Comments on Pretell et al: Distal fascia lata lengthening: an alternative surgical technique for recalcitrant trochanteric bursitis

Abstract

Dear Editor, We read the paper by Pretell et al. entitled Distal fascia lata lengthening: an alternative surgical technique for recalcitrant trochanteric bursitis [1], which was received by the Journal on November 28, 2008 and published online on February 12, 2009. The authors described this surgical method for treating refractory greater trochanteric pain (GTP). They stated that this method had not been described in the literature previously. We would like to draw the attention of the authors and the readers of the Journal to our description of this method (which was given the name Pedersen-Noor in our paper Distal lengthening of ilio-tibial band by Z-plasty for treating refractory greater trochanteric pain after total hip arthroplasty (Pedersen-Noor operation) [2]. The paper was published online (PubMed) on July 12, 2008. This method was first introduced by Dr. Eskild Pedersen in 1997 who applied an already known surgical technique used to treat lateral epiconylites of the elbow with distal lengthening of the extensor carpi radialis brevis tendon into a new location to alleviate refractory GTP. Since then more than 50 patients (mostly middle-aged females) have been operated upon with this method in our hospital and the technique has shown good to excellent outcomes. In our paper we reported the results in a special category of GTP patients—those with previous total hip arthroplasty. The method, results, discussion and conclusion presented by Pretell et al. in their paper [1] seem to be a repetition of those presented in our paper [2]. It is highly recommended that authors make a final review of the literature directly prior to submitting their work for publication in order to avoid unnecessary inaccuracy of facts in their paper.