Worldwide, osteoporosis management is in crisis because of inadequate delivery of care, competing guidelines, and confusing recommendations. Additionally, patients are not readily accepting the ...diagnosis of poor bone health and often are noncompliant with treatment recommendations. Secondary fracture prevention, through a program such as Own the Bone, has improved the diagnosis and medical management after a fragility fracture. In patients who undergo elective orthopaedic procedures, osteoporosis is common and adversely affects outcomes. Bone health optimization is the process of bone status assessment, identification and correction of metabolic deficits, and initiation of treatment, when appropriate, for skeletal structural deficits. The principles of bone health optimization are similar to those of secondary fracture prevention and can be initiated by all orthopaedic surgeons. Patients who are ≥50 years of age should be assessed for osteoporosis risk and, if they are in a high-risk group, bone density should be measured. All patients should be counseled to consume adequate vitamin D and calcium and to discontinue use of any toxins (e.g., tobacco products and excessive alcohol consumption). Patients who meet the criteria for pharmaceutical therapy for osteoporosis should consider delaying surgery for a minimum of 3 months, if feasible, and begin medication treatment. Orthopaedic surgeons need to assume a greater role in the care of bone health for our patients.
The management of open fractures requires wound irrigation and débridement to remove contaminants, but the effectiveness of various pressures and solutions for irrigation remains controversial. We ...investigated the effects of castile soap versus normal saline irrigation delivered by means of high, low, or very low irrigation pressure.
In this study with a 2-by-3 factorial design, conducted at 41 clinical centers, we randomly assigned patients who had an open fracture of an extremity to undergo irrigation with one of three irrigation pressures (high pressure >20 psi, low pressure 5 to 10 psi, or very low pressure 1 to 2 psi) and one of two irrigation solutions (castile soap or normal saline). The primary end point was reoperation within 12 months after the index surgery for promotion of wound or bone healing or treatment of a wound infection.
A total of 2551 patients underwent randomization, of whom 2447 were deemed eligible and included in the final analyses. Reoperation occurred in 109 of 826 patients (13.2%) in the high-pressure group, 103 of 809 (12.7%) in the low-pressure group, and 111 of 812 (13.7%) in the very-low-pressure group. Hazard ratios for the three pairwise comparisons were as follows: for low versus high pressure, 0.92 (95% confidence interval CI, 0.70 to 1.20; P=0.53), for high versus very low pressure, 1.02 (95% CI, 0.78 to 1.33; P=0.89), and for low versus very low pressure, 0.93 (95% CI, 0.71 to 1.23; P=0.62). Reoperation occurred in 182 of 1229 patients (14.8%) in the soap group and in 141 of 1218 (11.6%) in the saline group (hazard ratio, 1.32, 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.66; P=0.01).
The rates of reoperation were similar regardless of irrigation pressure, a finding that indicates that very low pressure is an acceptable, low-cost alternative for the irrigation of open fractures. The reoperation rate was higher in the soap group than in the saline group. (Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and others; FLOW ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00788398.).
Acute midshaft clavicular fracture Jeray, Kyle J
Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons,
04/2007, Letnik:
15, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Clavicular fractures represent 2.6% to 5% of all fractures, and middle third fractures account for 69% to 82% of fractures of the clavicle. The junction of the outer and middle third is the thinnest ...part of the bone and is the only area not protected by or reinforced with muscle and ligamentous attachments. These anatomic features make it prone to fracture, particularly with a fall on the point of the shoulder, which results in an axial load to the clavicle. Optimal treatment of nondisplaced or minimally displaced midshaft fracture is with a sling or figure-of-8 dressing; the nonunion rate is very low. However, when midshaft clavicular fractures are completely displaced or comminuted, and when they occur in elderly patients or females, the risk of nonunion, cosmetic deformity, and poor outcome may be markedly higher. Thus, some surgeons propose surgical stabilization of a complex midshaft clavicular fracture with either plate-and-screw fixation or intramedullary devices. Further randomized, prospective trials are needed to provide better data on which to base treatment decisions.
Residency education continues to evolve. Several major changes have occurred in the past several years, including emphasis on core competencies, duty-hour restrictions, and call. The Accreditation ...Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Next Accreditation System (NAS) implemented educational milestones in orthopaedic surgery in July 2013. Additionally, the Residency Review Committee for orthopaedic surgery published suggested surgical case minimums in 2012, which overlap with several of the milestones.We conducted a survey to assess the opinions of orthopaedic residents regarding the ACGME-suggested surgical case minimums and the effects that these may have on resident education and potential future privileges in hospitals. The survey was sent via e-mail to all of the residents participating in the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) Resident Leadership Forum for both 2011 and 2012. Participants in the Resident Leadership Forum are in either postgraduate year 4 or postgraduate year 5, are selected by the program directors as resident leaders, and represent 80% of the orthopaedic residency programs in the United States. The survey was completed by 157 of the 314 participants. Sixty-nine percent of the participants believed that case logs with minimum numbers of surgical procedures were an effective way to monitor the work but were not necessarily the only way to monitor the educational progress of the residents. Thirty-two percent believed that the minimums should not be required. Overwhelmingly, there was agreement that important cases were missing from the currently proposed sixteen core surgical minimums. Specifically, the residents believed that a minimum number of cases are necessary for distal radial fracture fixation and proximal humeral fracture fixation and possibly have a milestone to reflect the progress of the residents for each fixation.Most residents thought that surgical case minimums are an effective tool in monitoring the progress of residents and measuring the effectiveness of residency programs. However, the surgical ability of an individual resident should not be evaluated on case minimums alone. The development of the milestones to assess competency should continue, but, as surgical skill is not a specific core competency, perhaps other methods for assessing surgical proficiency need to be developed rather than case minimums. Surgical skills laboratories and proctoring residents independently performing procedures may help to assess surgical proficiency, in addition to traditional faculty and 360° evaluations. Combining these types of assessments with surgical case logs documenting the residents' educational experience seems to be the best path going forward in assessing the development of young surgeons.
