Comparison of Patient and Surgeon Expectations of Total Hip Arthroplasty

OBJECTIVES: Analysis of discrepancies between patient and surgeon expectations before total hip arthroplasty (THA) should enable a better understanding of motives of dissatisfaction about surgery, but this question has been seldom studied. Our objectives were to compare surgeons' and patients' expectations before THA, and to study factors which affected surgeon-patient agreement. METHODS: 132 adults (mean age 62.8+/-13.7 years, 52% men) on waiting list for THA in three tertiary care centres and their 16 surgeons were interviewed to assess their expectations using the Hospital for Special Surgery Total Hip Replacement Expectations Survey (range 0-100). Patients' and surgeons' answers were compared, for the total score and for the score of each item. Univariate analyses tested the effect of patients' characteristics on surgeons' and patients' expectations separately, and on surgeon-patient differences. RESULTS: Surgeon and patient expectations' mean scores were high (respectively 90.9+/-11.1 and 90.0+/-11.6 over 100). Surgeons' and patients' expectations showed no systematic difference, but there was little agreement on Bland and Altman graph and correlation coefficient was low. Patients had higher expectations than surgeons for sports. Patients rated their expectations according to trust in physician and mental quality of life, surgeons considered disability. More disabled patients and patients from a low-income professional category were often "more optimistic" than their surgeons. CONCLUSION: Surgeons and patients often do not agree on what to expect from THA. More disabled patients expect better outcomes than their surgeons

Mazabraud's syndrome. A case with multiple myxomas

SummaryMazabraud's syndrome is defined as the combination of one or more intramuscular myxomas and fibrous dysplasia of bone. The diagnosis is important given the increased risk of malignant transformation of the bone lesions. We report a case in a 56-year-old patient with a 14-year follow-up during which multiple surgical procedures were required to remove myxomas (present at more than 15 sites). The resected myxomas were large and progressive. Unique features in this case include the long follow-up and the number of myxomas considerably above the average for this disease. Eighty other cases of Mazabraud's syndrome have been reported. The condition predominantly affects middle-aged women (mean age, 44 years). The bone lesions may be monostotic or polyostotic. Mazabraud's syndrome may be difficult to distinguish from soft-tissue sarcoma or neurofibromatosis. Identification of the underlying genetic abnormality provides diagnostic confirmation, as shown in our patient. The management consists in surgery to remove the myxomas and magnetic resonance imaging at regular intervals to monitor the lesions