Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), defined by an age at presentation of 11 to 18 years, has a prevalence of 0.47% and accounts for approximately 90% of all cases of idiopathic scoliosis. Despite decades of research, the exact aetiology of AIS remains unknown. It is becoming evident that it is the result of a complex interplay of genetic, internal, and environmental factors. It has been hypothesized that genetic variants act as the initial trigger that allow epigenetic factors to propagate AIS, which could also explain the wide phenotypic variation in the presentation of the disorder. A better understanding of the underlying aetiological mechanisms could help to establish the diagnosis earlier and allow a more accurate prediction of deformity progression. This, in turn, would prompt imaging and therapeutic intervention at the appropriate time, thereby achieving the best clinical outcome for this group of patients.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2022;104-B(8):915–921.

Aims

The aim of this study was to prepare a scoping review to investigate the use of biologic therapies in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in professional and Olympic athletes.

A modular femoral head–neck junction has practical advantages in total hip replacement. Taper fretting and corrosion have so far been an infrequent cause of revision. The role of design and manufacturing variables continues to be debated. Over the past decade several changes in technology and clinical practice might result in an increase in clinically significant taper fretting and corrosion. Those factors include an increased usage of large diameter (36 mm) heads, reduced femoral neck and taper dimensions, greater variability in taper assembly with smaller incision surgery, and higher taper stresses due to increased patient weight and/or physical activity. Additional studies are needed to determine the role of taper assembly compared with design, manufacturing and other implant variables.

Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2013;95-B, Supple A:3–6.

Failure of bone repair is a challenging problem in the management of fractures. There is a limited supply of autologous bone grafts for treating nonunions, with associated morbidity after harvesting. There is need for a better source of cells for repair. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) hold promise for healing of bone because of their capacity to differentiate into osteoblasts and their availability from a wide variety of sources. Our review aims to evaluate the available clinical evidence and recent progress in strategies which attempt to use autologous and heterologous MSCs in clinical practice, including genetically-modified MSCs and those grown on scaffolds. We have compared various procedures for isolating and expanding a sufficient number of MSCs for use in a clinical setting.

There are now a number of clinical studies which have shown that implantation of MSCs is an effective, safe and durable method for aiding the repair and regeneration of bone.

High energy fractures of the pelvis are a challenging problem both in the immediate post-injury phase and later when definitive fixation is undertaken. No single management algorithm can be applied because of associated injuries and the wide variety of trauma systems that have evolved around the world.

Initial management is aimed at saving life and this is most likely to be achieved with an approach that seeks to identify and treat life-threatening injuries in order of priority. Early mortality after a pelvic fracture is most commonly due to major haemorrhage or catastrophic brain injury. In this article we review the role of pelvic binders, angiographic embolisation, pelvic packing, early internal fixation and blood transfusion with regard to controlling haemorrhage.

Definitive fixation seeks to prevent deformity and reduce complications. We believe this should be undertaken by specialist surgeons in a hospital resourced, equipped and staffed to manage the whole spectrum of major trauma. We describe the most common modes of internal fixation by injury type and review the factors that influence delayed mortality, adverse functional outcome, sexual dysfunction and venous thromboembolism.

Articular cartilage repair remains a challenge to surgeons and basic scientists. The field of tissue engineering allows the simultaneous use of material scaffolds, cells and signalling molecules to attempt to modulate the regenerative tissue. This review summarises the research that has been undertaken to date using this approach, with a particular emphasis on those techniques that have been introduced into clinical practice, via in vitro and preclinical studies.

This paper reviews the current literature concerning the main clinical factors which can impair the healing of fractures and makes recommendations on avoiding or minimising these in order to optimise the outcome for patients. The clinical implications are described.

The long-term effects of metal-on-metal arthroplasty are currently under scrutiny because of the potential biological effects of metal wear debris. This review summarises data describing the release, dissemination, uptake, biological activity, and potential toxicity of metal wear debris released from alloys currently used in modern orthopaedics. The introduction of risk assessment for the evaluation of metal alloys and their use in arthroplasty patients is discussed and this should include potential harmful effects on immunity, reproduction, the kidney, developmental toxicity, the nervous system and carcinogenesis.

