About the Authors

Tetsuro Yamagishi

Affiliation Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan

Hiroyuki Kawashima

inskawa@med.niigata-u.ac.jp

Affiliation Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan

Akira Ogose

Affiliation Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Uonuma Kikan Hospital, Minamiuonuma, Niigata, Japan

Takashi Ariizumi

Affiliation Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan

Taro Sasaki

Affiliation Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata Cancer Center Hospital, Niigata, Japan

Hiroshi Hatano

Affiliation Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata Cancer Center Hospital, Niigata, Japan

Tetsuo Hotta

Affiliation Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan

Naoto Endo

Affiliation Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HK AO TH NE. Performed the experiments: TY TS. Analyzed the data: TY HK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HK AO TS TA HH TH NE. Wrote the paper: TY HK AO TH NE.