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The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume
Vol. 54-B, Issue 1 | Pages 18 - 39
1 Feb 1972
MacKenzie IG

1. A scheme was started in 1960 with the object of ensuring that the hips of all babies born in the North-Eastern Region of Scotland were examined shortly after birth.

2. 1,671 children with suspected abnormalities have been seen during the ensuing ten years, and the findings are discussed.

3. Clinical examination is essential. Radiographic examination of the newborn is not necessary and may be misleading, but it does prove that some hips with limited abduction but no instability are in fact dislocated.

4. Treatment is not started when the diagnosis is made shortly after birth. The children are re-examined at three weeks, when spontaneous recovery has occurred in about half. The others, whether they show instability or only limitation of abduction of the hips, are treated in a simple splint until they are three months old. Any residual stiffness is an indication for further splintage.

5. The first radiographs are taken when the children are three months old, and no child is discharged until the radiographs show that the upper femoral epiphyses have appeared and are in normal position.

6. We appreciate that we are treating some children who would have recovered spontaneously, but we do not know how to distinguish them. There is no evidence that splintage harms a hip.

7. Eighty-six children (5 per cent of the total) needed operation usually because the diagnosis was missed at birth.

8. Children with familial joint laxity or genu recurvatum should be examined especially carefully for associated hip abnormality.

9. The incidence of abnormality of the hips at birth is about one in fifty live births.


The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume
Vol. 49-B, Issue 4 | Pages 652 - 657
1 Nov 1967
Adam A Macdonald A Mackenzie IG

1. Eight cases of monarticular brucellar arthritis in children are described. They have been followed up from between one and six years and all are now fully active and clinically normal.

2. The history was usually short, with limp, swelling of the joint and pain as the presenting symptoms. Constitutional disturbance was slight in all cases.

3. Diagnosis was confirmed by high concurrent serum agglutinin titres which were not found in control children of the same age from the same areas. Mercaptoethanol resistant antibody (IgG) and complement fixing antibodies were also demonstrated in the sera of four cases. One child had a positive blood culture.

4. The condition responded rapidly to rest and splintage and, to date, recovery seems to have been complete.


The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume
Vol. 44-B, Issue 2 | Pages 377 - 383
1 May 1962
Flint MH MacKenzie IG

1. Recurrence of deformity after operations for drop foot is often associated with opening of the front of the ankle joint: this has previously been regarded as a complication of the operation.

2. This study of sixty paralytic drop feet treated conservatively reveals that this laxity was in fact present in no less than 43 per cent.

3. The laxity is most commonly found when the calf muscle is strong and it can occur within a year of the onset of the paralysis. It is not always prevented by wearing a toe-raising spring.

4. Such anterior laxity may well be a common cause of failure of many of the standard operations for drop foot.

5. Before operation for drop foot is undertaken a lateral radiograph of the ankle should be taken in forced plantar-flexiori. If this demonstrates anterior laxity any standard operation is unlikely to succeed unless the anterior fibres of the collateral ligaments are protected from strain by simultaneous tendon transplantation or unless the ankle is included in the arthrodesis.


The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume
Vol. 43-B, Issue 3 | Pages 465 - 473
1 Aug 1961
Mackenzie IG Woods CG

1 . The clinical results in forty cases of repair of the median nerve at the wrist have been examined. Almost half were unsatisfactory.

2. The factors that may have predisposed to failure of adequate re-innervation are discussed.

3. The results might be improved by the use of radio-opaque markers for early detection of separation at the suture line, and by the use of frozen sections to determine the adequacy of resection.


The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume
Vol. 42-B, Issue 4 | Pages 689 - 705
1 Nov 1960
MacKenzie IG Seddon HJ Trevor D

1. The results of treatment of 134 patients with congenital dislocation of 167 hips are reviewed.

2. Late diagnosis is still a major problem.

3. Subluxations rarely give rise to poor results, but in dislocations first treated over the age of five years there is a one-in-three risk of failure.

4. Manipulative reduction is successful less often than reduction on a frame and carries a higher risk of avascular necrosis.

5. Closed reduction on a frame was satisfactory in 58 per cent of patients under the age of three years, and can succeed up to the age of five.

6. Open reduction was required in 20 per cent of cases under the age of three, and can be used successfully up to the age of six.

7. Seven anatomical barriers to closed reduction have been recognised and two or more are commonly found in one hip when open reduction is performed.

8. The acetabular roof may fail to develop after reduction, especially if this is delayed. A C.E. angle of under 20 degrees does not necessarily forebode this, unless measured on an arthrograph. Sclerosis of a sloping acetabular roof is an indication for operation. Acetabuloplasty is the proper operation for a sloping acetabulum and can be done successfully up to the age of twelve. Over this age, a shelf operation should be performed; this is appropriate also in younger patients in whom the curvature of the acetabulum is normal but does not extend far enough laterally. These operations were required in 38 per cent of hips treated in patients under the age of three, and in 64 per cent over this age. There is a one-in-three risk of avascular necrosis when acetabular reconstruction is done in patients under three.

9. Anteversion, if excessive, should be corrected by subtrochanteric osteotomy, and any valgus of the femoral neck should be corrected simultaneously.

10. Unilateral dislocations in patients over the age of six are best treated by Colonna's operation. In our few bilateral cases over this age our results have been disappointing.

11. Avascular necrosis is less common but more serious when it occurs over the age of three. Manipulative reduction and the use of frog-leg plasters are two avoidable factors which appear to increase its incidence. The more serious degrees are accompanied by stiffness of the hip, and when this sign is present weight bearing should be avoided.

12. Prolonged, though rarely permanent, limitation of movement occurs in some 10 per cent of cases. In a few, operative correction was required.


The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume
Vol. 42-B, Issue 1 | Pages 60 - 64
1 Feb 1960
MacKenzie IG

1. A medial approach is preferred for arthrodesis of the wrist in reconstructive surgery because there is no interference with the extensor tendons.

2. The value of pre-operative assessment by a trial period in plaster is mentioned.

3. The technique of operation is described.

4. In the absence of active pronation, screwing the ulna to the radius in 45 degrees of pronation is advised.

5. The necessity for securing haemostasis before closing the wound is emphasised.

6. Thirty-four cases are reviewed. The shortest follow-up was one year and the longest twelve years. The result was satisfactory in all cases. Most patients were discharged from hospital after the plaster had been changed two weeks after operation. Union occurred in about sixteen weeks.


The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume
Vol. 41-B, Issue 4 | Pages 738 - 748
1 Nov 1959
MacKenzie IG

One hundred cases of Lambrinudi's arthrodesis are reviewed. The shortest follow-up was one year. and the longest twenty-seven years. Thirty-seven per cent were successful. Nineteen per cent were failures; many of these were associated with faulty technique, and one method of operation which gives good results is described.

Success is likely if there is a balance of power between the dorsiflexors and plantarflexors of the ankle, especially if there is some fixed equinus before operation.

Success is less likely when the operation is done for a flail foot. In such circumstances arthrodesis of the ankle may have to be considered subsequently for instability of the lateral ligament, recurrence of dropfoot, or arthritis which may develop in the more active patients.

Age in itself is no bar to success, but pseudarthrosis is more likely to occur in patients over the age of twenty.