In only 2 cases was physician’s advice given as a reason for changing the sport.
Conclusion:
Patients can improve their sports activity both qualitatively and quantitatively after PAO. However, a relevant proportion of patients adjusts their sports activities for a variety of hip-related and non–hip related reasons.
In spine surgery, surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the main perioperative complications and is associated with a higher patient morbidity and longer patient hospitalization. Most factors ...associated with SSI are connected with asepsis during the surgical procedure and thus with contamination of implants and instruments used which can be caused by pre- and intraoperative factors. In this systematic review we evaluate the current literature on these causes and discuss possible solutions to avoid implant and instrument contamination.
A systematic literature search of PubMed addressing implant, instrument and tray contamination in orthopaedic and spinal surgery from 2001 to 2019 was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. All studies regarding implant and instrument contamination in orthopaedic surgery published in English language were included.
Thirty-five studies were eligible for inclusion and were divided into pre- and intraoperative causes for implant and instrument contamination. Multiple studies showed that reprocessing of medical devices for surgery may be insufficient and lead to surgical site contamination. Regarding intraoperative causes, contamination of gloves and gowns as well as contamination via air are the most striking factors contributing to microbial contamination.
Our systematic literature review shows that multiple factors can lead to instrument or implant contamination. Intraoperative causes of contamination can be avoided by implementing behavior such as changing gloves right before handling an implant and reducing the instruments' intraoperative exposure to air. In avoidance of preoperative contamination, there still is a lack of convincing evidence for the use of single-use implants in orthopaedic surgery.
Lumbo-sacral transitional vertebrae (LSTV) are frequent congenital variances of the spine and are associated with increased spinal degeneration. Nevertheless, there is a lack of data whether bony ...alterations associated with LSTV result in reduced segmental restoration of lordosis when performing ALIF. 58 patients with monosegmental stand-alone ALIF in the spinal segment between the 24th and 25th vertebra (L5/S1)/(L5/L6) where included. Of these, 17 patients had LSTV and were matched to a control population by age and sex. Pelvic incidence, pelvic tilt, sagittal vertical axis, lumbar lordosis, segmental lordosis, disc height and depth were compared. LSTV-patients had a significantly reduced segmental lordosis L4/5 (p = 0.028) and L5/S1/(L5/L6) (p = 0.041) preoperatively. ALIF resulted in a significant increase in segmental lordosis L5/S1 (p < 0.001). Postoperatively, the preoperatively reduced segmental lordosis was no longer significantly different in segments L4/5 (p = 0.349) and L5/S1/(L5/6) (p = 0.576). ALIF is associated with a significant increase in segmental lordosis in the treated segment even in patients with LSTV. Therefore, ALIF is a sufficient intervention for restoring the segmental lordosis in these patients as well.
Abstract
The assessment of spinal shape and mobility is of great importance for long-term therapy evaluation. As frequent radiation should be avoided, especially in children, non-invasive ...measurements have gained increasing importance. Their comparability between each other however stays elusive. Three non-invasive measurement tools have been compared to each other: Idiag M360, raster stereography and Epionics SPINE. 30 volunteers (15 females/15 males) have each been assessed by each system, investigating lumbar lordosis, thoracic kyphosis and spinal range-of-motion in the sagittal plane. Lumbar lordosis differed significantly (p < 0.001) between measurement devices but correlated significant to each other (Pearson’s r 0.5–0.6). Regarding thoracic kyphosis no significant difference and a high correlation (r = 0.8) could be shown between Idiag M360 and raster stereography. For lumbar mobility resulting measurements differed significantly and correlated only moderate between Idiag M360 and Epionics SPINE. Although the different measurement systems are moderate to high correlated to each other, their absolute agreement is limited. This might be explained by differences in their angle definition for lordotic and kyphotic angle, their measurement placement, or their capturing of mobility (static vs. dynamic assessment). Therefore, for long-term evaluation of the back profile, inter-modal comparison of values between different non-invasive devices should be avoided.
Objective
To examine sonication results in presumed aseptic conversion total hip arthroplasty (THA) after hip fracture fixation and to evaluate its implications on the treatment outcome.
