No abstract

Septic hip arthritis is a rare but serious disease, which is often persistent, able to transform into a chronic infection, and difficult to cure. The present study aimed to compare the midterm outcomes between the staging of a total hip arthroplasty via the Girdlestone surgery (a resection of the head and neck) and the Girdlestone combined with a cement spacer in treating chronic septic hip arthritis, as well as to compare the postsurgery efficacy and complications between the two groups. A total of 13 patients (14 total hip joints) were enrolled and retrospectively analyzed. For the stage I surgery, four patients (five hips) underwent the resection of the head and neck, and nine patients (nine hips) underwent the resection of the head and neck combined with the implantation of a bone cement spacer. After the infection was fully controlled, the patients in both groups underwent cementless total hip arthroplasties as stage II surgeries. The mean follow-up period was 24.2 months. The curative effects and complications of the patients were recorded and compared. It was found that the application of the staging arthroplasty for treating a chronic septic hip was conducive to the complete clearance of lesions. Notably, the implantation of a bone cement spacer containing antibiotics in the stage I surgery prevented joint contracture caused by a head and neck resection, reducing the risk of infection recurrence between the two stages of the operation. This effectively maintained the length of the lower limbs, simplified the stage II complete hip arthroplasty and reduced operative hemorrhage, thus achieving improved recovery of joint function after the stage II arthroplasty. The results suggested that the implantation of a cement spacer at the stage I surgery was more effective in treating chronic septic hip arthritis.

In peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) in which proximal axons do not regenerate quickly enough, significant chronic degeneration of Schwann cells (SCs) can occur at the distal stump of the injured nerve and obstruct regeneration. Cell transplantation can delay the degeneration of SCs, but transplanted cells fail to generate voluntary electrical impulses without downstream signal stimulation from the central nervous system. In this study, we combined cell transplantation and nerve transfer strategies to investigate whether the transplantation of embryonic spinal cord cells could benefit the microenvironment of the distal stump of the injured nerve. The experiment consisted of two stages. In the first-stage surgery, common peroneal nerves were transected, and embryonic day 14 (E14) cells or cell culture medium was transplanted into the distal stump of the CPs. Six months after the first-stage surgery, the transplanted cells were removed, and the nerve segment distal to the transplanted site was used to bridge freshly cut tibial nerves to detect whether the cell-treated graft promoted axon growth. The phenotypic changes and the neurotrophic factor expression pattern of SCs distal to the transplanted site were detected at several time points after cell transplantation and excision. The results showed that at different times after transplantation, the cells could survive and generate neurons. Thus, the neurons play the role of proximal axons to prevent chronic degeneration and fibrosis of SCs. After excision of the transplanted cells, the SCs returned to their dedifferentiated phenotype and upregulated growth-associated gene expression. The ability of SCs to be activated again allowed a favorable microenvironment to be created and enhanced the regeneration and remyelination of proximal axons. Muscle reinnervation was also elevated. This transplantation strategy could provide a treatment option for complex neurological injuries in the clinic.