For persons infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to isoniazid (INH), rifampin is recommended for the prevention of active disease. However, the adverse effects and acceptability of this preventive therapy are largely uncharacterized. We prospectively followed 157 high-school students exposed to, and probably infected with, M. tuberculosis strains resistant to INH. All 157 students were prescribed preventive therapy with rifampin (10 mg/kg up to 600 mg daily) for 24 wk. While receiving therapy, 41 (26%) reported one or more adverse effects; of these, 18 had therapy interrupted temporarily, two permanently. Four (2.5%) had alanine aminotransferase elevations greater than two times the upper limit of normal (range, 91 to 161 U/L); of these, one had therapy permanently stopped. Six (3.8%) self-discontinued therapy. No student was found to have active disease during the 2 yr of the study (exact 95% upper confidence limit, 2.2). We assumed that without preventive therapy, seven cases of tuberculosis would have occurred during these 2 yr. Therefore, we estimated that rifampin had a minimum protective effect of 56%. In conclusion, preventive therapy with rifampin was well tolerated and well accepted, and it appears effective in preventing active tuberculosis.

While the program may have beneficial effects on quality of life, this study does not indicate a significant favorable impact on survival with breast cancer or that the program is serving as a social locus for the gathering of exceptional survivors.

No abstract

This study reports on the first 150 consecutive Oxford cementless unicompartmental knee arthroplasties (UKA) performed in an independent centre (126 patients). All eligible patients had functional scores (Oxford knee score and high activity arthroplasty score) recorded pre-operatively and at two- and five-years of follow-up. Fluoroscopically aligned radiographs were taken at five years and analysed for any evidence of radiolucent lines (RLLs), subsidence or loosening. The mean age of the cohort was 63.6 years (39 to 86) with 81 (53.1%) males. Excellent functional scores were maintained at five years and there were no progressive RLLs demonstrated on radiographs. Two patients underwent revision to a total knee arthroplasty giving a revision rate of 0.23/100 (95% confidence interval 0.03 to 0.84) component years with overall component survivorship of 98.7% at five years. There were a further four patients who underwent further surgery on the same knee, two underwent bearing exchanges for dislocation and two underwent lateral UKAs for disease progression. This was a marked improvement from other UKAs reported in New Zealand Joint Registry data and supports the designing centre's early results.

Objectives:Managing medial compartment osteoarthritis (OA) in the younger male patient is challenging because these patients tend to be physically high demand. Traditionally, High Tibial Osteotomy (HTO) has been the favoured surgical option, but Total (TKA) and Unicompartmental (UKA) knee arthroplasty have been more recently utilized. Our aims were to compare patient reported outcome, revision and reoperation rates with these 3 procedures.Methods:Using our hospital data bases we retrieved the details of male patients under 55 who had one of the 3 procedures performed between 2005-2013, for medial compartment OA by 6 knee surgeons in our group. All 6 surgeons used the 3 procedures in this cohort. The TKA database was analysed to exclude patients who did not meet the criteria for HTO/UKA of isolated medial OA. The 3 groups had their satisfaction assessed retrospectively using the Forgotten Joint Score (FJS), information on occupation, reoperation and duration of satisfaction were also questioned. Hospital records were reviewed for the reoperation and revision rate on all of the patients identified.Results:We identified 117 TKA in patients under 55, 27 TKA which met our criteria, 75 HTO (medial opening wedge) and 95 UKA (Oxford cementless). The mean followup periods for HTO/UKA/TKA were 8.1, 6.1, 7.5 years respectively. Of the HTO group, 19 (25%) were revised to TKA at a mean 4.8 years, 8 underwent reoperation for mal/nonunion, and 10 had reoperation for fixation issues. Overall a reoperation rate of 50% and projected 10 year survivorship of 58% for HTO. Of the UKA group, there was 1 revision to TKA at 1 year for tibial component loosening and 3 reoperations for bearing instability, retaining the primary implant. Reoperation rate 4% and projected 10 year survivorship 99%. Of the TKA group there were 2 revisions at 4 years for tibial component loosening, no non-revision reoperations, reoperation rate 7.5% with projected 10 year survivorship 92.5%. The Forgotten Joint Score results (0-100) were median 21 for HTO, 38 for TKA, 67 for UKA. All comparisons between the three groups were significant. TKA vs HTO p value 0.04 (CI 0.67-36.54), UKA vs TKA p value 0.02 (CI 2.26-35.58), UKA vs HTO p value 0.00001 (CI 25.36-49.68). Further analysis of the HTO cohort revealed that 75% of the unrevised cases considered the benefit of the index procedure had expired at a mean 3.1 years, yet they had not sought further surgery, despite a mean FJS of only 18 in this subgroup.Conclusion:In this retrospective cohort study with medium term followup of 3 procedures performed by 6 knee surgeons, patients were highly matched by virtue of gender (male), age (<55 years), activity level (Tegner scores), pathology (isolated medial compartment OA). Regarding survivorship of the index procedure, the outcome for Osteotomy was poor with 58% at 10 yrs and high reoperation/complication rate of 50% at mean 4.8 years. The best survivorship/reoperation rates were in the UKA group (99% and 4% respectively). Regarding patient reported outcome using Forgott...