Quick and Accurate Placement of Cannulated Screws to Internal Fixation of Femoral Neck Fractures Using a Novel Guide Device.

INTRODUCTION: Fixation of femoral neck fractures with cannulated screws is an accepted method. This study aimed to compare a novel guide device and conventional technique with regard to the accuracy, operation time, fluoroscopy numbers, and drilling attempts during the insertion of cannulated screws to internal fixation of femoral neck fractures. METHODS: This retrospective study included 60 patients with intracapsular femoral neck fractures who were treated with cannulated screws from January 2020 to June 2021. Three screws were inserted into the femoral neck by conventional technique or using the novel guide device. The operative time, total drilling attempts, and fluoroscopy numbers were evaluated. The precision of implant placement was evaluated by screw parallelism and spread. The patients were followed for 12-24 months. RESULTS: The fluoroscopy numbers and operation time of the guide-device-assisted group were shorter than for the conventional group (p < 0.05). The total drilling attempts were significantly lower with the guide device than in the conventional group (p < 0.05). The guide-device-assisted group had better screw parallelism and greater spread than the conventional group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The novel guide device may be an effective assistant instrument for internal fixation of femoral neck fracture with cannulated screws.

Hypoxia regulation of facilitated glucose transporter-1 and glucose transporter-3 in mouse chondrocytes mediated by HIF-1alpha.

OBJECTIVES: Chondrocytes reside in a hypoxic environment; they utilize glucose as the main energy source. Facilitated glucose transport represents the first rate-limiting step in glucose metabolism. RESULTS: Here we demonstrated that hypoxia induced an elevated expression level of GLUT-1 and -3 in chondrocytes. Also elevated was hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) protein level. On the contrary, deletion of HIF-1alpha led to complete loss of the hypoxia-induced gene expression of GLUT-1 and 3. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that chondrocytes had the capacity to detect and respond to low oxygen availability with changes in expression of oxygen-regulated genes, and that hypoxia regulation of facilitated GLUT-1 and -3 was mediated by HIF-1alpha.