Cementless acetabular reconstruction and structural bone-grafting in dysplastic hips. Surgical technique.

BACKGROUND: Studies of acetabular reconstruction with use of cement and bulk bone graft have demonstrated increasing rates of cup failure in patients with dysplastic hips seven years after total hip arthroplasty. Comparable data on the long-term results of bulk bone-grafting done in conjunction with cementless implants are limited. The aim of this study was to review the clinical and radiographic results of autologous bulk bone-grafting in conjunction with a cementless cup. METHODS: From 1987 to 1992, forty-seven patients (forty women and seven men, with an average age of 50.4 years) who had developmental dysplasia of the hip underwent fifty-six total hip arthroplasties and received a structural graft in combination with a cementless Harris-Galante type-I cup. All patients were followed prospectively. In fifty-five hips, implant migration was measured with single-image radiographic analysis. RESULTS: After an average duration (and standard deviation) of 10.2 +/- 2.9 years, three patients (four hips) had died. In the surviving patients, four implants had been revised and two had radiographic evidence of loosening. With use of revision and loosening as end points, the eleven-year survival rates were 91.6% and 88.9%, respectively. Of the fifty implants that had no loosening, fourteen had measurable cup migration, thirty-five had no migration, and one implant could not be measured. All migrations but one were progressive. With loosening used as the end point, the survival rate at eleven years was 100% for the implants with no migration; however, the survival rate for the cups that had migrated was 69.3% (p = 0.0012). CONCLUSIONS: The eleven-year survival rate for the spherical press-fit cups in combination with bulk bone-grafting is satisfactory, given the complexity of these reconstructions. However, the difference between the survival of the implants that had migrated and those that had not was significant. We expect that the thirteen implants with progressive acetabular migration at the time of the latest follow-up are at risk for loosening, which will increase the revision rate for this series in the coming years.

Pharmacokinetics of tocainide in patients with severe renal failure.

The plasma levels of tocainide have been followed after oral administration of 600 mg p.o. to 20 patients with renal failure due to various causes, and to 8 healthy controls. The peak plasma concentrations in the patients with pyelonephritis (3.80 micrograms/ml) and interstitial nephritis (3.74 micrograms/ml) but not in those with glomerulonephritis (3.17 micrograms/ml) differed from that in healthy volunteers (3.24 micrograms/ml). The renal clearance of tocainide was well correlated with the endogenous creatinine clearance and was dependent on urine pH. No difference in renal clearance was observed between the patients groups. It is suggested that the changes in plasma levels are a consequence of decreased renal clearance. Creatinine clearance was shown to be a poor estimator of tocainide clearance, which suggests that extrarenal clearance plays an important role in the handling of the drug in the body. The findings are used to suggest a safe dosage regimen.