High tibial valgus osteotomy (HTO) is an established treatment for medial-compartment osteoarthritis of the knee. We have combined medial open and lateral closed-wedge HTO (hybrid closed-wedge HTO) to overcome the limitations of traditional closed-wedge HTO. Our new hybrid procedure has the following advantages: (1) the bone block removed is smaller in size; (2) the procedure yields optimal geometric characteristics for bone healing; (3) there is no step-off at the lateral osteotomy site; (4) the lateral cortex of the proximal and distal fragments is attached firmly by the oblique osteotomy; and (5) early full weight-bearing walking is possible. This procedure is effective in treating medial-compartment osteoarthritis accompanied by patellofemoral osteoarthritis. The indications for this procedure include a willingness and ability to comply with the postoperative rehabilitation program; a diagnosis of either medialcompartment osteoarthritis or complicated patellofemoral osteoarthritis; and preferably, an age of 70 years or younger, although this is not a strict constraint. Patients are permitted to stand using both legs on the day after surgery and walk with full weight bearing within 2 weeks of undergoing our novel HTO procedure. We describe the details of this surgical technique and the postoperative rehabilitation program for the patients who undergo this treatment.H igh tibial valgus osteotomy (HTO) is an established surgical procedure to correct varus malalignment in patients with medial-compartment osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.1,2 There are 2 main types of HTO surgery: lateral closed-wedge high tibial valgus osteotomy (CWHTO) 3 and medial open-wedge high tibial valgus osteotomy (OWHTO). 4 At present, an increasing number of surgeons use OWHTO because it is comparatively simpler. OWHTO is most effective during the early or middle stages of knee OA but is not expected to have a beneficial impact if the knee OA is accompanied by a severe deformity or in cases of patellofemoral joint OA.There are several disadvantages to traditional CWHTO including lateral-offset increases due to horizontal osteotomy and loss of the large bone block below the lateral tibial plateau. Discrepancies in the leg length arise after CWHTO because the operative side is shortened. 5,6 It also takes a relatively long time to achieve bone union at the osteotomy site after CWHTO because of discrepancies between the area on the proximal and distal fragments. This creates difficulties in maintaining alignment until bone union is acquired. Full weight bearing is also difficult until the osteotomy site is united, and a long leg cast or knee brace is thus needed for CWHTO patients.Optimal postoperative rehabilitation after knee surgery is needed to enable walking with full weight without any support as soon as possible. This, in turn, will prevent the aggravation of osteoporosis, the deterioration of physical function, and the onset of deep vein thrombosis after surgery. We describe a new surgical procedure combining OWHTO and C...

ABSTRACT:We investigated the effect of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) on the homing of circulating osteogenic progenitors to the fracture site. Parabiotic animals were formed by surgically conjoining a green fluorescent protein (GFP) mouse and a syngeneic wild-type mouse. A transverse femoral fracture was made in the contralateral hind limb of the wild-type partner. The fracture site was exposed to daily LIPUS in the treatment group. Animals without LIPUS treatment served as the control group. Radiological assessment showed that the hard callus area was significantly greater in the LIPUS group than in the control group at 2 and 4 weeks postfracture. Histomorphometric analysis at the fracture site showed a significant increase of GFP cells in the LIPUS group after 2 weeks (7.5%), compared to the control group (2.4%) (p < 0.05). The LIPUS group exhibited a significantly higher percentage of GFP cells expressing alkaline phosphatase (GFP/AP) than the control group at 2 weeks post-fracture (5.9%, 0.3%, respectively, p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the percentage of GFP/AP cells between the LIPUS group (2.0%) and the control group (1.4%) at 4 weeks post-fracture. Stromal cell derived factor-1 and CXCR4 were immunohistochemically identified at the fracture site in the LIPUS group. These data indicate that LIPUS induced the homing of circulating osteogenic progenitors to the fracture site for possible contribution to new bone formation. ß

A 17-year-old mongrel dog and 12-year-old Shiba Inu dog presented with ataxia and paresis of the pelvic limbs, respectively. Gas accumulation within the spinal canal adjacent to the herniated disc was suspected in both cases. Since the gas remained accumulated for a prolonged period, hemilaminectomy was performed to decompress the spinal cord. The bulged external lamina of the dura matter was removed and histopathologically examined. Granulomatous inflammation and hyperplasia of fibrous connective tissues was noted, suggesting that the gas was encapsulated and the fibrous nodules made reabsorption difficult. Clinical signs resolved post-surgery. This is the first report describing histopathological features of pneumorrhachis in dogs. The accumulated gas was successfully removed by surgery. Postoperative course remained uneventful in both cases.

BackgroundThere are no specific radiological findings for the diagnosis of sacroiliac joint-related pain. A diagnostic scoring system had been developed in 2017. The score comprised the sum of scores of six items. The score ranged from 0 to 9 points, and the cutoff was calculated as 4.ObjectiveTo evaluate the validity of the diagnostic scoring system for sacroiliac joint-related pain.Patients and methodsThe sacroiliac joint-related pain group (n=31) comprised patients diagnosed with sacroiliac joint-related pain based on patient history, physical findings, and responses to analgesic periarticular injection. In addition, it was confirmed that they had no other lumbar or hip joint diseases. The non-sacroiliac joint-related pain group (n=123) comprised patients with low back pain due to a reason other than sacroiliac joint-related pain. We evaluated scores for all subjects. We analyzed the differences in each item between both groups and performed receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis to evaluate the score validity.ResultsThere were no significant differences in patient characteristics between groups. There were significant differences for the following four of six items: one-finger test results (P<0.0001), pain while sitting on a chair (P=0.0141), sacroiliac joint shear test results (P<0.0001), and tenderness of the posterosuperior iliac spine (P<0.0001). The cut-off value was 5 points, the area under the curve was 0.80239, sensitivity was 77.4%, and specificity was 76.4%.ConclusionThe score demonstrated moderate validity for diagnosing sacroiliac joint-related pain.

A one‐year five‐month‐old labrador retriever was presented with acute‐onset pelvic limb ataxia, gradually progressing to paraplegia. CT and MRI demonstrated an extradural mass lesion at T11 and T12. The dog underwent haemilaminectomy, dorsal laminectomy and resection of the mass. Results of histopathology and immunohistochemistry suggested that the mass was an inflammatory pseudotumour (IPT). The dog's condition improved after surgery, with no recurrence of clinical signs eight months after surgery. To the author's knowledge, this is the first report of IPT arising in the epidural space in dogs. Although rare, IPT should be included as a possible differential diagnosis for extradural mass in dogs. Excision may result in a good outcome in dogs with IPT in the epidural space.