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Objective: To describe and clinically and radiographically compare patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with all-polyethylene (ALP) and metal-backed (MTB) tibial implants. Methods: Patients who underwent TKA between January 1988 and December 2004 were grouped according to the type of implant received: all-polyethylene or metal-backed. Sixty patients came for evaluations, totaling 82 operated knees. Among these, 22 patients had undergone TKA only with ALP (12 unilateral and 10 bilateral cases), 33 patients only with MTB (26 unilateral and 7 bilateral cases) and five patients underwent TKA with ALP in one knee and MTB in the other. The knees were divided thus: group 1, 37 knees with ALP; and group 2, 45 knees with MTB. Results: There were no differences in clinical or functional evaluations between the groups. The mean radiolucency in the femur was 0.838 mm for the patients in group 1 and 0.356 mm for the patients in group 2 (p = 0.049). For the tibia, in the AP view, there was a mean value of 2.703 mm for group 1 and 0.733 mm for group 2 (p = 0.000). In the lateral view, the mean values for osteolysis was 0.405 mm for group 1 and 0.200 mm for group 2 (p = 0.074). Conclusions: There were no differences between the groups in the functional and clinical evaluations. However, greater radiolucency was observed in the arthroplasties with ALP, both in the femur in the lateral view and in the tibia in the AP view. Level of evidence IV – case series study.

Objective: To assess the early complications in the orthopedic treatment of metastatic bone lesions and the factors associated with these complications. Method: There were assessed, retrospectively, 64 patients that underwent surgical treatment for bone metastases, analyzing the complications that occurred in the pre-operative and early post- operative period and associating them with the tumor origin, type of procedure done, the need of blood reposition before the surgery, the need of new surgical procedures and the mortality due to the complications. Results: Early complications in the treatment were observed in 17 (26.6%) patients, of which six (35.2%) ended up dying due to these complications. Regarding the type, 15 (23.8%) cases were due to surgical complications, four (6.3%) clinical and three (4.7%) patients showed clinical and surgical complications. There was no significant difference in the frequency of complications or mortality when assessed the type of reconstruction or affected region. The tumors with a renal origin needed more blood reposition and showed a bigger frequency of complications. Conclusion: The complications occurred in 26.6%. The complications are not related to the kind of treatment performed or to the region affected. The renal origin tumors showed a higher risk of hemorrhage.

Objective: Assess the long-term results of distal femoral varusing osteotomy and try to establish predictive criteria that could help on selecting patients to be submitted to this technique. Methods: Fifteen patients with lateral compartment osteoarthritis and valgus deformity of the knee were submitted to distal femoral “V” varusing osteotomy fixated with lateral plate, pursuing knee alignment at 0° on the anatomical axis. The mean follow-up period was 81.4 months, ranging from 43 to 132 months. The Knee Society Rating System protocol was employed. Additional assessed variables were the following: patient age, follow-up time, and postoperative anatomical angle. Results: 11 results were regarded as excellent or good (73%) and four as fair or poor (27%). Conclusion: Distal femoral “V” varusing osteotomy constitutes a good treatment alternative for patients with lateral compartment osteoarthritis and valgus knee. The following variables have not been confirmed: patient age at the time of surgery, follow-up time, and postoperative anatomical angle as predictive factors for the results.