The Short Term Clinical Follow-up Study for Hemiarthroplasty in Proximal Humeral Fracture

Introduction: The treatment of proximal humeral fracture is traditionally determined by Neer's classification system. The severely displaced three-part or four-part fracture is an indication for primary hemiarthroplasty. The current authors report the clinical results of 10 patients who received hemiarthroplasty for proximal comminuted fractures. The minimum follow-up period was 12 months. Materials and Methods: The current authors studied 10 patients who, between July 1999 and March 2005, each received hemiarthroplasty for a proximal humeral fracture of one shoulder. According to Neer's classification system, 5 of the patients had three-part fractures, and 5 of the patients had 4-part fractures. The mean interval between trauma and hemiarthroplasty was 6.1 days. The mean age of the 6 female and 4 male patients was 67.4 years (range: 56 to 76). Shoulder function was evaluated using the Constant score, the Simple Shoulder Test, and the modified UCLA score. Results: The mean Constant score was 51.4(range: 34 to 60). The mean modified SST score was 7.8 out of 12 tasks. Excluding the one patient who had also sustained an axillary artery rupture and a brachial plexus injury after the initial trauma, the mean Constant score for the remaining 9 patients was 53.5(range: 44 to 60), and the mean SST score was 7.2 tasks. The modified UCLA score averages for pain, function, and active forward flexion and strength were, respectively, 8.2(6~10), 6.6(2~8), and 6.9(4~8). The total UCLA score was an average of 21.7(12~26). Patients' the modified UCLA ratings were as follows: Excellent: 3, Good: 6, and Poor: 1. The patient with the poor outcome was the one who had also sustained the neurovascular injury. Patient's subjective satisfaction rating were as follows: Excellent: 2, Good: 7, and Poor: 1. Conclusion: Based on short term follow-up results, this study indicates that hemiarthroplasty is the treatment of choice for proximal humeral fractures on which it would be difficult to perform open reduction and internal fixation. Hemiarthroplasty is a useful treatment modality to prevent shoulder stiffness and to allow daily living tasks in elderly patients. However, restoration of muscle power and range of joint motion were not recovered satisfactorily.

Acetabular Rebision Using Acetabular Reinforcement Ring and Allograft Impaction

Purpose: We wanted to evaluate the clinical and radiologic results of acetabular revision using the acetabular reinforcement ring and also the allograft impaction in the acetabulum having deficient bone stock. Material and Methods: Nineteen hips revision arthroplasty were performed in 18 patients (9 males and 9 females) with using an acetabular reinforcement ring and allograft between July 1993 and December 2003. The patients were followed for an average of 64 months (range: 24-153). The mean age at the time of arthroplasty was 59 years old (range: 34-76). The causes of revision were aseptic loosening of the acetabular component in 16 cases, severe progressive osteolysis around the acetabular component in 2 cases and Girdlestone state after infected total hip arthroplasty in one case. The acetabular deficiency was type II in 5 hips, type III in 13 hips, and type IV in one hip according to the AAOS classification. The clinical results were evaluated using the modified Harris hip score, and the radiologic results were evaluated by assessing the preoperative and serial follow-up radiographs. Results: The mean preoperative Harris hip score of 47 was improved to 86 points at the latest follow-up. Periacetabular osteolysis was found in 2 cases, which did not progress at follow-up. The anatomic hip center was restored after revision arthroplasty (p<0.05). Complications were dislocation in 2 cases, breakage of the hook of the Ganz ring in one case, heterotopic ossification in one case and femoral artery injury in one case. All cases showed stable fixation of the acetabular component and good remodelling of the impacted allograft. There was neither recurrence of dislocation nor progression of the acetabular component loosening on the radiographs. Conclusion: Acetabular revision with acetabular reinforcement ring and allograft impaction showed satisfactory clinical and radiologic results with restoration of the hip center and consolidation of the allograft.

