Objective To examine the research status and predict trends in ME research findings from 1997-2023 on a global scale. Methods Web of Science Core Collection database was searched for original articles on ME published between 1997 and 2023, and then analyzed using CiteSpace, VOSviewer and the Online Analysis Platform of Literature Metrology to map scientific knowledge. Results A total of 748 articles were eventually included. The number of ME publications increased year by year, with the USA being the most productive country. Osteoarthritis, MRI, medial meniscus posterior root repair, biomechanical evaluation, lateral meniscus allograft transplantation, radiographic joint space narrowing are the high frequency keywords in co-occurrence cluster analysis and cocited reference cluster analysis. Medial meniscus posterior root tear and lateral meniscus allograft transplantation are current and evolving research hotspots in citation burst detection analysis. Conclusions The understanding of ME has been improved significantly during the past decades. Current research focuses on optimizing surgical repair methods and obtaining long-term follow-up outcomes for medial meniscal posterior root repair and developing methods to reduce ME after lateral meniscal allograft, as well as they are the highlights of future research on ME.
Objective To analyze the outcomes and complications after total knee replacement(TKR) with posterior stabilized prosthesis(PS) and to investigate the influencing factors relating to outcomes. Methods From January 1998 to August2004, 60 cases (74 knees) of osteoarthritis underwent TKR with PS. The outcomeswere evaluated according to the HSS(hospital for special surgery) scoring. The difference in outcomes between patients with post-operative complications and without complications were compared. Pearson correlation was used to analyze post-operative outcomes and the pre-operative factors relating to patients. Results All 74 knees werefollowed up 42.5months(24 to 94 months). The scores for HSS, pain, function, ROM muscle strength, flexion deformity and stability of knees after operation were 84.2±14.2, 25.7±6.9, 17.9±4.3,13.1±2.0，9.2±0.8，8.1±0.4 and 9.3±0.1 respectively. They were improved to some extents, especially pain alleviation was remarkable. The excellent and good rate for outcome assessment was 90.5%. Among 74 knees, 10 cases suffered from postoperative complications, including 1 case of common peroneal nerve paralysis, two cases of wound faulty union, one case of wound infection, one case of joint infection, one case of stiff knee, two cases of deep vein thrombosis and 2 cases of patellofemoral joint complications. The excellent and good rate of outcome in patients with complications(60%) was much lower than that in patients without complication(95.3％),and there was significant difference betweenthem (P＜0.05). Analysis for correlation showed that postoperative HSS score was positively correlative with the postoperative HSS score, pain and function score of knees. The correlation value was 0.523，0.431 and 0.418 respectively(Plt;0.01). Whereas, postoperative HSS score was not correlative with ROM, muscle strength, flexion deformity, stability of knee, age, weight andbody mass index(P＞0.05). Conclusion TKR with PS is an effective method for severe osteoarthritis. The outcomes after TKR have a positive correlation with the HSS score, pain and function score of knees before surgery. Complicationsassociating with surgery have a negative influence on outcomes.
Objective To investigate the interleukin-17 (IL-17) levels changes in both synovial fluid and venous plasma of patients with primary knee osteoarthritis (OA) after intra-articular injection of platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Methods Between January 2015 and January 2016, 30 patients with primary knee OA were treated by intra-articular injection of PRP once a week for 3 weeks (trial group). Thirty healthy individuals were recruited into the study as control. There was no significant difference in gender, age, and body mass index between 2 groups (P>0.05). Visual analogue scale (VAS) score and Knee Society Score (KSS) were used to evaluate pain level and function of the knee for patients with OA. The IL-17 levels in both venous plasma and synovial fluid were measured before injection and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after injection in trial group and the IL-17 levels in venous plasma were measured in control group. The levels were determined using ELISA method. Results There was no knee joint swelling, fever, local infection, or other uncomfortable symptoms for all patients in process of PRP injection. All patients were followed up 13.5 months on average (range, 12-15 months). In trial group, the VAS scores at different time points after injection were significantly lower than that before injection (P<0.05). And the KSS scores at different time points after injection were significantly higher than that before injection (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in VAS and KSS scores between different time points after injection (P>0.05). The IL-17 levels in venous plasma before and after injection in trial group were significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05). The IL-17 levels in venous plasma at each time point after injection were significantly lower than that before injection (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in IL-17 levels in both venous plasma and synovial fluid between different time points after injection (P>0.05). Conclusion Intra-articular injection of PRP can significantly release the pain symptoms, improve joint function, and reduce IL-17 levels in both synovial fluid and venous plasma of the patients with knee OA, but IL-17 levels can not reduce to normal level.
