The loss of a hand disrupts the sophisticated neural pathways between the brain and the hand, severely affecting the level of independence of the patient and the ability to carry out daily work and social activities. Recent years have witnessed a rapid evolution of surgical techniques and technologies aimed at restoring dexterous motor functions akin to those of the human hand through bionic solutions, mainly relying on probing of electrical signals from the residual nerves and muscles. Here, we report the clinical implementation of an interface aimed at achieving this goal by exploiting muscle deformation, sensed through passive magnetic implants: the myokinetic interface. One participant with a transradial amputation received an implantation of six permanent magnets in three muscles of the residual limb. A truly self-contained myokinetic prosthetic arm embedding all hardware components and the battery within the prosthetic socket was developed. By retrieving muscle deformation caused by voluntary contraction through magnet localization, we were able to control in real time a dexterous robotic hand following both a direct control strategy and a pattern recognition approach. In just 6 weeks, the participant successfully completed a series of functional tests, achieving scores similar to those achieved when using myoelectric controllers, a standard-of-care solution, with comparable physical and mental workloads. This experience raised conceptual and technical limits of the interface, which nevertheless pave the way for further investigations in a partially unexplored field. This study also demonstrates a viable possibility for intuitively interfacing humans with robotic technologies.

The purpose of this bibliometric study was to summarize European orthopedic literature produced by EFORT memberships between 2009 and 2019 and to identify the 100 most cited articles, analyzing the characteristics that made them so interesting for the orthopedic scientific world. A search of the literature was conducted using Clarivate Analytics Web of Science in the subject category “orthopaedics”; then the results were summarized using Web of Science tools. A total of 160.375 articles were found: most of these were produced by England. In particular the most prolific institution was the University of London. Analyzing in detail the 100 most cited publications emerged that most of them were review published in journal with high impact factor (Q1). The University of Oxford was the institution with the greatest number of contributions (13%). The most cited topics were osteoarthritis (24%), followed by orthopedic basic science (22%). Bio-materials was the most common topic by ordering the 100 analyzed articles according to “usage count”, a recent indicator of the level of interest in a specific item. Conclusion: This bibliometric study can be useful to identify topics of interest for future scientific research and to outline the features that make some publications more interesting than others. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Background: Synovial sarcoma is a rare malignant tumor that generally requires a multidisciplinary therapeutic approach. In this study we report the experience of a single surgeon, evaluating surgical and oncological outcomes of the cases he treated through his 30 years carrier.Methods: We enrolled patients treated surgically between 1988 and 2018. Surgical and medical treatments, as well as surgical and oncological results, were investigated.Results: One hundred and thirty cases were included. Surgical resection was carried out achieving wide margins in 90% of the cases. At their latest follow‐up, 76 patients were continuously disease free, 16 were no evidence of disease, and other 16 were alive with disease. Twenty cases were dead of disease and two dead of other causes. Twenty‐five patients (19%) had local recurrence of synovial sarcoma through their postoperative intercourse. Thirty‐seven patients (28%) were diagnosed with at least a metastasis during their follow‐up. The global survival of our population, at each patient's latest follow‐up, was 82%. Cases with tumor size above 5 cm had a significantly higher risk to develop metastasis (p = 0.002).Conclusions: Synovial sarcoma is a threatening disease and represents a challenge for oncological physicians and surgeons. Early diagnosis and multidisciplinary approach are mandatory to limit the spread of synovial sarcomas, maximizing the effectiveness of surgery and the other treatments.

Background: A continuous obstacle that has limited access to and implementation of finger replantation surgery is timeliness, as ischemia time is traditionally considered a crucial factor for success. However, claims that the vitality of amputated fingers decreases after 6 h of warm ischemia and 12 h of cold ischemia are mostly based on theoretical considerations. Methods: Here we present a case of multi-digit revascularization after 72 h of warm ischemia using the microsurgical arteriovenous bypass technique. Results: In the reported case, revascularization was performed after a long ischemic period and showed good recovery of motor and sensory function. Conclusions: We identified significant limitations in the literature supporting time limits of ischemia and recent evidence demonstrating the feasibility of delayed finger replantation. The current treatment approach for amputation injuries often requires transfers or nighttime emergency procedures, increasing costs and limiting the national availability of finger replantation. Changes to finger replantation protocols based on evidence could expand access to this service and improve the quality of care.

BackgroundExternal hemipelvectomy often results in exposure of noble structures such as pelvic organs, joint surfaces, iliac neurovascular bundle and bone. Consequently, reconstructive surgery is always challenging. The free fillet lower leg flap is an optimal solution since it allows the transfer of a large amount of tissue and the it determines the absence of donor site morbidities. The prolonged ischemic time represents the weak point of this flap.Methods We presented the case of a 38-year-old man with recurrent radio-induced osteosarcoma arisen on pelvic cavity and involving common iliac vessels, bladder, left ureter and left kidney. We decided to use extracorporeal circulation (ECMO) in order to reduce ischemic time of the flap, since iliac vessels were necessary ligated in the middle of oncologic resection. We perfused the popliteal-based filleted lower leg musculocutaneous free flap with homologue blood and saline solution, while the oncologic dissection was completed.ResultsThe free fillet flap remained vital in the immediate postoperative period and in the following months. The patient did not come back to a life-threatening condition at 1y follow-up. ConclusionWe believed that ECMO expand the reconstructive indications in those cases in which a complex and long-lasting oncologic resection would make impossible a free flap due to prolonged ischemic time.