Total hip replacement (THR) is an effective intervention with a good cost/benefit ratio. Worldwide, each year it brings relief in the form of improved function and decreased pain to at least half a million patients with severe osteoarthritis (OA). Since the introduction by Charnley more than 30 years ago, the basic concept remains much the same, but with a multitude of changes in details of surgic

Purpose: To develop concise, patient-focussed, up to date, evidence-based, expert consensus recommendations for the management of hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA), which are adaptable and designed to assist physicians and allied health care professionals in general and specialist practise throughout the world. Methods: Sixteen experts from four medical disciplines (primary care, rheumatology, orth

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease encountered throughout Europe. A task force for the EULAR Standing Committee for Clinical Trials met in 1998 to determine the methodological and logistical approach required for the development of evidence based guidelines for treatment of knee OA. The guidelines were restricted to cover all currently available treatments for knee OA

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease encountered throughout Europe. A task force for the EULAR standing committee for clinical trials met in 1998 to determine the methodological and logistical approach required for the development of evidence-based guidelines for treatment of knee OA. The guidelines were restricted to cover all currently available therapies for knee OA

Osteoarthritis is a heterogeneous and multifactorial disease with many pathogenic mechanisms implicated in its development and progression. Although osteoarthritis is a manifestation of certain metabolic, mechanical or inflammatory events, several distinct forms of osteoarthritis are inherited as dominantly acquired Mendelian traits. Gathering evidence is showing that inheritance and possible muta

Objective. To compare the responsiveness of the Functional Assessment System (FAS), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form (SF-36) in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) scheduled for total hip replacement. Method. Twenty patients with a mean age at surgery of 72.6 years, with primary OA of the hip, were investiga

Objective. To describe a large kinship with inherited hip osteoarthritis (OA) and its associated susceptibility locus. Methods. Four generations of a kinship with familial hip OA were identified and characterized by family history and by clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic examination. In the genome-wide search for a susceptibility locus, OA cases were defined as those who had undergone to

Background - Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease encountered throughout Europe. A task force for the EULAR Standing Committee for Clinical Trials met in 1998 to determine the methodological and logistical approach required for the development of evidence based guidelines for treatment of knee OA. The guidelines were restricted to cover all currently available treatments for knee O

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head often results in secondary osteoarthritis of the hip joint; however, the pathologic processes underlying the destruction of articular cartilage are not fully understood. Molecular markers in the hip joint fluids were measured to examine the changes in turnover of cartilage and other joint tissues. Marker data were related to clinical, radiological, and histopathol

We have carried out a prospective, longitudinal 30-year review of 95 adolescents who underwent total meniscectomy in one knee, and have compared the results with those observed 13 years earlier. All the medical records were scrutinized. Of the 63 patients reviewed clinically, 47 reported decreased sporting activity, although subjective satisfaction rose by 3% to 71%. The scores on the WOMAC ostcoa

Objective. To assess, in a population-wide study in Iceland, the genetic contribution to hip osteoarthritis (OA) leading to total hip replacement (THR). Methods. Information from 2 population-based databases in Iceland was combined: a national registry of all THRs performed between 1972 and 1996, and a genealogy database of all available Icelandic genealogy records for the last 11 centuries. A gen

To our knowledge, this is the first prospective study using validated questionnaires to assess patient-relevant outcomes after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. Data from the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), the SF-36 Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey, and the Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale were available for 74 consecutive patients (50 males, 24 females; mean age, 4

Objective: To validate the WOMAC Osteoarthritis Index for use in Sweden. Methods: Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, validity, and responsiveness was determined in 52 patients (mean age 48 (20-69)) with arthroscopically assessed cartilage damage of the tibio-femoral knee joint. Results: All WOMAC scales were internally consistent with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.83, 0.87, and 0.

Objective. To determine the concentrations of aggrecan fragments in synovial fluid from patients with knee joint injury, osteoarthritis (OA), or acute pyrophosphate arthritis (PPA; pseudogout), and to test their relative reactivity with the 846 epitope, a putative marker of cartilage aggrecan synthesis. Methods. Samples of knee joint fluid from 385 patients and 9 healthy-knee volunteers were obtai

Sustainability and the Political Economy of Welfare raises the issue of what is required to make welfare societies ecologically sustainable. Consisting of three parts, this book regards the current financial, economic and political crisis in welfare state institutions and addresses methodological, theoretical and wider conceptual issues in integrating sustainability. Furthermore, this text is conc