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We aimed to answer the following three questions in this study: (1) Does tranexamic acid (TA) reduce the amount of bleeding in total knee arthroplasty (TKA)? (2) Does TA reduce requirement for blood transfusion? (3) Is there any difference on reliability and efficacy between topical and intravenous (IV) applications of TA? Patients were allocated into three groups randomly by a software program as topical, IV, and control group. TA was applied as 20 mg/kg to the IV group and as 3 g/100 mL saline to the topical group. The hemoglobin values were recorded preoperatively and postoperatively on the same day and on day 1 and day 2. Removal of the drain postoperatively and length of hospital stay, as well as any complications such as pulmonary embolism or deep venous thrombosis, were also noted. The study comprised 40 patients in the IV group, 42 in the topical group, and 41 in the control group. The drain output values were similar in the IV and topical groups ( = 0.161), while those of the control group were significantly higher than both the IV and topical groups ( < 0.001 and < 0.001). Transfusion was applied to 19.5% of cases in the control group, 4.8% in the topical group, and 5.1% of the IV group ( = 6.522; = 0.038). The results of the study showed that 20 mg/kg single-dose IV bolus or 3 g topical TA application reduced blood loss and transfusion requirement without increasing the rate of thromboembolic complications in unilateral primary TKA.

Objectives This study aims to compare clinically and functionally patients who had previously undergone tension band wiring (TBW) or plate fixation (PF) procedure due to the diagnosis of Mayo type 2A olecranon fracture in our clinic. Patients and methods Data of 92 patients (51 males, 41 females; mean age 42.3±12.6 years; range, 16 to 75 years) operated on for olecranon fractures between January 2014 and December 2018 were recorded retrospectively. Forty-four patients received TBW and 48 patients received PF treatment. Their Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) and Mayo scores and elbow range of motion (ROM) measurements were used for clinical and functional evaluations. Data including the time to return to work, revision rate, and follow-up time were also recorded. Results The mean follow-up time was 38.2±17.2 months. Patients returned to work in 9.2±4.1 weeks in the TBW group and 7.8±3.6 weeks in the PF group (p=0.279). The revision rate was 14% in the TBW group and 2% in the PF group (p=0.335). The mean DASH score was 10.0±1.8 in the TBW group and 7.7±1.2 in the PF group (p=0.001). The mean Mayo score was 84.0±9.3 in the TBW group and 88.3±9.1 in the PF group (p=0.049). For elbow flexion-extension ROM, 4° of difference was measured in favor of the PF group (p=0.043). Mean Mayo score, mean DASH score, and mean flexion-extension ROM values were statistically significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion Both surgical techniques are suitable and reliable in the treatment of olecranon fractures. Although TBW treatment is low-cost and simple to apply, its biggest disadvantage is a high rate of secondary surgery for implant removal due to irritation of the skin.

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease that causes serious damage to joints, especially in elderly patients. The aim of study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of intraarticular therapies that are currently used or recently popularized in the treatment of OA. Design: The baseline values were determined by walking the rats on the CatWalk system. Afterwards, a monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced knee OA model was created with intraarticular MIA, and the rats were walked again on the CatWalk system and post-OA values were recorded. At this stage, the rats were divided into 4 groups, and intraarticular astaxanthin, intraarticular corticosteroid, intraarticular hyaluronic acid, and intraarticular astaxanthin + hyaluronic acid were applied to the groups, respectively. The rats were walked once more and posttreatment values were obtained. Nine different dynamic gait parameters were used in the comparison. Results: Significant changes were measured in 6 of the 9 dynamic gait parameters after the MIA-induced knee OA model. While the best improvement was observed in run duration ( P = 0.0022), stride length ( P < 0.0001), and swing speed ( P = 0.0355) in the astaxanthin group, the results closest to basal values in paw print length ( P < 0.0001), paw print width ( P = 0.0101), and paw print area ( P = 0.0277) were seen in the astaxanthin + hyaluronic acid group. Conclusion: Astaxanthin gave better outcomes than corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid in both dynamic gait parameters and histological examinations. Intraarticular astaxanthin therapy can be a good alternative to corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid currently used in intraarticular therapy to treat OA.

Background. Effects of osteoarthritis (OA) are observed in experimental animal models using different gait analysis systems.Objectives. The aim of this study was to determine whether the Noldus CatWalk XT v. 10.9 gait analysis system (CatWalk) device can be used effectively in a chemically induced rat OA model and to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the system compared to manual gait analysis. Materials and methods.Ten Wistar rats were run on a manual walking platform as well as on the CatWalk and the basal values were recorded. For OA induction, monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) was injected into the left knee of all rats under anesthesia. After a period of 4 weeks for OA development, the rats were again run on both the manual and CatWalk gait platforms. For manual gait analysis, the stride length, paw print width and paw print length were measured on both knees. In addition to these parameters, the average run speed, run duration, maximum contact intensity, paw print area, mean stance, and swing speed were measured on the left knee (affected knee) using the CatWalk device.Results. Significant differences were observed in the stride width (p = 0.0272), left stride length (p = 0.0344), and left paw print length (p = 0.0233) recorded before and after OA via the manual walking platform. For CatWalk, a significant difference was detected in the left knee's average run speed (p = 0.0010), maximum contact intensity (p = 0.0155), paw print length (p = 0.0058), paw print width (p = 0.0324), and swing speed (p = 0.0066) based on data obtained before and after OA.Conclusions. The CatWalk gait analysis system is suitable for the evaluation of OA rat models and related interventions. It also provides additional parameters compared to the manual system and minimizes humanrelated variation.