Bearing surfaces in Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) may affect implant longevity and hence patient outcomes. This randomised clinical trial (RCT) determined how ceramic-on-ceramic bearing (CERAMIC) THA affected joint-specific pain, function and stiffness, and prosthesis fixation/longevity over 10 postoperative years compared with ceramic-on-highly-crosslinked-polyethylene bearing (POLYETHYLENE) THA. This is a follow-up to previously reported five year outcomes.

Subjects aged less than 61 years were randomised to CERAMIC [n=48] or POLYETHYLENE [n=44] THA. Subjects were assessed using the Western Ontario McMaster Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and the RAND 12-Item Health Survey (RAND-12) preoperatively, and at one, five and 10 years postoperatively. Plain radiographs were evaluated at 10 years for fixation and medical records were reviewed for revisions.

Of 92 subjects, six (7%) died within 10 years; 68 (79%) survivors provided radiographic and/or clinical follow-up at 10 years postoperatively. Improvements seen at five years in both the WOMAC and RAND-12 were retained at 10 years with no group differences (p>0.48). There were no failures/loss of fixation related to bearing surfaces/wear in either group. Over 10 years, three subjects in the POLYETHYLENE group had revisions that were related to recurrent dislocation; two revisions were performed within two years of surgery and one further subject underwent revision at 7 years postoperatively.

This is one of the first RCTs to examine 10 year outcomes between ceramic-on-ceramic and ceramic-on-highly-crosslinked-polyethylene bearing THA. Both bearing surfaces performed well out to 10 years in subjects who were less than 61 years at time of surgery.

Pain immediately following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is often severe and can inhibit patients' rehabilitation. Recently, adductor canal blocks have been shown to provide adequate analgesia and spare quadriceps muscle strength in the early postoperative period. We devised a single injection motor sparing knee block (MSB) by targeting the adductor canal and lateral femoral cutaneous nerve with a posterior knee infiltration under ultrasound. Our primary objective was to evaluate the analgesia duration of the MSB in comparison to a standard periarticular infiltration (PAI) analgesia using patients' first rescue analgesia as the end point. Secondary outcomes measured were quadriceps muscle strength and length of stay.

We randomised 82 patients scheduled for elective TKA to receive either the preoperative MSB (0.5% ropivacaine, 2.5ug/ml epinephrine, 10mg morphine, and 30mg ketorolac) or intraoperative periarticular infiltration (0.3% ropivacaine, 2.5ug/ml epinephrine, 10mg morphine, and 30mg ketorolac). Duration of analgesia, postoperative quadriceps power, and length of stay were evaluated postoperatively.

Analgesic duration was found to be significantly different between groups. The MSB had a mean duration of 18.06 ± 1.68 hours while the PAI group had a mean duration of 9.25 ± 1.68 hours for a mean difference of 8.8 hours (95% CI 3.98 to 13.62), p<0.01. There were no significant differences between groups in quadriceps muscle strength power at 20 minutes (p=0.91) or 6 hours (p=0.66) after block administration. Length of stay was also not significantly different between the groups (p=0.29).

Motor sparing blocks provide longer analgesia than patients receiving periarticular infiltration while not significantly reducing quadriceps muscle strength or increasing length of hospital stay.

We compared self-reported pain and function, complications and revision rates, and radiographic outcomes of hydroxylapatite(HA) or cemented tibial fixation in the first five years following primary total knee arthroplasty. This was a randomised clinical trial of eighty-one patients

Prospective, randomised clinical trial. Patients less than seventy years of age with non-inflammatory knee arthritis. Eighty-one patients were randomised at the time of surgery to receive HA or cemented tibial fixation. Subjects were evaluated preoperatively, six months, one and five years postoperatively by a physical therapist who was blinded to group allocation. X-rays were evaluated by an experienced arthroplasty surgeon who did not perform any of the surgeries. Self-reported pain and function, the primary outcomes, were measured by the Western Ontario McMaster (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index and the RAND 36-item Health Services Inventory (RAND-36). Complications and revision rates were determined through hospital record review and at each patient evaluation. The Knee Society Radiological Score was used to evaluate plain radiographs at each assessment.

There was slightly more pain in HA group at six months as measured by both the WOMAC and RAND-36, a difference that disappeared by the one-year assessment. There were no differences in function, radiographic findings or complications at any time. Finally, no subjects required revision of the tibial prosthesis during the study.

Overall, no significant differences were seen between groups. The initial difference in self-reported pain disappeared by twelve-months postoperatively. At five-years postoperatively, there is no advantage to HA tibial fixation over cemented tibial fixation.

Of 693 elderly patients admitted with suspected hip fractures, 43 had normal radiographs and were investigated by isotope bone scan. The 30 patients (70%) with normal scans were mobilised and none developed a fracture. All 13 of the patients with specific bone scan abnormalities were subsequently proved to have fractures, five of which became displaced. Clearly conventional radiography does not exclude fracture of the femoral neck in elderly patients; bone scanning is advisable in doubtful cases.