Sports activities after medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty Oxford III—What can we expect?

Purpose

Excellent long-term results have been reported for implantation of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). In many patients the desire for improvement in function often includes an aspiration to return to sports. The purpose of our study was to evaluate physical activities after medial Oxford-III (Biomet) UKA surgery.

Methods

Patients’ physical activity before and after the surgery was assessed using a self reporting questionnaire. We used the Oxford knee scoring system (OKS), the WOMAC-, the Knee society- (KSS) and the UCLA-score to assess postoperative knee function. The mean follow-up was 4.2 years. The female-to-male ratio was 1.3:1. The mean age at surgery was 65.3 years.

Results

Of the 131 patients studied 78 participated in some kind of sports before surgery (mean age 64.4 years), while 53 patients did not perform any sports (mean age 66.5 years) (p > 0.05). At follow-up the patients in the active group were significantly younger than the patients in the inactive group (p < 0.05). The majority of patients (80.1 %) returned to their level of sports activity after UKA surgery. Six patients took up sports after surgery while 15 patients stopped their sports. Among the active patients we found a shift from high- towards low-impact sports. The active patients had significantly higher scores for the OKS, KSS, WOMAC and UCLA score. The complication rate was comparable in both groups.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrates that a high degree of patient satisfaction in terms of sports activity can be achieved using the Oxford-III UKA for medial osteoarthritis.     

Comparing neurootological complaints in patients at the end of their professional lives (51-60 years) with those during the first phase of retirement (61-70 years)

Geriatrics defines the branch of medicine that treats all problems peculiar to old age and the aging, including the clinical problems of senescence and senility. In the full chain of years of the human life, a special period is humans' last decade of professional life (i.e., 51-60 years) and their first decade of retirement (i.e., 61-70 years). For this study aimed at comparing neurootological complaints of persons in this period of their lives, we examined large samples of European neurootological patients: Group A consisted of 1,965 persons aged 51-60 years, and group B consisted of 1,032 persons aged 61-70 years. Of the 11 vertigo and nausea symptoms evaluated, group A demonstrated 2.68 signs and group B 2.49 signs per individual. Acoustic subjective symptoms of tinnitus were exhibited in 55.42% of group A patients, and hearing loss was present in 63.92% of these patients. In group B, 52.62% of patients exhibited tinnitus, and 68.31% of patients had hearing loss. Our experimental neurootometric investigations exhibited the following rates of abnormal test findings in group A: butterfly calorigrams, 71.86%; stepping craniocorpography, 72.01%; and pure-tone audiometry of bone conduction, 37.66% in the right and 47.07% in the left ear. Among group B patients, abnormal test findings were noted as follows: butterfly calorigrams, 69.86%; stepping craniocorpography, 74.03%; and pure-tone audiometry of bone conduction, 44.57% in the right and 55.43% in the left ear.     

Neurosensory deficits after myocardial infarction

Cardiovascular diseases are extremely widespread and often cause vestibular system dysfunctions. They are related mainly to organic lesions of the brain. To investigate neurootological functional changes, we compared two samples from among our patients, of whom those in group A (42 persons: 92.86% male, 7.14% female) had experienced myocardial infarction within 1 year before our neurootometric investigation and those in group B had undergone infarction 1 year or more before examination (104 patients: 81.73% male, 18.27% female). Considering only the six most important vertigo symptoms experienced by patients, we found 1.48 symptoms per patient in group A and 2.02 symptoms per patient in group B. As regards acoustic symptoms, 45.24% of patients in group A experienced tinnitus and 52.38% reported hearing loss. In patients in group B, 48.08% were affected with tinnitus and 58.65% with hearing loss. Abnormalities in the neurootometric measurements were revealed as follows: in group A, butterfly calorigrams, 80.95%; stepping-test craniocorpography (CCG), 64.29%; and bone conduction audiometry on the right side, 40.48%, and on the left side, 52.38%; in group B, butterfly calorigrams, 78.85%; stepping-test CCG, 61.54%; bone conduction audiometry on the right side, 28.85%, and on the left side, 41.35%.     

Depressive disorders in relation to neurootological complaints

Depression is a state of depressed mood characterized by feelings of sadness, despair, and discouragement. Depression ranges from normal feelings of "the blues" through dysthymia to major depression. Endogenous depression has been identified with a specific symptom complex: psychomotor retardation, early morning awakening, weight loss, excessive guilt, and lack of reactivity to the environment. Reactive depression is precipitated by a stressful life event. In the field of depression, we found an overlapping activity between psychiatry and neurootology. Our sample comprises 134 patients (53 [39.55%] male, 81 [60.45%] female) who were classified either by psychiatrists or by neurologists as suffering from depression. By evaluating our neurootological history data bank (Neurootological Data Evaluation-Claussen [NODEC]) as regards 6 important vertigo symptoms, we found that patients presented with a frequency of 2.10 signs per patient. When we extended the list to 11 vertigo and nausea signs, we found 2.93 signs per patients. All patients underwent an objective and quantitative neurootometric analysis. The following rates of abnormal findings were observed: butterfly calorigram of polygraphic electronystagmography, 69.40%; stepping craniocorpograms, 69.40%; and bone-conduction pure-tone audiometry of the right ear, 28.36%, and of the left ear, 36.57%.     

Laryngeal giant cell tumour.

The surgical treatment of an exceedingly rare neoplasm, the laryngeal giant cell tumor, is reported. After removal of the grossly visible part of the growth and reconstruction of the larynx, the lumen of the latter could be preserved by insertion of metal and/or plastic dilator cannulas. Post-operative X-ray treatment has prevented recurrence of the growth throughout the two-year period which has elapsed since the operation.     

Haemospermia: observations in an area of endemic bilharziasis

Observations are presented on 11 cases of haemospermia in the University Teaching Hospital, Zambia, a country where bilharziasis is endemic. Seven patients were severely hypertensive but only two had urinary bilharziasis. The incidence of Schistosoma haematobium infection of the prostate and seminal vesicles is discussed and it is concluded that there is no significant association between the parasitic infection and haemospermia.