Patients with shoulder impingement remain satisfied 6 years after arthroscopic subacromial decompression: A prospective study of 46 patients

Background Although arthroscopic subacromial decompression (ASD) is a common procedure for treatment of shoulder impingement, few long term results have been published. In this prospective study, we determined whether the high degree of patient satisfaction at 6 months postoperatively reported by us earlier remained at the 6-year follow-up. Patients and methods We originally reported high patient satisfaction 6 months after ASD for shoulder impingement in 50 prospectively studied patients using the Disability of the Arm Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (DASH) and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Patients with associated shoulder disorders were excluded. The surgeons were experienced shoulder arthroscopists. 6 years after surgery, the DASH questionnaire and the VAS were sent to these 50 patients. 2 patients had other medical problems of the upper extremity that affected the DASH and VAS scores, 1 patient was lost to follow-up, and another refused to participate. Thus, 46 patients with a mean age of 55 (33-78) years were included in this 6-year evaluation. Results The considerable improvement in both the DASH score and the VAS that was observed 6 months after surgery persisted or had even improved 6 years after surgery. Interpretation Properly selected patients with shoulder impingement treated with ASD remain satisfied 6 years after surgery

Early repair of trauma-related full-thickness rotator cuff tears does not eliminate the problem of healing failure

AIMS: Failure of healing is a well-known problem after repair of the rotator cuff. This study aimed to investigate if early repair of trauma-related full-thickness rotator cuff tears (FTRCTs) could prevent this failure. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this prospective trial, 62 consecutive patients (14 women (23%), 48 men (77%); median age 61 years (interquartile range (IQR) 54 to 65)) with trauma-related FTRCT underwent arthroscopic single-row repair within six weeks of trauma. Tendon integrity was assessed one year after surgery using the Sugaya score on MR images. Patients were followed up with Western Ontario Rotator Cuff (WORC) index, EuroQol visual analogue scale (EQ VAS), and the Constant-Murley score (CS) two years after repair. RESULTS: A total of 57 patients (92%) had MR images available at one year; 59 patients (95%) had CS (one year), WORC (two years), and EQ VAS scores (two years). Intact repair was found on MRI in 36 patients (63%); 13 patients (23%) displayed healing failure of at least one repaired tendon and eight patients (14%) displayed total healing failure. Median WORC index and relative CS improved from 30.8 points (IQR 20.1 to 38.6) at baseline to 85.0 points (IQR 60.6 to 95.7) at two years and 26.5 points (IQR 21.2 to 37.4) to 83.2 points (IQR 71.9 to 97.5) at one year, respectively. The relative CS at one year was significantly better among those with intact repairs compared with those with healing failure (91.6 vs 78.1 points; p = 0.031). CONCLUSION: Although early repair of trauma-related FTRCT improved patient relevant outcomes over two years for the entire cohort, only two out of three repaired rotator cuffs displayed intact structural integrity on MRI after one year. Consequently, early repair did not seem to prevent healing failure after trauma-related FTRCT. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2019;101-B:603-609

A new radiographic method for evaluating the degree of sliding in devices used in hip-fracture surgery

Purpose: To find a practical method for estimating the degree of sliding that occurs in screw-plate devices used in hip-fracture surgery. Greater understanding of the sliding mechanisms in different fracture types should improve surgical technique and reduce the failure rate. Methods and Results: In dynamic screw-plate devices, the lag screw slides inside the barrel of the plate. A recent innovation allows the barrel-plate to slide inside a side-plate, thus making possible a combined fracture compression along the neck and the shaft of femur. The lengths of the different parts and the angle of a device in vivo, measured on a radiograph, depend on the position of the femur relative to the photographic film and the roentgen source. We obtained these measurements with a ruler and a protractor from sequential a.p. radiographs of the hip and implemented them in a special computerized program that used the principles of the scaled orthographic and the central projection models. These calculations provided the correct amount of sliding by the lag screw and by the barrel-plate within the side-plate. Conclusion: The method presented here can establish the real degree of sliding in screw-plate devices from standard a.p. radiographs independently of the position of the hip

Extramedullary fixation of 569 unstable intertrochanteric fractures: a randomized multicenter trial of the Medoff sliding plate versus three other screw-plate systems

We compared the efficacy of the Medoff sliding plate (MSP) with 3 other screw-plate systems for fixation of unstable intertrochanteric fractures in a randomized multicenter trial of 569 elderly patients. The MSP has biaxial dynamic capacity along both the neck and the shaft of the femur unlike the other systems, which lack dynamic capacity along the shaft. 268 fractures were operated on with the MSP, and 301 with the dynamic hip screw (DHS), with or without a trochanteric stabilizing plate (DHS/TSP) or with the dynamic condylar screw (DCS). The MSP had recently been shown to the surgeons.The patients in the groups were similar as regards age, domestic situation, preinjury walking ability and type of fracture. We followed the patients clinically and radiographically for at least 1 year. There was no significant difference in walking ability at follow-up or rate of return to home. Fixation failure occurred in 18/268 fractures operated on with the MSP, in 8/238 with the DHS, in 3/49 with the DHS/TSP and in 1/14 with the DCS. The difference in the rate of fixation failure was not statistically significant when the MSP group was compared to the 3 other groups. In 14 of the 18 fixation failures in the MSP group, the biaxial dynamic capacity of the MSP had not been used due to technical errors by surgeons, unfamiliar with the new method. No selection bias was found regarding fracture types in the 2 subgroups of patients with correct or inadequate biaxial dynamization. Extramedullary fixation of unstable intertrochanteric fractures with these implants showed a low failure rate. When using the MSP, biaxial dynamization must be correctly performed

Treatment of subtrochanteric fractures. A comparison of the Gamma nail and the dynamic hip screw: short-term outcome in 58 patients

The aim of this non-randomised prospective study was to evaluate the short-term outcome of Gamma nail and dynamic hip screw (DHS) fixation in the treatment of subtrochanteric hip fractures due to low-energy trauma in the elderly. All of the 1,624 femoral hip fractures in 1,511 patients of the Oulu Hospital, aged over 49 years, were prospectively registered from 1991−1999 using special forms. Seventy-three (4.5%) of the fractures were subtrochanteric. After exclusions, 58 patients constituted the final study group. Of these, 43 were treated with Gamma nails and 15 with DHS. Background factors before the fracture, complications, reoperations and functional parameters at 4 months were recorded using standardised forms. Intraoperative and hospital data were collected from patient records. The Seinsheimer fracture types IIIA, IIC and V were the most common fracture patterns when the Seinsheimer classification system was used, and Fielding II and AO 31A3.3, respectively, were the most common types in the Fielding and AO classification system. There were four (9%) intraoperative complications in the Gamma nail group as compared to none in the DHS group. On the other hand, postoperative complications were more common in the DHS group (27%) than in the Gamma nail group (7%). We recognised a correlation between certain fracture types and the likelihood of typical intra- or postoperative complications or difficulties with both devices: In Gamma nailing, difficulty in closed reduction as well as the rate of open reduction and the use of supplementary fixation were most frequent in the Seinsheimer IIC fractures. It is also noticeable that all of the postoperative device failures and fracture displacements of the DHS group occurred in the Seinsheimer type IIIA category. Detailed fracture classification is essential for the choice of the fixation device, and the present study confirms the presumption that, despite the perioperative problems associated with Gamma nailing, this technique may be preferable to plate fixation for specific fracture types with medial cortical comminution, such as Seinsheimer type IIIA