Surgical Treatment of Intra-articular Knee Venous Malformations: When and How?

Background: To assess the efficacy of surgical treatment of intra-articular knee venous malformations (VM).

Methods: Between 1998 and 2010, 8 children (mean age: 12.3 y) underwent surgical resection of their vascular malformation (7 venous and 1 capillary venous) involving the knee joint.

Improved alignment and operating room efficiency with patient-specific instrumentation for TKA.

Background: Achieving accurate alignment in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains a concern. Patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) produced using preoperative 3D models was developed to offer surgeons a simplified, reliable, efficient and customised TKA procedure.

Methods: In this prospective study, 60 patients underwent TKA with conventional instrumentation and 71 patients were operated on using PSI.

Outcome of total knee arthroplasties after renal transplantation.

The fate of total knee arthroplasty in renal graft recipients is unknown. We retrospectively reviewed the outcome of 16 total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) performed after renal transplantation in 12 renal graft recipients from February 1997 to December 2003. The patients (mean age 63) were submitted to a clinical evaluation using the Knee Society Score (KSS) and a radiological evaluation using the Knee Society Total Knee Arthroplasty Roentgenographic Evaluation.

Meniscal tears with fragments displaced in notch and recesses of knee: MR imaging with arthroscopic comparison.

Purpose: To retrospectively evaluate magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for the depiction of meniscal tears with partially detached meniscal fragments displaced in the intercondylar notch or in the meniscal recesses of the knee.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board required neither its approval nor informed patient consent for the retrospective review of patient data; however, informed patient consent had been obtained before the MR imaging examinations were performed. The presence of meniscal tears with notch and recess fragments was determined at MR imaging and at subsequent arthroscopy in 101 consecutive knees to determine the value of MR imaging for the depiction of these lesions.

Outcome assessment in osteoarthritic patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between knee pain, locomotor functional status, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes in osteoarthritic (OA) patients undergoing primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Nine OA patients were recruited. Pain, locomotor function, and HRQoL were evaluated one day before and 6 months after TKA by means of a visual analogue scale (VAS) for knee pain, the function score of the Knee Society (KS), the metabolic cost of gait (C), the total mechanical work during gait (Wtot), and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 Health Survey (MOS SF-36).

Postoperative meniscus: assessment at dual-detector row spiral CT arthrography of the knee.

Purpose: To assess the effectiveness of dual-detector row spiral computed tomographic (CT) arthrography of the knee in the evaluation of the postoperative meniscus for recurrent or residual meniscal tear.

Materials And Methods: Spiral CT arthrography was performed in 20 patients who presented with pain after partial meniscectomy. Findings at the initial reading of the images and at two retrospective independent readings were compared with those at second-look arthroscopy performed in all patients.

Anterior cruciate ligament tears and associated meniscal lesions: assessment at dual-detector spiral CT arthrography.

Purpose: To assess dual-detector spiral computed tomographic (CT) arthrography of the knee in the evaluation of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears and associated meniscal lesions.

Materials And Methods: ACL and meniscal abnormalities in 125 consecutive patients who underwent dual-detector spiral CT arthrography of the knee were evaluated on the basis of both initial interpretations and retrospective review of CT images and were compared with arthroscopic findings. The sensitivity and specificity of CT arthrography for the detection of ACL tears and meniscal lesions in knees with abnormal ACLs were determined.

Validation of the Ottawa knee rules in an emergency teaching centre.

Our objective was to determine the value of the Ottawa knee rules when applied by users with different levels of clinical training. We used a prospective patient survey by the medical students and surgery residents of a European university trauma centre. The study group consisted of 261 eligible patients who presented with acute knee trauma during a 6-month period.

Assessment of knee cartilage in cadavers with dual-detector spiral CT arthrography and MR imaging.

Purpose: To assess dual-detector spiral CT arthrography in the evaluation of the entire knee cartilage obtained from cadavers.

Materials And Methods: Two independent observers characterized articular cartilage in 12 cadaver knees in which MR imaging and dual-detector spiral CT arthrography were performed and compared their findings to those found during macroscopic assessment. The sensitivity and specificity of MR imaging and spiral CT arthrography for detecting grade 2A or higher and grade 2B or higher cartilage lesions, the Spearman correlation coefficient between arthrographic and macroscopic grading, and kappa statistics for assessing interobserver reproducibility were determined.