Objective To observe and study the effect of neuromuscular exercise (NEMEX) on pain and physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods From December 2016 to December 2017, a total of 70 participants with degenerative KOA were randomly divided into the control group and the observation group, with 35 participants in each group. The participants in the observation group received 8-weeks NEMEX, and the ones in the control group received 8-week quadriceps strengthening. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain subscale and the WOMAC physical functional subscale were used to measure pain and physical function before treatment and after 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks of treatment. Results The WOMAC pain scores of participants before treatment and after 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks of treatment were 24.2±10.0, 23.4±9.1, 18.9±8.2, 15.0±6.3, 15.0±7.0, respectively in the observation group, and 25.6±9.8, 24.1±9.2, 20.2±8.8, 15.2±6.0, 11.4±5.3, respectively in the control group. After 1 week of treatment, neither group showed a significant change in pain than pretreatment (P>0.05), but after 2, 4, 8 weeks of treatment, both groups showed significant improvements in pain (P<0.05). There was no significant between-group difference in pain before treatment or after 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks of treatment (P>0.05), but after 8 weeks of treatment, statistically significant difference in WOMAC pain score was found between the two groups (t=2.439, P<0.05). The WOMAC physical function scores of participants before treatment and after 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks of treatment were 94.3±31.0, 81.8±28.3, 68.9±22.1, 34.0±15.1, 22.0±8.0, respectively in the observation group, and 92.7±31.8, 82.6±29.3, 75.2±22.9, 52.2±20.0, 43.4±18.2 respectively in the control group. After 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 8 weeks of treatment, both groups showed significant changes in WOMAC physical function scores than pretreatment (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant between-group difference before treatment or after 1, 2 weeks of treatment in physical function (P>0.05). The functional improvements in the observation group were significantly better than those in the control group after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment, and the differences were statistically significant (t=–4.287, –6.355; P<0.05). Conclusion NEMEX and quadriceps strengthening have similar effects in relieve pain in patients with KOA. And both exercises can effectively improve the physical function, and NEMEX is better than quadriceps strengthening on physical function improvement in patients with KOA.
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the common degenerative joint diseases, which is more common in the middle-aged and elderly population. It shows significant gender differences, with a significantly higher incidence rate in women than in men, seriously affecting the quality of life of patients. However, there are few research reports on the correlation between gender differences and the incidence of KOA both domestically and internationally. Therefore, this article will summarize and analyze the potential causes of gender differences related to the incidence of KOA from five aspects: hormone levels, anatomical biomechanical characteristics, genes, obesity, and exercise-muscle factors. Through a comprehensive review of research progress, the aim is to provide a theoretical basis for gender based personalized treatment of KOA in clinical practice.
Objective To investigate the role and mechanism of S100 calcium binding protein B (S100B) in osteoarthritis (OA) cartilage damage repair. Methods Twenty New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into control group and model group, with 10 rabbits in each group. Rabbits in the model group were injured by the right knee joint immobilization method to make the artilage injury model, while the control group did not deal with any injury. After 4 weeks, the levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in synovial fluid were detected by ELISA method; the mRNA and protein expressions of S100B, fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2), and FGF receptor 1 (FGFR1) in cartilage tissue were examined by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot assay. Human synovial fibroblasts (SF) were isolated and cultured in vitro. The effects of S100B overexpression and knockdown on the levels of IL-1β and TNF-α (ELISA method) and the expressions of FGF-2 and FGFR1 gene (qRT-PCR) and protein (Western blot) were observed. Moreover, the effects of FGFR1 knockdown in above S100 overexpression system on the levels of IL-1β and TNF-α (ELISA method) and the expressions of FGF-2 and FGFR1 gene (qRT-PCR) and protein (Western blot) were observed. Results ELISA detection showed that the expressions of IL-1β and TNF-α in the synovial fluid of the model group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05); qRT-PCR and Western blot detection showed that the mRNA and protein expressions of S100B, FGF-2, and FGFR1 in cartilage tissue were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). Overexpression and knockdown S100 could respectively significantly increase and decrease lipopolysaccharides (LPS) induced IL-1β and TNF-α levels elevation and the mRNA and protein expressions of FGF-2 and FGFR1 (P<0.05); whereas FGFR1 knockdown could significantly decrease LPS induced IL-1β and TNF-α levels elevation and the mRNA and protein expressions of FGF-2 and FGFR1 (P<0.05). Conclusion S100B protein can regulate the inflammatory response of SF and may affect the repair of cartilage damage in OA, and the mechanism may be related to the activation of FGF-2/FGFR1 signaling pathway.
