Spondylolysis is a common entity, a minority of people affected by this disease need medical care, and only a few require surgery. Reconstruction of the pars interarticularis is an interesting alternative to segmental fusion; this technique has the advantage of preserving segmental motion. Most authors report good results for young patients without intervertebral disk or facet degenerative changes. Moreover Louis also showed good to excellent results with his technique carried out among people who presented a satisfactory disk height (equal to two thirds of normal height). This could extend the number of patients for whom pars interarticularis repair could be proposed. In this study, the limit of reconstruction was set at grade 3 of the Pfirrmann's classification. The fixation of the isthmus was done with a new kind of pedicle screw hook system. This stable and strong device is easy to use, allows an anatomic pars interarticularis reconstruction of spondylolysis and avoids a postoperative bracing. Twenty-three patients were assessed in this study, the mean age at operation was 34 (range 16-52 years) and the average follow-up was for 59 months (range 6-113 months). Eight patients showed moderate degenerative disk disease before the surgery and 12 patients had a grade 1 spondylolisthesis. The visual analogical scale, the Oswestry disability index (ODI) and the modified Prolo score were used for assessment of pain and clinical outcome before and after surgery. The results were from "excellent" to "good" for twenty patients (87%) and "fair" for three of them (13%). The consolidation of the isthmus was assessed at the end of the study (CT-scan); the fusion rate was observed in 91%. Among patients aged less than 30 years results are from "good", to "excellent" in all cases and consolidation was always observed. All of them showed normal disc signal before the surgery. In the group aged more than 30 years, the results varied from "good" to "excellent' in 73% and fusion of the defect was discovered in 82% of cases. Eight of them (73%) had moderate disk signal modification before the surgery. All people with fair results displayed moderate disk degeneration signs at MRI before surgery; but two of those three patients had a failure of defect consolidation too and it is also associated with poor results by several authors. No complication was found in this series. According to the good results reported by Louis and upto the current finding, the authors believe that pars interarticularis repair can be carried out on patients with moderate degenerative disk disease; the stage 3 of Pfirrmann's classification seems a good limit. The Bone and joint research (B.J.R. system) is readily usable by any surgeon using pedicle screw systems and having a short learning curve. No device failure has been observed in this series.

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In a case of a neglected radial neck fracture in childhood, the management of initial fracture and its complications are subjected to discussion. In children, open reduction should be avoided but an angulation less than 30° must be obtained. Several techniques exist to manage symptomatic malunion in adults, including resection, prosthesis, and osteotomy. When performing an osteotomy, it is important first to preserve an intact osseous hinge to avoid avascular necrosis and second to align the edge of the radial head articular surface with the lateral edge of the coronoid process, in order to avoid overstuffing elbow joint.

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Background:The periprosthetic femoral fractures after hip arthroplasty represent a challenge for orthopedic surgeons in the oldest patients. The type B2 fracture with stem loosening is usually treated by revision of the implant. We assessed if internal fixation alone could be an alternative for treating the elderly population. This surgical procedure is less complex and can provide enough stability, thus allowing patients to recover their mobility.Methods: Twenty six patients with type B2 fracture were treated. 16 patients had a revision surgery while 10 received internal fixation. The Parker Score, the Functional Ambulation Classification and ambulatory scores were all used before and after surgery. Results:The two groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic data, preoperative status and perioperative data. Only the duration of surgery was significantly lower in the internal fixation group.In postoperative, no scores showed differences between groups. In both groups, we observed significant difference in pre vs early post-operative scores with a decrease of the functional status. At the late postoperatively stage, no significant differences were observed compared to pre-operative scores.The occurrence of complications was similar between the groups. 20% of patients died after internal fixation procedure and 13% after revision. Conclusions:There are no differences in terms of autonomy recovery between both procedures. We thus can envision internal fixation as an adequate alternative in elderly patients.