A review of biomaterials in bone defect healing, remaining shortcomings and future opportunities for bone tissue engineering: The unsolved challenge.

Despite its intrinsic ability to regenerate form and function after injury, bone tissue can be challenged by a multitude of pathological conditions. While innovative approaches have helped to unravel the cascades of bone healing, this knowledge has so far not improved the clinical outcomes of bone defect treatment. Recent findings have allowed us to gain in-depth knowledge about the physiological conditions and biological principles of bone regeneration. Now it is time to transfer the lessons learned from bone healing to the challenging scenarios in defects and employ innovative technologies to enable biomaterial-based strategies for bone defect healing. This review aims to provide an overview on endogenous cascades of bone material formation and how these are transferred to new perspectives in biomaterial-driven approaches in bone regeneration. Cite this article: T. Winkler, F. A. Sass, G. N. Duda, K. Schmidt-Bleek. A review of biomaterials in bone defect healing, remaining shortcomings and future opportunities for bone tissue engineering: The unsolved challenge. Bone Joint Res 2018;7:232-243. DOI: 10.1302/2046-3758.73.BJR-2017-0270.R1.

Cemented Hemiarthroplasties Are Associated with a Higher Mortality Rate after Femoral Neck Fractures in Elderly Patients.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The postoperative outcomes of total hip replacement and hemiarthroplasty after femoral neck fractures in elderly patients were analysed to determine general and local complications as well as morbidity and mortality rates in order to detect risk profiles and assess the best individual treatment option. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred sixty-one femoral neck fractures among patients aged ≥ 65 years treated with cemented hemiarthroplasty (HA) or uncemented total hip arthroplasty (THA) between January 2005 and October 2013 were evaluated. In the presence of articular pathologies as well as a fracture type Garden III or IV, the indication for joint replacement was given. Criteria for performing hemiarthroplasty were previously limited mobility. Freely and fully mobilised patients and patients with manifested osteoarthritis received a cementless THA. A comparison of the observed complications was made, differentiating between general and surgery-specific hip-related complications. Furthermore, the mortality rates were analysed in relation to the respective surgical treatment. RESULTS Seventy cemented HA and ninety-one uncemented THA were performed. There was a high complication rate of approximately 19% in both surgical intervention groups. The patients were more likely to develop general complications (HA 12.8%; THA 10.8%) even though cardiopulmonary complications occurred more frequently in the cemented HA group. Four patients died after cemented hemiarthroplasty due to thromboembolic events (5.7% mortality rate), whereas no deaths occurred after total hip replacement. Surgery-specific complications rates were 7.8% in THA and 5.7% in HA patients. CONCLUSIONS THA in eldery patients with femoral neck fractures is associated with a higher complication rate, mostly of general medical entity. After cemented HA, our study reveals a high mortality rate due to thromboembolic events. For patients with multimorbidity in particular, these findings therefore suggest that uncemented THA should be considered to prevent lethal complications. Key words: femoral neck fracture; total hip arthroplasty; hemiarthroplasty; complications.

Sexual asphyxia in the female.

The author has reported what appears to be a clearly defined masochistic hanging in the female. This is supported by many of the usual characteristics inherent in most male hangings. Although it was not the function of the police, a background study of the victim by a medical authority unfortunately was not made, which is so often the case in deaths due to sexual asphyxia.