Methods
This ...retrospective cohort study reviewed the data from presumed aseptic patients that underwent conversion of prior internal fixation of proximal femoral fractures to THA between 2012 and 2018. Microbiological analysis was performed using sonication of osteosynthesis material and tissue samples. Treatment outcome including the occurrence of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) was recorded.
Results
A total of 32 patients were included in the study. Of these, five patients (15.6%) had positive intraoperative cultures. The mean follow-up following conversion THA was 43.0 months (range, 19.0–91.5 months). Sonication was positive in three patients (9.4%), all of whom were deemed contaminated and did not develop PJI. Tissue cultures were positive in two patients (6.3%). One patient with Enterococcus faecalis received antibiotic treatment and did not develop PJI. Another patient with growth of Cutibacterium acnes that was initially classified as a contaminant later developed acute PJI caused by the same pathogen. Overall, PJI occurred in two patients (6.3%) after conversion THA.
Conclusion
Sonication of internal fixation devices did not add diagnostic value in clinically aseptic conversion THA. Further studies are needed to better understand the relevance of unexpected positive cultures, and to develop diagnostic criteria for the management of these patients.
Lumbar foraminal stenosis may be caused by osseous and soft tissue structures. Thus, both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) play a role in the diagnostic algorithm. ...Recently, dual-energy CT (DECT) has been introduced for the detection of spinal disorders. Our study's aim was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of collagen-sensitive maps derived from DECT in detecting lumbar foraminal stenosis compared with standard CT and MRI. We retrospectively reviewed CT, DECT, and MRI datasets in patients with vertebral fractures between January 2015 and February 2017. Images were scored for presence and type of lumbar neuroforaminal stenosis. Contingency tables were calculated to determine diagnostic accuracy and interrater agreement was evaluated. 612 neuroforamina in 51 patients were included. Intraclass correlation coefficients for interrater reliability in detecting foraminal stenoses were 0.778 (95%-CI 0.643-0.851) for DECT, 0.769 (95%-CI 0.650-0.839) for CT, and 0.820 (95%-CI 0.673-0.888) for MRI. Both DECT and conventional CT showed good diagnostic accuracy in detecting lumbar foraminal stenosis but low sensitivities in detecting discoid stenosis. Thus, even though previous studies suggest that DECT has high diagnostic accuracy in assessing lumbar disc pathologies, we show that DECT does not provide additional information for detecting discoid stenosis compared with conventional CT.
Restricted spinopelvic mobility received attention as a contributing factor for total hip arthroplasty (THA) instability. However, it is still unknown, how the spinopelvic function is influenced by ...age. In identifying the patients at highest risk for altered spinopelvic mechanics the study aimed to determine the association of age on the individual segments of the spinopelvic complex and global spinal sagittal alignment in patients undergoing THA. 197 patients were included in the prospective observational study conducting biplanar stereoradiography (EOS) in standing and sitting position pre-and postoperatively. Two independent investigators assessed C7-sagittal vertical axis (C7-SVA), cervical lordosis (CL), thoracic kyphosis (TK), lumbar lordosis (LL), pelvic incidence (PI), sacral slope (SS), anterior plane pelvic tilt (APPT), and pelvic femoral angle (PFA). Key segments of the spinopelvic complex are defined as lumbar flexibility (∆ LL = LL
- LL
), pelvic mobility (∆ SS = SS
- SS
) and hip motion (∆ PFA = PFA
- PFA
). Pelvic mobility was further defined based on ∆ SS = SS
- SS
as stiff (∆ SS < 10°), normal (∆ SS ≥ 10°-30°) and hypermobile (∆ SS > 30°). The patient collective was classified into three groups: (1) < 60 years (n = 56), (2) ≥ 60-79 years (n = 112) and (3) ≥ 80 years (n = 29). Lumbar flexibility (∆ LL) was decreased with increasing age between all groups (36.1° vs. 23.1° vs. 17.2°/p
< 0.000, p
= 0.020, p
< 0.000) postoperatively. Pelvic mobility (∆ SS) was decreased in the groups 2 and 3 compared to group 1 (21.0° and 17.9° vs. 27.8°/p
< 0.000, p
= 0.371, p
= 0.001). Pelvic retroversion in standing position (APPT) was higher in group 2 and 3 compared to group 1 (1.9° and - 0.5° vs 6.9°/p
< 0.000, p
= 0.330, p
< 0.000). Global sagittal spinal balance (C7-SVA) showed more imbalance in groups 2 and 3 compared to group 1 (60.4 mm and 71.2 mm vs. 34.5 mm/p
< 0.000, p
= 0.376, p
< 0.000) postoperatively. The preoperative proportion of patients with stiff pelvic mobility in group 1 was distinctly lower than in group 3 (23.2% vs. 35.7%) and declined in group 1 to 1.8% compared to 20.7% in group 3 after THA. Changes after THA were reported for groups 1 and 2 representing spinopelvic complex key parameter lumbar flexibility (∆ LL), pelvic mobility (∆ SS) and hip motion (∆ PFA), but not for group 3. This is the first study to present age-adjusted normative values for spinopelvic mobility. The subgroups with increased age were identified as risk cohort for altered spinopelvic mechanics and enhanced sagittal spinal imbalance and limited capacity for improvement of mobility after THA. This valuable information serves to focus in the preoperative screening on the THA candidates with the highest risk for abnormal spinopelvic function.
