Trephine Use During Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty Resulting in Diaphyseal Osteonecrosis and Stress Fracture: A Case Report.

CASE: A fifty-three-year-old woman presented with a fracture of an extensively porous-coated femoral component. Revision was performed with use of trephine reamers to remove the distal portion of the stem. Despite radiographs that showed an acceptable position of the revision stem, she experienced substantial thigh pain at four months postoperatively, which persisted at twelve months. A technetium-99m bone scan demonstrated a 5-cm photopenic region, suggestive of thermal osteonecrosis. Two months later, there was evidence of callus formation, which is consistent with a stress fracture. The fracture was treated with protected weight-bearing; it healed with nonoperative management and resolution of the pain. CONCLUSION: A diaphyseal stress fracture secondary to thermal osteonecrosis associated with trephine use developed after removal of a broken femoral component; it healed without surgical intervention.

Patellofemoral crepitus after total knee arthroplasty: etiology and preventive measures.

Patellofemoral crepitus and clunk syndrome are infrequent, yet troublesome complications of total knee arthroplasty with a reported incidence of 0%-18%. They are primarily associated with implantation of posterior cruciate substituting designs. These entities are the result of peripatellar fibrosynovial hyperplasia at the junction of the superior pole of the patella and the distal quadriceps tendon which becomes entrapped within the superior aspect of the intercondylar box of the femoral component during knee flexion. When the knee extends, a crepitant sensation occurs as the fibrosynovial tissue exits the intercondylar box. Numerous etiologies have been proposed such as femoral component designs with a high intercondylar box ratio, previous knee surgery, reduced patellar tendon length, thinner patellar components, reduced patella-patellar component composite thickness, and smaller femoral components. Preventative measures include choice of femoral components with a reduced intercondylar box ratio, use of thicker patellar components, avoidance of over-resection of the patella, and debridement of the fibrosynovial tissue at the time of knee arthroplasty. Most patients with crepitus are unaware of the problem or have minimal symptoms so that no treatment is required. If significant disability is incurred, symptoms can be eliminated in a high percentage of patients with arthroscopic debridement of the fibrosynovial hyperplasia.

Large-head metal-on-metal total hip arthroplasty using the Durom acetabular component at minimum 1-year interval.

Large-head metal-on-metal total hip arthroplasty represents novel technology, and outcome data are lacking. We prospectively compared the performance of a nonmodular metal-on-metal acetabular component (Durom; Zimmer, Warsaw, IN) with a modular titanium component (Trilogy, Zimmer). All Durom components placed at our institution with minimum 1-year follow up (n = 63) were compared with an age- and sex-matched Trilogy control group (n = 100). Failure defined as revision or persistent moderate/severe groin pain was significantly higher for the Durom (11.1%) compared with the Trilogy group (0%) (P = .002). Although all acetabular components in both groups appeared radiographically stable, no significant bone ingrowth was noted at the time of Durom revisions. We could not identify any patient/surgical-related factors predictive of failure. Further study is needed to determine the scientific basis for these observations.

A prospective evaluation of novel methods to intraoperatively distinguish parathyroid tissue utilizing a parathyroid hormone assay.

BACKGROUND: Frozen section analysis has traditionally been used to confirm the identity of parathyroid tissue intraoperatively; however, it is time-consuming and costly and requires the excision of a significant portion of tissue. An intraoperative biopsy and analysis with a parathyroid hormone (PTH) assay is a possible alternative; however, this technique has not been perfected. METHODS: Two hundred twenty-three tissue specimens were collected prospectively from patients undergoing neck exploration. Each specimen was sampled intraoperatively using three different biopsy techniques: a fine-needle aspiration (FNA) with 10 passes of a needle (FNA10), a FNA with 20 passes of a needle (FNA20), and a tissue biopsy of approximately 1.0 mm3 (BIOPSY). The PTH concentration of each sample was determined via the Elecsys 1010 PTH immunoassay. The final tissue diagnosis was determined by histology or operative data. RESULTS: Parathyroid samples from all techniques had higher median PTH concentrations than nonparathyroid samples. However, the accuracies for the detection of parathyroid tissue varied markedly (PTH cutoff of 1000 pg/ml): the accuracies of the FNA10 and FNA20 were 71 and 80%, respectively, while the BIOPSY was 99% accurate. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first prospective study evaluating multiple methods to diagnose parathyroid tissue intraoperatively using a rapid PTH assay. We conclusively show that the BIOPSY technique is 99% accurate for the diagnosis of parathyroid tissue, and therefore, should be the method of choice when the intraoperative confirmation of parathyroid tissue is needed.