The use of biologic therapies for the management of knee osteoarthritis (OA) has largely increased in recent years. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency and the therapeutic potential of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and autologous adipose tissue (AAT) injections as a treatment for knee OA. Sixty participants were enrolled in the study: 20 healthy ones and 40 with minimal to moderate knee OA (KL I-III). The OA patients were randomly assigned either to the PRP or to the AAT group. The PRP samples showed a low expression level of NF-κB-responsive gene CCL5 and high expression levels of classic inflammatory and TNF-l INF responses. The AAT injection product was prepared using a Lipogems device, and its regenerative potential as well as the ability for expansion of mesenchymal stem cells were tested in the cell culture conditions. The patient assessments were carried out five times. Significant improvement was observed regardless of the treatment method in the VAS, KOOS, WOMAC and IKDC 2000 subjective evaluations as well as in the functional parameters. Intra-articular injections of AAT or PRP improved pain, symptoms, quality of life and functional capacity with a comparable effectiveness in the patients with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative knee joint disease that results from the breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone, affecting about 3.3% of the world’s population. As OA is a multifactorial disease, the underlying pathological process is closely associated with genetic changes in articular cartilage and bone. Many studies have focused on the role of small noncoding RNAs in OA and identified numbers of microRNAs that play important roles in regulating bone and cartilage homeostasis. The connection between other types of small noncoding RNAs, especially tRNA-derived fragments and knee osteoarthritis is still elusive. The observation that there is limited information about small RNAs different than miRNAs in knee OA was very surprising to us, especially given the fact that tRNA fragments are known to participate in a plethora of human diseases and a portion of them are even more abundant than miRNAs. Inspired by these findings, in this review we have summarized the possible involvement of microRNAs and tRNA-derived fragments in the pathology of knee osteoarthritis.

Plantaris tendon, peronus brevis tendon and flexor hallucis longus tendon augmentation, commonly used in Achilles tendon rupture, often lead to weakening of injured foot and they require the immobilization after the surgery. It is essential to develop the technique, which gives no such limitation and allows for immediate functional improvement. We present our method of minimally invasive, endoscopic Achilles tendon reconstruction using semitendinosus and gracilis tendons with Endobutton stabilization. Posterolateral and posteromedial portals were made approximately 3 cm above the posterosuperior part of the calcaneus to clean the area of the Achilles tendon endoscopically. Then the hamstrings are harvested and prepared for the “Endobutton” system. A midline incision of the skin is performed approximately 1 cm above the posterosuperior part of the calcaneus to approach to the posterosuperior part of the calcaneus. Then under fluoroscopy the calcaneus was drilled through using K-wire. The distal end of the graft equipped with an Endobutton loop was entered into the drilled tunnel in the calcaneus. Later, 8 consecutive skin incisions are performed. Proximal ends of the graft were brought out through the native Achilles tendon reaching medial and lateral skin incisions. The final step was to transfer and tie the graft ends through the most proximal skin incision. This minimally invasive, endoscopic technique allows reconstruction of the Achilles tendon using semitendinosus and gracilis tendons with Endobutton stabilization and can be used in so-called “difficult”, resistant cases as a “salvage procedure”.