Cartilage Overgrowth of the Femroal Head and Acetabulum in Legg - Calve - Perthes' Disease as Viewed on MRI / 대한정형외과학회잡지

Eighteen patients(19 affected hips and 17 unaffected hips) with Legg-Calve-Perthes' disease(LCP) were reviewed to evaluate the relationship between medial joint space widening and lateral subluxation of the femoral head. MRI was used to evaluate components in widened medial joint space in radiographs. There was increased cartilage thickness of the femoral head and acetabulum and increased joint tluid which represented synovial hypertrophy in the widened medial joint space in radiographs. Increased cartilage thickness was found at the mediai aspect of the femoral head and at the lateral and posterior walls of the acetabulum when compared to unaffected hips and normal control hips. Widening of the medial joint space was related to lateral subluxation of the femoral head during the fragmentation or remodeling stage, not always during the avascular stage, in LCP. Widening of the medial joint space did not change remarkably after a Salter osteotomy or femoral varus derotational osteotomy because of the remaining cartilage thickness.

Comparative Analysis of Neurologic Recovery with or without Laminectomy in the Treatment of Thoracic and Lumbar Fractures with Neurologic Symptoms / 대한정형외과학회잡지

Recently there has been a progressive increase of thoracolumbar fractures with neurologic symptoms. It has been thought that laminectomy increased instability and was therefore considered a contraindication. Currently, with the development of instrument for posterior stabilization, it is possible to perform posterior fusion and instrumentation, both with and without laminectomy. To compare the effect of neurologic recovery with and without laminectomy, we analyzed the clinical records of 38 patients with neurologic symptoms who were evaluated with plain radiographs and CT before and after surgery from 1989 to 1996 in Gyeong-Sang National University Hospital. We divided our cases into two groups, one group consisted open reduction with laminectomy and instrumentation with posterior fusion. The other group consisted of open reduction without laminectomy and instrumentation with posterior fusion. Twenty three of 38 were operated with open reduction and internal fixation with laminectomy and others were operated without laminectomy. The results were that both groups had improvement of neurologic symptoms after surgery and at follow-up. There was no significant statistical difference between the two groups. Depending on the time interval between injury and surgery, patients who were underwent emergency surgery had an marked improvement of neurologic symptoms. Except cases of complete paraplegia, incomplete paraplegic patients who were operated within 24 hours with laminectomy group had greater improvement than those without laminectomy. The improvement was statistically significant(P<0.05).

Four Cases of Multiple Epiphyseal Dysplasia in One Family / 대한정형외과학회잡지

The clinical entity of Dysplasia Epiphyseal Multiplex was first descrihed by Fairbank in 1935, characterized by the disturbance of endochondral ossification in hoth epiphyseal centers and regions of physeal growth. It manifests itself radiologically as late appearance and mottling of the ossification centers and clinically as short stature, stubby digits and painful stiffness of multiple joints. It is typically transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait though recessive forms have been described. The spine is normal apart from a mild increased lumbar lordosis. Many patients are referred to an orthopaedic surgeon for bilateral Perthes disease, as was one of the authors cases. This Paper reports four cases of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia which affected one family.

A Classification System of the Extent of Femoral Head Osteonecrosis Using MRI / 대한정형외과학회잡지

We tested the hypothesis that the extent of necrosis at the initial MRI predicts the subsequent risk of collapse of the femoral head in a randomized clinical trial conducted to compare the core decompression to the conservative treatment. After the initial clinical evaluation including plain roentgenography and MRI, 37 hips of early-stage osteonecrosis (ON) in 33 patients were randomly assigned to core decompression group or conservative treatment group. All the patients were regularly followed by clinical evaluation including plain roentgenography and MRI at three-month intervals. The extent of ON was estimated on the basis of the percentage of abnormal signal intensity in the weight-bearing portion of the femoral head as determined on a combination in coronal aod sagittal MR images. The angle of necrotic portion in mid-coronal image (A) and that in mid-sagittal image (B) were used to quantify the extent of necrotic portion by the formula; (A/180) x (B/180) x 100%. A strong association was observed between the percentage of necrotic portion and the development of collapse. We concluded that the extent of necrotic portion is a major risk factor of the collapse and proposed a systematic method of classifying the percentage of necrotic portion, which might be useful as a predictive index for the fate of early-stage ON.