Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Background and purpose Few studies have addressed the association between early migration of femoral stems and late aseptic revision in total hip arthroplasty. We performed a meta-regression analysis on 2 parallel systematic reviews and meta-analyses to determine the association between early migration and late aseptic revision of femoral stems.Patients and methods Of the 2 reviews, one covered early migration data obtained from radiostereometric analysis (RSA) studies and the other covered long-term aseptic revision rates obtained from survival studies with endpoint revision for aseptic loosening. Stems were stratified according to the design concept: cemented shape-closed, cemented force-closed, and uncemented. A weighted regression model was used to assess the association between early migration and late aseptic revision, and to correct for confounders. Thresholds for acceptable and unacceptable migration were determined in accordance with the national joint registries (≤ 5% revision at 10 years) and the NICE criteria (≤ 10% revision at 10 years).Results 24 studies (731 stems) were included in the RSA review and 56 studies (20,599 stems) were included in the survival analysis review. Combining both reviews for the 3 design concepts showed that for every 0.1-mm increase in 2-year subsidence, as measured with RSA, there was a 4% increase in revision rate for the shape-closed stem designs. This association remained after correction for age, sex, diagnosis, hospital type, continent, and study quality. The threshold for acceptable migration of shape-closed designs was defined at 0.15 mm; stems subsiding less than 0.15 mm in 2 years had revision rates of less than 5% at 10 years, while stems exceeding 0.15 mm subsidence had revision rates of more than 5%.Interpretation There was a clinically relevant association between early subsidence of shape-closed femoral stems and late revision for aseptic loosening. This association can be used to assess the safety of shape-closed stem designs. The published research is not sufficient to allow us to make any conclusions regarding such an association for the force-closed and uncemented stems.

Mobile-bearing (MB) total knee replacement (TKR) was introduced to reduce the risk of aseptic loosening and wear of polyethylene inserts. However, no consistent clinical advantages of mobile- over fixed-bearing (FB) TKR have been found. In this study we evaluated whether mobile bearings have an advantage over fixed bearings with regard to revision rates and clinical outcome scores. Furthermore, we determined which modifying variables affected the outcome. A systematic search of the literature was conducted to collect clinical trials comparing MB and FB in primary TKR. The primary outcomes were revision rates for any reason, aseptic loosening and wear. Secondary outcomes included range of movement, Knee Society score (KSS), Oxford knee score (OKS), Short-Form 12 (SF-12) score and radiological parameters. Meta-regression techniques were used to explore factors modifying the observed effect. Our search yielded 1827 publications, of which 41 studies met our inclusion criteria, comprising over 6000 TKRs. Meta-analyses showed no clinically relevant differences in terms of revision rates, clinical outcome scores or patient-reported outcome measures between MB and FB TKRs. It appears that theoretical assumptions of superiority of MB over FB TKR are not borne out in clinical practice.

Background and purposeStability and survival of cemented total hip prostheses is dependent on a multitude of factors, including the type of cement that is used. Bone cements vary in viscosity, from low to medium and high. There have been few clinical RSA studies comparing the performance of low- and high-viscosity bone cements. We compared the migration behavior of the Stanmore hip stem cemented using novel low-viscosity Palamed bone cement with that of the same stem cemented with conventional high-viscosity Palacos bone cement.Patients and methodsWe performed a randomized controlled study involving 39 patients (40 hips) undergoing primary total hip replacement for primary or secondary osteoarthritis. 22 patients (22 hips) were randomized to Palacos and 17 patients (18 hips) were randomized to Palamed. Migration was determined by RSA.ResultsNone of these 40 hips had been revised at the 10-year follow-up mark. To our knowledge, the patients who died before they reached the 10-year endpoint still had the implant in situ. No statistically significant or clinically significant differences were found between the 2 groups for mean translations, rotations, and maximum total-point motion (MTPM).InterpretationWe found similar migration of the Stanmore stem in the high-viscosity Palacos cement group and the low-viscosity Palamed cement group. We therefore expect that the risk of aseptic loosening with the new Palamed cement would be comparable to that with the conventional Palacos cement. The choice of which type of bone cement to use is therefore up to the surgeon’s preference.

This study examined the contribution of the osteoarthritis (OA) susceptibility genes ASPN, GDF5, DIO2, and the 7q22 region to the development of radiographic knee OA in patients with a mean age of 40.6 ± 7.9 years (standard deviation) and who suffered from nonacute knee complaints a decade earlier. Dose–response associations of four single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) in the susceptibility genes were determined by comparing 36 patients who showed the development of OA on radiographs (Kellgren and Lawrence score ≥1) with 88 patients having normal cartilage with no development of OA on radiographs. Multivariate logistic regression analysis including the variables such as age, gender, body mass index, and reported knee trauma was performed. A dose–response association of DIO2 SNP rs225014: odds ratio (OR) 2.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–4.5 (P = 0.019) and GDF5 SNP rs143383: OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1–3.8 (P = 0.031) was observed with knee OA development. The ASPN and 7q22 SNPs were not associated with OA development.