Objective To compare the mid- and long-term effectiveness of patellar resurfacing versus non-resurfacing in primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods Twenty-six patients who underwent bilateral TKA between March 2013 and September 2015 were selected as the study subjects. One side was randomly chosen for patellar resurfacing (resurfacing group), and the other side was not (control group). There were 4 males and 22 females, the age ranged from 51 to 65 years, with an average of 59 years. According to Kellgren-Lawrence classification, there were 21 cases of grade Ⅳ and 5 cases of grade Ⅲ in both knees. There was no significant difference in the surgical side, and preoperative clinical and functional scores of the Knee Society Score (KSS), visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and the composition ratio of anterior knee pain localization points between the two groups (P>0.05). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative abnormal signs such as patellar clunk, feeling of constraint, patellar tendon weakness, crepitus, or snow-on-glass sensation, and the occurrence of complications were recorded and compared. Patient subjective evaluations included Forgotten Joint Score (FJS) and the degree of difficulty in high-level knee activities (including flexion with load bearing, going upstairs, going downstairs, squatting and standing up, kneeling, knee extension, and crossing legs for 7 items); KSS clinical/functional scores and VAS scores were used to evaluate the recovery of knee joint function, and the location of anterior knee pain was determined by a localization diagram. Results The operation time of the resurfacing group was significantly longer than that of the control group (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in intraoperative blood loss between the two groups (P>0.05). All patients’ incisions healed by first intention; the hospital stay ranged from 8 to 23 days, with an average of 12.6 days. All patients were followed up 9-11 years, with an average of 9.7 years. Except for 1 case who died of multiple organ failure due to internal diseases at 9 years after operation and 5 cases with incomplete radiological data, the rest 20 patients were assessed radiologically and found that 1 side of the knee joint in the control group had patellar dislocation; the remaining patients had no prosthetic failure (fracture, loosening, displacement, etc.), patellar fracture, patellar necrosis, patellar instability, patellar tendon rupture, prosthetic revision, etc. No patients had reoperations due to patellar-related complications or anterior knee pain in both knee joints. At 2 years postoperatively and at last follow-up, there was no significant difference in the incidence of abnormal signs such as patellar clunk, feeling of constraint, patellar tendon weakness, crepitus, or snow-on-glass sensation, the incidence of high-level knee activity difficulty, and the composition ratio of anterior knee pain localization between the two groups (P>0.05). The KSS clinical scores, functional scores, and VAS scores of both groups significantly improved compared to preoperative ones (P<0.05); there was no significant difference in the comparison between the two groups at the two time points postoperatively (P>0.05). At 2 years postoperatively and at last follow-up, there was no significant difference in FJS scores between the two groups (P>0.05). ConclusionPatellar resurfacing or not has similar mid- and long-term effectiveness in primary TKA.
ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis. MethodsDatabases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2016), WanFang Data, CBM, and CNKI were searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis from inception to February 2016. The meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 17 RCTs involving 4 070 patients were included. The results of metaanalysis showed that: there were no significant differences in WOMAC pain scores (7 weeks: MD=-0.01, 95%CI -0.46 to 0.44, P=0.98; 13 weeks: MD=-0.01, 95%CI -0.46to 0.43, P=0.95; 26 weeks: MD=0.32, 95%CI -0.04 to 0.67, P=0.08), stiffness scores (7 weeks: MD=0.10, 95%CI -0.26 to 0.45, P=0.59; 13 weeks: MD=0.24, 95%CI -0.11 to 0.60, P=0.17; 26 weeks: MD=0.06, 95%CI -0.09 to 0.22, P=0.42), and life function scores (7 weeks: MD=-0.20, 95%CI -0.75to 0.36, P=0.49; 13 weeks: MD=-0.02, 95%CI -0.57 to 0.52, P=0.93; 26 weeks: MD=0.30, 95%CI -0.07 to 0.67, P=0.11) between the hyaluronic acid group and the control group in 7-, 13- and 26 weeks. However, the hyaluronic acid group was superior to the control group in 50-step test (MD=-0.49，95%CI -7.36 to -3.61，P<0.000 01). ConclusionCurrent evidence suggests that intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid has better effect than control treatment for pain at movement. However, due to the limited quantity of the included studies, the above conclusion still need to be verified by more high quality studies．
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common chronic degenerative osteoarthritic disease with a high incidence especially among middle-aged and elderly people, and patients with KOA usually suffer from joint pain and dyskinesia, which is disabling and seriously affects their quality of life. Acupotomy therapy, as one of the characteristic treatments of traditional Chinese medicine, has been proven to significantly reduce the pain of KOA patients and effectively slow down the rapid deterioration of the disease. Therefore, this article reviews the pathogenic factors of KOA and explores the mechanism of action of acupotomy therapy for KOA from the perspectives of mechanical structure, level of inflammatory factors, cartilage repair, and cellular autophagy and apoptosis, in order to provide a more solid theoretical basis and therapeutic strategy for the application of acupotomy therapy in the clinical practice of KOA.
ObjectiveTo review the research progress on finite element analysis (FEA) of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) in medial knee compartmental osteoarthritis.MethodsThe FEA research literature on the medial knee UKA at home and abroad was reviewed, and the progress on the aspects of the influences of the prosthesis arrangement and the postoperative joint line on the mechanical distribution of the knee joint, the improvement of the UKA prosthesis, and the related research of different types of prostheses were summarized.ResultsAt present, scholars have conducted a large number of FEA studies on UKA in the medial knee compartmental osteoarthritis. The results of the study show that the recommended coronal alignment and the tibial slope angle of tibial component in medial fixed-bearing UKA are 0° and 5°-7°, respectively; and the coronal alignment and the tibial slope angle of tibial component in mobile-bearing UKA are 4° varus to 4° valgus and 5°-7°, respectively. The femoral component is arranged in the neutral position of the distal femur. The joint line is recommended to be the primary alignment. The anatomical UKA prosthesis can restore the biomechanical properties of the normal knee joint.ConclusionFEA research can clarify the best arrangement and joint line of the medial knee UKA prosthesis based on the mechanical distribution results, and guide the design of UKA prostheses that are more suitable for patients.