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common, chronic, progressive and degenerative disease which affects patients’ quality of life and may cause disability and social isolation. OA is a huge economic burden for the patient and a large strain for the whole healthcare system. Articular cartilage has a small potential to repair, with progressively more clinicians emphasizing cellular therapy. Subcutaneous fat tissue in human body is a large reservoir of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and is been harvested in minimally invasive, simple procedure. Up to date there is no prospective randomized controlled studies demonstrating effectiveness and role of adipose tissue injections in OA treatment. The purpose of this study is to assess functional and clinical changes among patients with symptomatic knee OA treated with intra-articular injections of autologous adipose tissue or platelet rich plasma (PRP) and to compare efficacy of both therapeutic methods. Methods: This is a prospective, randomized, controlled study. Patients who meet inclusion criteria will be allocated to Fat Tissue group or PRP group randomly. Subjects will receive an intra articular injection with autologous adipose tissue and PRP respectively. Patients will be assessed five times: before treatment and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the treatment. The assessment consists of patient reported outcome measures (The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, International Knee Documentation Committee 2000, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, the Health Questionnaire EQ- 5D- 5 L), three functional tests (The Timed Up and Go Test, The 5 Times Sit to Stand Test, The 10 m Walk Test) and Maximal Isometric Voluntary Contraction. Discussion: This study protocol has several strengths and weaknesses. One of strongest point of this study is the wide, multidimensional functional assessment which will give a large amount of objective data. On the other hand, lack of blinding has to be considered as a risk of both subject and investigator bias. Trial registration: name of registry: ClinicalTrials.gov, trial registration number: NCT04321629, retrospectively registered on date of registration.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current status of education of polish surgeons in the subject of meniscus repair possibilities. The analysis of the possible correlations between the number of knee arthroscopy procedures performed by polish surgeons and their decision whether to remove or to repair the damaged meniscus has been performed.Methods: Two‐hundred and five registered orthopedic surgeons took part in surveys. The questionnaire contained the description of 20 patients with different types of meniscus damage and three questions concerning the experience in knee arthroscopy (two questions) and a choice of the treatment method (one question). Comparisons were made between knee arthroscopy experts (> 100 arthroscopies performed per year) and non‐experts (≤ 100 cases).Results: The questionnaire was completed by 194 knee surgeons from Poland with different levels in knee arthroscopy experience. For most cases, experts and non‐experts agreed on the meniscus treatment method. Statistically significant differences in the recommended treatment between experts and non‐experts were observed in 4 cases, where experts decided to repair the damage rather than to perform the meniscectomy.Conclusions: Meniscectomy remains a frequent orthopedic procedure, despite meniscal sparing having been advocated for several decades now and despite the existence of meniscus repair technique which gives good clinical outcomes—augmentation of the damaged meniscus with a collagen membrane. Polish surgeons still need education on the meniscus treatment possibilities.Level of evidence: V.

Purpose: Chronic Achilles tendon tears, including chronic ruptures with end gap over 6 cm making end-to-end suturing impossible, can be treated with autologous hamstring graft reconstruction. The primary goal of this study was to present the biomechanical and long-term clinical results of recently developed minimally invasive Achilles tendon reconstruction technique.Methods: Minimally invasive Achilles tendon reconstruction was applied to 8 foot and ankle cadaveric specimens as well as 18 patients with chronic Achilles tendon tears. Repaired cadavers were subjected to the biomechanical testing using a cyclic loading protocol. Patients with reconstructed Achilles tendon were subjected to the clinical, functional and isokinetic tests at 12 months after the treatment.Results: All of tested Achilles cadaveric specimens survived 2 loading blocks (250 cycles of 10–100 N load followed by additional 250 cycles of 10–200 N load). With three specimens, it was possible to perform the third cyclic loading block with 20-300 N load and two specimens survived the fourth block with 20–400 N load. Therefore, a mean number of 838 cycles (±178) within the range of 509–1000 was recorded. Two specimens which survived all 1000 cycles were pulled to failure at 25 mm/s rate. The results obtained in the load to failure testing were as follows: 398 N and 608 N of maximum load. The results of functional heel rise endurance test and single leg hop for distance test indicated a decrease in the endurance and strength of the injured limb. However, the results of the weight-bearing lunge tests indicated no tendency for elongation of the Achilles tendon. A comparative analysis of the isokinetic test results for the non-injured and injured limb was revealed no statistically significant differences for every isokinetic test (n. s.), with significant difference for isometric strength parameters (p = 0.0006).Conclusions: The results of the biomechanical tests as well as 1-year extensive functional, clinical and isokinetic results of the minimally invasive technique for chronic Achilles tendon tears are encouraging. Patients returned to their normal physical activity, including sport pre-injury level in most cases.Level of evidence: III