Purpose
The purpose of our meta-analyses is to find the most appropriate surgical technique treating lumbar degenerative disc disease (DDD). Spinal fusion is the conventional treatment for lumbar ...DDD. Total disc replacement (TDR) has been developed to avoid negative effects of fusions by preserving functionality. To our knowledge, there is no evaluation comparing meta-analytically the clinical results of three different surgical techniques with same inclusion and exclusion criteria for treating DDD.
Methods
The surgical techniques TDR, anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) and circumferential fusion (CFF) are pairwise meta-analytically compared. Primary outcomes are pain measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and function measured by the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Secondary outcomes are the mean number of complications per case (MNOC) at surgery and follow-up and the overall MNOC.
Results
In our systematic search, we found finally six prospective studies with the minimum follow-up of two years: four randomized controlled trials and two cohort studies. In VAS and ODI, TDR is proved to be superior to ALIF and CCF (
p
< 0.05), whereat ALIF is more effective than CFF without statistical significance. CFF presents the best result in complications with the lowest overall MNOC (0.1), followed by TDR (1.2) and ALIF (1.5).
Conclusion
According to our meta-analyses, we regard TDR to be the most appropriate surgical technique treating DDD, followed by ALIF. Further studies with a longer follow-up are needed using the same methodical approach to strengthen the VAS and ODI results and to explain the discrepant result to complications.
Spinopelvic mobility represents the complex interaction of hip, pelvis, and spine. Understanding this interaction is relevant for both arthroplasty and spine surgeons, as a predicted increasing ...number of patients will suffer from hip and spinal pathologies simultaneously. We conducted a comprehensive literature review, defined the nomenclature, summarized the various classifications of spinopelvic mobility, and outlined the corresponding treatment algorithms. In addition, we developed a step-by-step workup for spinopelvic mobility and total hip arthroplasty (THA). Normal spinopelvic mobility changes from standing to sitting; the hip flexes, and the posterior pelvic tilt increases with a concomitant increase in acetabular anteversion and decreasing lumbar lordosis. Most classifications are based on a division of spinopelvic mobility based on ΔSS (sacral slope) into stiff, normal, and hypermobile, and a categorization of the sagittal spinal balance regarding pelvic incidence (PI) and lumbar lordosis (LL) mismatch (PI–LL = ± 10° balanced versus PI–LL > 10° unbalanced) and corresponding adjustment of the acetabular component implantation. When performing THA, patients with suspected pathologic spinopelvic mobility should be identified by medical history and examination, and a radiological evaluation (a.p. pelvis standing and lateral femur to L1 or C7 (if EOS (EOS imaging, Paris, France) is available), respectively, for standing and sitting radiographs) of spinopelvic parameters should be conducted in order to classify the patient and determine the appropriate treatment strategy. Spine surgeons, before planned spinal fusion in the presence of osteoarthritis of the hip, should consider a hip flexion contracture and inform the patient of an increased risk of complications with existing or planned THA.
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