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The success and long-term survival rates of modern joint arthroplasty leads to a high patient satisfaction and, together with its technical improvements, has broadened the indications to an increasingly younger population. Limitations to the established systems are the long-term survival rates, which are mainly influenced by wear of the articulating parts and the resulting problems. Beside "classic" long-stemmed cemented shafts articulating with metal against polyethylene, short-stemmed or cup designs with a hard-hard self pairing are increasingly used in total hip arthroplasty. This paper reflects the current state of the art in joint arthroplasty for younger patients with the focus on wear couples and discusses future perspectives. Special interest is focused on the advantages and disadvantages of ceramic bearings, problems with allergies to implant components and the design of endoprostheses with regard to avoidance of impingement.

Accurate Diagnosis of bone and soft-tissue lesions in the carpal area is possible by different radiological techniques. A thorough knowledge of the semiology and the limits of these techniques is important. The use of radiology, arthrography, scintigraphy, sonography and CAT Scan in the carpal pathology is described by the authors.

This work reports the results of operative treatment of knee-stiffness from 1973-1981 in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Kiel. 42 out of 46 occurrences of age, were post-operatively controlled. In most cases the stiffness was of traumatic origin. In more than one half of the cases the pre-operative controlled. In most cases the stiffness was of traumatic origin. In more than half of the cases the pre-operative degree of motion was less than 60 degrees. Intraarticular revision alone or extraarticular revision alone or a combination of both and other bone surgery was performed in approximately 1/4 of the patients respectively. The absolute range of motion, an average of 58 degrees pre-operatively, improved to 114 degrees post-operatively. The mean relative improvement of motion, in regard to a norm of 140-0-0 degrees, was 68% at discharge. Among our patients complication were seldom. In our opinion operative arthrolysis in indicated cases is a tried and proven method for treatment of stiff knees.