Causes of delay on a hip fracture pathway-a retrospective single-centre analysis.

BACKGROUND: This study highlights the multiple sources of delay along a hip fracture clinical pathway. The national recommendation is that 'patients with a hip fracture should be admitted within 4 hours of arrival at the Emergency Department to which they first presented'. METHODS: Granular analysis and process mapping of all available hospital and 'Irish Hip Fracture Database' data for a 2-month period were used to highlight and compare causes of delay. DISCUSSION: We identified numerous sources of delay, occurring at every point along the pathway, emphasising the complexity of providing acute integrated care. There was no single stage that persistently contributed to the delay in the patient pathway. The focus is now to achieve marginal gains in each area. Increased staff and resources to the front line are a clear solution but this is complex to achieve.

Long-Term Survival of the Cemented Exeter Universal Stem in Patients 50 Years and Younger: An Update on 130 Hips.

BACKGROUND: There is variable evidence regarding survivorship beyond 20 years of total hip arthroplasties in young patients. We report the long-term results of the Exeter cemented hip system in patients ≤50 years at minimum of 20 years. METHODS: Clinical and radiological outcomes of 130 consecutive total hip arthroplasties in 107 patients aged 50 years or younger at primary operation were reviewed; 77% had a diagnosis other than osteoarthritis. All patients were followed at 5-year intervals, no patients were lost to follow-up, and the status of every implant is known. RESULTS: Mean age at surgery was 41.8 (17-50) years. Mean follow-up was 22.0 (20.0-26.1) years. There were 79 hips surviving, 14 hips (11 patients) deceased, and 37 hips revised. Reasons for revision: 29 hips for aseptic cup loosening (26 stems revised using cement-in-cement, three left in-situ); three stems for femoral osteolysis, two related to acetabular polyethylene wear (14.1 and 17.0 years), one with Gaucher's disease (21.1 years); one broken stem (12.9 years); one cup for instability (4.3 years-stem revised using cement-in-cement); and two hips with infection (8.5 and 23.8 years). There were no cases of aseptic loosening of the Exeter stem. There were no radiologically loose stems although eight patients had radiological evidence of loosening of the cemented cup. Survivorship at 22 years was 74.9% for revision for all causes and 96.3% for revision of the stem for aseptic loosening or lysis. CONCLUSION: The Exeter cemented stem has excellent survivorship at minimum 20 years in young patients. Acetabular component survivorship was less favorable, but the advent of highly cross-linked polyethylene may improve this in the long term.

The mechanical effect of the existing cement mantle on the in-cement femoral revision.

BACKGROUND: Cement-in-cement revision hip arthroplasty is an increasingly popular technique to replace a loose femoral stem which retains much of the original cement mantle. However, some concern exists regarding the retention of the existing fatigued and aged cement in such cement-in-cement revisions. This study investigates whether leaving an existing fatigued and aged cement mantle degrades the mechanical performance of a cement-in-cement revision construct. METHODS: Primary cement mantles were formed by cementing a polished stem into sections of tubular steel. If in the test group, the mantle underwent conditioning in saline to simulate ageing and was subject to a fatigue of 1 million cycles. If in the control group no such conditioning or fatigue was carried out. The cement-in-cement procedure was then undertaken. Both groups underwent a fatigue of 1 million cycles subsequent to the revision procedure. FINDINGS: Application of a Mann-Whitney test on the recorded subsidence (means: 0.51, 0.46, n=10+10, P=0.496) and inducible displacement (means: 0.38, 0.36, P=0.96) revealed that there was no statistical difference between the groups. INTERPRETATION: This study represents further biomechanical investigation of the mechanical behaviour of cement-in-cement revision constructs. Results suggest that pre-revision fatigue and ageing of the cement may not be deleterious to the mechanical performance of the revision construct. Thus, this study provides biomechanical evidence to back-up recent successes with this useful revision technique.