The literature on fracture repair has been reviewed. The traditional concepts of delayed and nonunion have been examined in terms of the phased and balanced anabolic and catabolic responses in bone repair. The role of medical manipulation of these inter-related responses in the fracture healing have been considered.

The survivorship of contemporary resurfacing arthroplasty of the hip using metal-on-metal bearings is better than that of first generation designs, but short-term failures still occur. The most common reasons for failure are fracture of the femoral neck, loosening of the component, osteonecrosis of the femoral head, reaction to metal debris and malpositioning of the component. In 2008 the Australian National Joint Registry reported an inverse relationship between the size of the head component and the risk of revision in resurfacing hip arthroplasty. Hips with a femoral component size of ≤ 44 mm have a fivefold increased risk of revision than those with femoral components of ≥ 55 mm irrespective of gender. We have reviewed the literature to explore this observation and to identify possible reasons including the design of the implant, loading of the femoral neck, the orientation of the component, the production of wear debris and the effects of metal ions, penetration of cement and vascularity of the femoral head. Our conclusion is that although multifactorial, the most important contributors to failure in resurfacing arthroplasty of the hip are likely to be the design and geometry of the component and the orientation of the acetabular component.

Many radiographic techniques have been described for measuring patellar height. They can be divided into two groups: those that relate the position of the patella to the femur (direct) and those that relate it to the tibia (indirect). This article looks at the methods that have been described, the logic behind their conception and the critical analyses that have been performed to test them.

A comprehensive review of the literature relating to the pathology and management of the diabetic foot is presented. This should provide a guide for the treatment of ulcers, Charcot neuro-arthropathy and fractures involving the foot and ankle in diabetic patients.

Although mechanical stabilisation has been a hallmark of orthopaedic surgical management, orthobiologics are now playing an increasing role. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a volume of plasma fraction of autologous blood having platelet concentrations above baseline. The platelet α granules are rich in growth factors that play an essential role in tissue healing, such as transforming growth factor-β, vascular endothelial growth factor, and platelet-derived growth factor. PRP is used in various surgical fields to enhance bone and soft-tissue healing by placing supraphysiological concentrations of autologous platelets at the site of tissue damage. The easily obtainable PRP and its possible beneficial outcome hold promise for new regenerative treatment approaches.

The aim of this literature review was to describe the bioactivities of PRP, to elucidate the different techniques for PRP preparation, to review animal and human studies, to evaluate the evidence regarding the use of PRP in trauma and orthopaedic surgery, to clarify risks, and to provide guidance for future research.

Technological advances and shorter rescue times have allowed early and effective resuscitation after trauma and brought attention to the host response to injury. Trauma patients are at risk of progressive organ dysfunction from what appears to be an uncontrolled immune response. The availability of improved techniques of molecular diagnosis has allowed investigation of the role of genetic variations in the inflammatory response to post-traumatic complications and particularly to sepsis.

This review examines the current evidence for the genetic predisposition to adverse outcome after trauma. While there is evidence supporting the involvement of different polymorphic variants of genes in determining the post-traumatic course and the development of complications, larger-scale studies are needed to improve the understanding of how genetic variability influences the responses to post-traumatic complications and pharmacotherapy.

The subject of central nervous system damage includes a wide variety of problems, from the slow selective ‘picking off’ of characteristic sub-populations of neurons typical of neurodegenerative diseases, to the wholesale destruction of areas of brain and spinal cord seen in traumatic injury and stroke. Experimental repair strategies are diverse and the type of pathology dictates which approach will be appropriate. Damage may be to grey matter (loss of neurons), white matter (cutting of axons, leaving neurons otherwise intact, at least initially) or both. This review will consider four possible forms of treatment for repair of the human central nervous system.

Although the importance of sound statistical principles in the design and analysis of data has gained prominence in recent years, biostatistics, the application of statistics to the analysis of biological and medical data, is still a subject which is poorly understood and often mishandled. This review introduces, in the context of orthopaedic research, the terminology and the principles involved in simple data analysis, and outlines areas of medical statistics that have gained prominence in recent years. It also lists and provides an insight into some of the more common errors that occur in published orthopaedic journals and which are frequently encountered at the review stage in papers submitted to the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.