Robert H. Fitzgerald

Revision total hip arthroplasty.

Two hundred and ten hips in 206 patients who had an initial total hip arthroplasty performed at the Mayo Clinic between 1969 and 1978 required revision of the arthroplasty at the Mayo Clinic for reasons other than infection. One hundred and sixty-two of the patients (166 hips) were followed both clinically and roentgenographically for two years or more. One hundred and forty-five (90 per cent) reported that they had improvement after the surgical revision. Complications that occurred with revision included deep sepsis, superficial would infection, dislocation, intraoperative femoral fracture, and postoperative femoral fracture. Roentgenographic analysis showed probable loosening in thirty-three acetabular components (20.1 per cent) and seventy-two femoral components (44 per cent). Symptomatic loosening (moderate to severe pain and probable roentgenographic loosening) was seen in thirty-five patients. Eight patients required a second revision for this reason, and seven others required a second revision for other reasons. Modified Harris hip scores, calculated for 108 hips, showed a good or excellent result in sixty-seven hips (62 per cent), a fair result in twelve (11 per cent), and a poor result in twenty-nine (27 per cent). Using a new Mayo Clinic hip score that incorporates roentgenographic data (which will be described) in the evaluation of 165 revised hips, there was a good or excellent result in eighty-five (52 per cent), a fair result in thirty-two (19 per cent), and a poor result in forty-eight hips (29 per cent). Although 90 per cent of the patients thought that their condition had improved, the high incidence of roentgenographic signs of probable loosening of a component is of serious concern.

Anatomy, histologic features, and vascularity of the adult acetabular labrum.

Acetabular labrum tears have been implicated as a cause of hip pain in adult patients. Few studies describe the anatomy, histologic features, and microvasculature of the acetabular labrum and labral tears. Fifty-five embalmed and 12 fresh-frozen adult hips with a mean age of 78 years (range, 61–98 years) were studied. Of these, 96% (53 of 55) of the hips had labral tears, with 74% of the tears located in the anterosuperior quadrant. Histologically, the fibrocartilaginous labrum was contiguous with the acetabular articular cartilage through a 1-to 2-mm zone of transition. A consistent projection of bone extends from the bony acetabulum into the substance of the labrum that is attached via a zone of calcified cartilage with a well-defined tidemark. Two distinct types of tears of the labrum were identified histologically. The first consisted of a detachment of the fibrocartilaginous labrum from the articular hyaline cartilage at the transition zone. The second consisted of one or more cleavage planes of variable depth within the substance of the labrum. Both types of labral tears were associated with increased microvessel formation seen within the tear. The acetabular labrum tear appears to be an acquired condition that is highly prevalent in aging adult hips. Labral tears occur early in the arthritic process of the hip and may be one of the causes of degenerative hip disease.

Deep wound sepsis following total hip arthroplasty

After follow-ups ranging from two to five years on all but four (five hips) of 2,694 patients who had 3,215 total hip arthroplasties, deep wound infection had been demonstrated in forty-two hips (1.3 per cent). The infections among the 3,210 hips appeared during the immediate postoperative period or as long as five years after surgery. All operations were performed in conventional operating rooms. Previous operations, prolonged operating time, positive culture at operation, and unrecognized preoperative sepsis were related to the development of deep infection. In only eight of the forty-one patients (forty-two hips) was salvage of the prosthetic arthroplasty possible. The deaths of tree patients were directly attributable to the infection or its treatment.

Two-stage reconstruction of a total hip arthroplasty because of infection.

From 1969 to 1985, eighty-one patients (eighty-two hips) who had an infection after a previous total hip arthroplasty were treated with a resection arthroplasty, followed by delayed reconstruction in the form of a repeat total hip arthroplasty. For all of the reconstructions, the femoral and acetabular components were fixed to bone with cement that did not contain antibiotics. An average of 5.5 years (range, 2.0 to 13.6 years) after reimplantation, infection had recurred in eleven hips (13 per cent). The presence of retained cement at the time of the resection arthroplasty appeared to be associated with recurrent sepsis, as three of seven patients who had retained cement had a recurrent infection, compared with only eight (11 per cent) of seventy-five patients from whom the cement had been completely removed (p less than 0.01). The twenty-six patients (twenty-six hips) who had the reimplantation less than one year after the resection arthroplasty had seven recurrent infections (27 per cent), while the fifty-six patients who had reimplantation more than one year after the resection arthroplasty had only four recurrences (7 per cent) (p less than 0.001). Three of the seven patients in whom the infection was caused by gram-negative bacilli and group-D streptococcal organisms (which are considered highly virulent) and who received systemic antimicrobial therapy for less than twenty-eight days had a recurrence. In contrast, only one of the thirteen patients in whom the infection was caused by a virulent organism and who were treated for longer than twenty-eight days had a recurrence (p = 0.055). The two-stage reconstruction is an effective, safe technique even when the infection is caused by a virulent organism.

Epidemiology of ankle fractures in Rochester, minnesota

The epidemiology of ankle fractures was examined among Rochester, Minnesota, residents during the 3-year period 1979-1981. Ankle fractures occurred with an overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate of 187 per 100,000 person-years; this is higher than in earlier population-based studies. The most frequent cause of ankle fractures was sports-related trauma. The incidence of fractures associated with moderate trauma, on the other hand, increased markedly in middle-aged women, but declined in elderly women. Diabetes mellitus and obesity were associated with fractures in middle-aged and older adults. Of accepted classifications, the Lauge-Hansen system provided the most clinically relevant information.

