The purpose of the present study was to assess, prospectively, the safety, clinical effectiveness, and feasibility of a single intra-articular injection of microfragmented adipose tissue in different stages of knee osteoarthritis (OA). The study included patients (aged 18–70 years), affected by OA (Kellgren–Lawrence I-IV). Unselected patients were evaluated before and prospectively after 6, 12, and 24 months from the injection. Visual analog scale (VAS) and knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) were used for clinical evaluations. A total of 202 patients were eligible. The mean follow-up time in the cohort of patients was 24.5 ± 9.6 months. Total KOOS significantly improved from pre-operative baseline levels to 6-month follow-up (p < 0.001), and again between 6- and 12-month follow-ups (p < 0.001). The VAS showed a prompt reduction at 6 months (p < 0.001 vs. baseline), but then it increased again at 12 months compared to the 6-month assessment (p < 0.001), even though it remained lower than baseline (p < 0.001). At 24 months, patients with KL-IV demonstrated a lower improvement compared to baseline; patients that had undergone previous corticosteroid injections had a greater risk to further injection treatment. The collected clinical results suggest that MFAT may represent a safe and effective treatment for OA symptoms, offering a low-demanding and minimally invasive treatment.

Purpose:this study aimed to investigate the efficacy of intra-articular (IA) administration of a hydrogel formulation obtained from a hyaluronic acid (HA) derivative (HYADD4^®) in the management of meniscal tears and in meniscal tear repair. Methods: fifty subjects with degenerative meniscal tears were enrolled into this single-site, observer-blind, parallel-group study. Clinical evaluations were performed at baseline and after 14, 30 and 60 days. Clinical outcomes included: pain reduction (Visual Analog Scale), improvement of knee functionality (WOMAC questionnaire), reduction in length and depth of the meniscal lesion (MRI-confirmed) and SF-36 questionnaire scores. Local tolerability and safety were also investigated. Results: a significant reduction in VAS pain (p<0.001) in favor of HYADD4^® was recorded at day 14 and maintained at all the follow-up assessments. Data on knee functionality were in line with the VAS pain assessment results. A significant reduction in length and depth of the meniscal lesion, assessed using MRI, was found in the HYADD4^® group compared to the control group (p<0.001). Conclusions: the results of this study may indicate a new treatment option in the conservative management of patients complaining of pain due to meniscal tears. The MRI data suggest that the hydrogel formulation of HA used in this study may also play a role in the healing process of the lesion. Level of evidence: Level I, prospective randomized clinical trial.

Background: Despite advances in repair techniques, the failure rates of meniscal surgery are still high. The seven most common tear types—horizontal cleavage tears (HCTs), radial tears (RTs), meniscal ramp lesions (MRLs), meniscal root tears (MRTs), longitudinal tears (LTs), bucket-handle tears (BHMTs), and complex meniscal tears (CMTs)—were reviewed. The present retrospective observational study aimed to analyze their characteristics, incidence, treatment approach and failure rates of a consecutive cohort of patients undergoing meniscal arthroscopic repair. Methods: The database of a high-volume meniscal suture center was examined for lesions managed by all-inside, inside-out, outside-in, or transtibial pull-out techniques from January 2018 to September 2022. Demographic (gender, age at surgery, laterality of the affected knee) and intraoperative data (tear type/site, repair technique, and suture number/combination) were collected in order to calculate the failure rates of the cohort and of each tear type and suture technique. Results: Altogether, 636 procedures met our criteria of having at least a 2-year follow-up. The overall failure rate was 1.98%. The most frequent lesions were HCTs (41.98%), with most injuries being in the body/posterior horn (88.52%) of the right knee (56.92%). Treatment predominantly (92.50%) included all-inside sutures. All-inside repair had the highest failure rate (2.98%), followed by inside-out (1.56%) repair (p = 1.0), whereas outside-in and pull-out techniques never failed. Failure rates by lesion included BHMTs (7.27%), HCTs (2.25%), CMTs (1.49%), and LTs (1.25%); RMT, RML, and MRT repair were always successful. Conclusions: Findings at two years suggest that 1–3 all-inside sutures minimize MRL failure, whereas three or more all-inside sutures or combined techniques seem to be effective for HCTs, LTs, and RTs but not BHMTs. Pull-out repair worked best for complete tears/avulsion types of MRTs, whereas all-inside sutures effectively managed partial lesions. Results for CMTs were inconclusive.

Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has greatly changed our way of living and working. We have developed a method to treat urgent patients in a safe way, and we applied the same protocol to resume elective surgical procedures. Methods: We reorganized the system and the management of our orthopaedic department to perform elective surgical procedures in a safe way. During the COVID-19 lockdown, 614 patients underwent elective orthopaedic procedures. Results: No major postoperative complications were recorded. None of the orthopaedic surgeons, health-care personnel, or hospitalized patients was infected in this period of activity. Conclusions: During COVID-19, it is possible to perform elective surgical procedures in a safe way.

Objective. The aim of this study was to look for preoperative patients' related factors correlating with worse clinical outcomes in a cohort of elderly patients undergoing simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (SiBTKA) to search for risk factors, which may influence clinical outcomes and safety. Subjects and Methods. The hospital database was mined searching for patients older than 70 years that underwent SiBTKA for severe bilateral knee osteoarthritis (OA) between 2012 and 2016. Preoperative clinical information, Oxford Knee Score (OKS), and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) prior to surgery were recorded. The OKS and the KOOS were submitted again after a minimum of 5 years of follow-up (FU). Results. An improvement was observed in all clinical scores at last FU. The major complication rate was 5.4%. No patients' clinical data showed correlation with perioperative complications or need for transfusions. Functional scores at the last FU were negatively affected by age at surgery and positively affected by preoperative clinical scores. Discussion. In the setting of severe symptomatic bilateral knee OA, SiBTKA seems to be effective in improving symptoms at midterm follow-up, with acceptable rates of perioperative complications in patients older than 70. Higher age at surgery and lower preoperative functional scores are associated with worse clinical outcomes at FU. This could assist surgeons in advising patients that delay of surgical treatment could worsen outcomes.

Purpose To assess 3-year clinical and functional outcomes, complication rates and graft survival in adolescents with closed growth plates subjected to primary unilateral anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) with a hamstring autograft or an allograft. The failure rate reported in the literature reaches up to 20%. Methods We reviewed the records of 170 patients subjected to ACLR with a single-bundle autograft or an allograft from 2017 to 2020 with 3-year follow-up. Application of 1:2 Propensity Score Matching (PSM) considering age, sex, body mass index, injury to surgery interval, graft diameter and pre-injury Tegner Activity Scale (TAS) scores and Lysholm Knee Score (LKS) yielded 38 allografts and 62 autografts. We compared functional outcomes using the TAS, LKS and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) at 18 and 36 months and the failure rates, defined as need for revision surgery, before and after PSM. Results Mean age ranged from 15.8 (standard deviation [SD], 1.2) to 15.9 (SD, 0.9) years and the pre-injury TAS ranged from 7.3 (SD, 1.0) to 7.3 (SD, 1.2) in allograft and autograft patients, respectively. Analysis of the LKS, TAS and IKDC values demonstrated comparable levels both before and after PSM, except for the pre-matching IKDC score and the post-matching TAS score at 36 months, which were significantly higher in autograft than allograft patients (p = 0.024 and p = 0.039, respectively). As regards graft failure, before PSM significantly more allografts (12/54) than autografts (5/116) required revision surgery (p < 0.001). After matching, the difference (6/38 vs 3/62, p = 0.079) was no longer significant. Conclusion Our cohort of active adolescent who underwent primary unilateral ACLR had a higher absolute number of failures in the allograft group compared to the autograft group, emphasizing the need for careful clinical consideration. However, after applying PSM, this difference, while numerically still present, lost statistical significance. This finding may suggest that when an allograft is deemed the most appropriate choice based on patient characteristics, its use may not necessarily expose the patient to a definitively higher risk of failure.