We compared patient satisfaction with surgeon satisfaction after total hip arthroplasty (THA) in a group of 193 patients (200 THAs, mean follow-up six years) using a visual analogue scale (VAS), and two objective and two subjective scoring systems. We also determined the survival rate with different endpoints. For the 121 hips available for clinical follow-up, we did not find a significant difference in satisfaction between patient and surgeon. In a subgroup with low patient satisfaction, the surgeon was more satisfied than the patient (p = 0.04). The correlation between the patient satisfaction VAS and the different subjective and objective scoring systems suggests that pain during activity is the most important factor for the patient. The survivorship at six years decreased from 96.6% to 83.7% if dissatisfaction (VAS > 20) was added to revision as an endpoint in the survival analysis. The patient satisfaction VAS provides additional information to evaluate the outcome of THA. We recommend the use of both subjective and objective scoring systems to evaluate the outcome of THA.

The properties of impacted morsellised bone graft (MBG) in revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA) were studied in 12 horses. The left hind metatarsophalangeal joint was replaced by a human TKA. The horses were then randomly divided into graft and control groups. In the graft group, a unicondylar, lateral uncontained defect was created in the third metatarsal bone and reconstructed using autologous MBG before cementing the TKA. In the control group, a cemented TKA was implanted without the bone resection and grafting procedure. After four to eight months, the animals were killed and a biomechanical loading test was performed with a cyclic load equivalent to the horse’s body-weight to study mechanical stability. After removal of the prosthesis, the distal third metatarsal bone was studied radiologically, histologically and by quantitative and micro CT.

Biomechanical testing showed that the differences in deformation between the graft and the control condyles were not significant for either elastic or time-dependent deformations. The differences in bone mineral density (BMD) between the graft and the control condyles were not significant. The BMD of the MBG was significantly lower than that in the other regions in the same limb. Micro CT showed a significant difference in the degree of anisotropy between the graft and host bone, even although the structure of the area of the MBG had trabecular orientation in the direction of the axial load. Histological analysis revealed that all the grafts were revascularised and completely incorporated into a new trabecular structure with few or no remnants of graft. Our study provides a basis for the clinical application of this technique with MBG in revision TKA.