Multiple revisions for failed total hip arthroplasty not associated with infection.

Forty-five patients (forty-five hips) underwent repeat revisions of a total hip arthroplasty that had failed but was not associated with infection; seven of these patients had a third revision. The mean length of follow-up was approximately three years, and no patients were lost to follow-up. Twenty-eight of the forty-five patients had no or slight pain after the second revision, and thirty reported that their condition was improved. After the third revision, six patients had no or only slight pain, and five said that their condition was improved. On final roentgenographic examination, there was probable loosening (migration or subsidence of a component, lucency at the prosthesis-cement interface, fracture of the cement, or complete radiolucency at the bone-cement, or complete radiolucency at the bone-cement interface of more than one millimeter in at least one zone) of eight of the acetabular components and thirteen of the femoral components after the second revision and three acetabular components and one femoral component after the third. There was symptomatic loosening (moderate or severe pain and probable roentgenographic loosening) in six patients after the second revision and one after the third. Significant postoperative complications were noted in nineteen of the forty-five patients, and treatment was considered to be a failure in eleven hips after the second revision and in two after the third.

Comparison of indium-labeled-leukocyte imaging with sequential technetium-gallium scanning in the diagnosis of low-grade musculoskeletal sepsis. A prospective study.

We prospectively compared sequential technetium-gallium imaging with indium-labeled-leukocyte imaging in fifty patients with suspected low-grade musculoskeletal sepsis. Adequate images and follow-up examinations were obtained for forty-two patients. The presence or absence of low-grade sepsis was confirmed by histological and bacteriological examinations of tissue specimens taken at surgery in thirty of the forty-two patients. In these thirty patients, the sensitivity of sequential Tc-Ga imaging was 48 per cent, the specificity was 86 per cent, and the accuracy was 57 per cent, whereas the sensitivity of the indium-labeled-leukocyte technique was 83 per cent, the specificity was 86 per cent, and the accuracy was 83 per cent. When the additional twelve patients for whom surgery was deemed unnecessary were considered, the sensitivity of sequential Tc-Ga imaging was 50 per cent, the specificity was 78 per cent, and the accuracy was 62 per cent, as compared with a sensitivity of 83 per cent, a specificity of 94 per cent, and an accuracy of 88 per cent with the indium-labeled-leukocyte method. In patients with a prosthesis the indium-labeled-leukocyte image was 94 per cent accurate, compared with 75 per cent accuracy for sequential Tc-Ga imaging. Statistical analysis of these data demonstrated that the indium-labeled-leukocyte technique was superior to sequential Tc-Ga imaging in detecting areas of low-grade musculoskeletal sepsis.

The use of porous prostheses in delayed reconstruction of total hip replacements that have failed because of infection.

Between March 1984 and March 1989, thirty-four patients who had an infection at the site of a cemented total hip prosthesis were managed with resection arthroplasty and delayed implantation of a porous total hip prosthesis without cement. The interval from the time of the resection arthroplasty to the implantation of another prosthesis averaged eight months (range, three to nineteen months). At an average of forty-seven months (range, twenty-four to seventy-two months) after the reimplantation, six patients (18 per cent) had recurrence of the infection. Patients who had rheumatoid arthritis were at significantly higher risk for the development of a recurrent infection (p < 0.01). Of the twenty-eight patients who did not have a recurrent infection, six had definite radiographic evidence of loosening of the femoral component at the latest follow-up evaluation. For twenty-five of the twenty-eight patients, sufficient data were available for calculation of the Mayo Clinic hip score; only fourteen (56 per cent) of these patients had a satisfactory functional outcome. The high (68 per cent) rate of complications and the long-term durability of the prosthesis in these patients remain a concern. The fact that 18 per cent of the patients had a recurrent infection suggests that avoidance of the use of bone cement does not improve the rate of resolution of infection after a delayed revision operation in patients who have an infection following a total hip arthroplasty.

Arthrodesis of the knee following failed total knee arthroplasty.

In forty-five patients, who had an arthrodesis because of failed total knee arthroplasty, the cause was infection in forty, instability in two, failure of the prosthesis in two, and loosening in one. The arthrodesis succeeded in twenty-nine (81%) of thirty-six patients who had had a minimally or partially constrained arthroplasty and in five (56%) of nine who had had a hinge-type prosthesis inserted. The reasons for failure were severe bone loss, persistent sepsis, and loss of bone apposition after manipulation. The technique of arthrodesis did not seem to influence the final result. External fixation most commonly had to be used because of the infections and the device was kept in place for an average of ten weeks, after which immobilization in a cast was used until the arthrodesis healed.

Complications of total hip arthroplasty treated by reoperation

In a series of 3,204 consecutive total hip arthroplasties performed on 2,684 patients at the Mayo Clinic from March 1, 1969, through February 28, 1972, reoperation for a complication was necessary in 125 hips (3.9 per cent). The complications, in order of frequency, were infection, dislocation, trochanteric problems, ectopic bone, and loosening of the femoral prosthesis. There were less frequent complications that also required further surgery. Attention to specific technical details is the most important means of avoiding a complication that requires reoperation.