High loss-to-follow-up rates are a risk in even the most rigorously designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Consequently, predicting and preventing loss to follow-up are important ...methodological considerations. We hypothesized that certain baseline characteristics are associated with a greater likelihood of patients being lost to follow-up. Our primary objective was to determine which baseline characteristics are associated with loss to follow-up within 12 months after an open fracture in adult patients participating in the Fluid Lavage of Open Wounds (FLOW) trial. We also present strategies to reduce loss to follow-up in trauma trials.
Data for this study were derived from the FLOW trial, a funded trial in which payments to clinical sites were tied to participant retention. We conducted a binary logistic regression analysis with loss to follow-up as the dependent variable to determine participant characteristics associated with a higher risk of loss to follow-up.
Complete data were available for 2,381 of 2,447 participants. One hundred and sixty-three participants (6.7%) were lost to follow-up. Participants who received treatment in the U.S. were more likely to be lost to follow-up than those who received treatment in other countries (odds ratio OR = 3.56, 95% confidence interval CI: 2.46 to 5.17, p < 0.001). Male sex (OR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.15 to 2.67, p = 0.009), current smoking (OR = 1.82, 95% CI: 1.28 to 2.58, p = 0.001), high-risk alcohol consumption (OR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.16 to 3.05, p = 0.010), and an age of <30 years (OR = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.19 to 3.95, p = 0.012) all significantly increased the odds of a patient being lost to follow-up. Conversely, participants who had sustained polytrauma (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.37 to 0.73, p < 0.001) or had a Gustilo-Anderson type-IIIA, B, or C fracture (OR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.38 to 0.94, p = 0.024) had lower odds of being lost to follow-up.
Using a number of strategies, we were able to reduce the loss-to-follow-up rate to <7%. Males, current smokers, young participants, participants who consumed a high-risk amount of alcohol, and participants in the U.S. were more likely to be lost to follow-up even after these strategies had been employed; therefore, additional strategies should be developed to target these high-risk participants.
This study highlights an important need to develop additional strategies to minimize loss to follow-up, including targeted participant-retention strategies. Male sex, an age of <30 years, current smoking, high-risk alcohol consumption, and treatment in a developed country with a predominantly privately funded health-care system increased the likelihood of participants being lost to follow-up. Therefore, strategies should be targeted to these participants. Use of the planning and prevention strategies outlined in the current study can minimize loss to follow-up in orthopaedic trials.
Basicervical peritrochanteric fractures are relatively rare, with 1.8% to 7.6% of hip fractures being identified as true basicervical fractures. The compression hip screw traditionally has been ...considered the "gold standard" for operative fixation of peritrochanteric fractures, with generally good results. The purpose of this study was to report the outcomes of basicervical peritrochanteric fractures of the proximal part of the femur treated with cephalomedullary nailing (CMN).
We reviewed medical records and radiographs of all patients at our institution with a peritrochanteric fracture treated with CMN from 2010 to 2012 (246 patients). Fourteen patients with a 2-part basicervical fracture were identified. Two of them died less than 6 weeks after injury and another patient did not return for follow-up. Eleven patients were included in the reported series.
Five of the 11 patients had fracture-healing without complications. Their average tip-apex distance was 14.9 mm. The fixation failed in the remaining six patients, all of whom had a tip-apex distance of <25 mm, with an average of 17.4 mm. Four of the failures followed an anatomic reduction, and the other 2 followed a nearly anatomic reduction.
CMN may be inadequate for fixation of 2-part basicervical fractures.
Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine whether anterior plating is better tolerated than superior plating for midshaft clavicle fractures.
Methods
This was a prospective non-randomized ...observational cohort study following operative vs. non-operative management of clavicle fractures from 2003 to 2018 at 7 level 1 academic trauma centers in the USA. The subset of patients treated with plate and screws is the basis for this comparative study. Adults aged 18–85 with closed clavicle fractures displaced over 100% or shortened by more than 1.5 cm were eligible for enrollment. Patients were followed for 2 years following enrollment. Allowable fixation methods at the discretion of the surgeon consisted of anterior–inferior or superior plating. A total of 412 patients were enrolled. Of these, 192 patients received either superior or anterior plating for a displaced clavicle fracture with complete documented prospective research forms capturing type of plating technique. The primary outcome measure was hardware removal (HWR). Secondary outcomes were Disability of the Arm Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score and Visual Analog Pain (VAP) score, and satisfaction score (1 = high satisfaction; 5 = low satisfaction).
Results
There was no difference in HWR rates (7.1% superior 9/127; 6.2% anterior 4/65,
p
= 0.81), VAP score (mean 1.5 SD 1.0 superior; mean 1.7 SD 0.6 anterior,
p
= 0.21), DASH score (mean 7.5 SD 12.4 superior; mean 5.2 SD 15.2 anterior;
p
= 0.18) or satisfaction score (mean 1.6 SD 1.0 superior; mean 1.7 SD 0.60 anterior,
p
= 0.18).
Conclusion
There is no difference in HWR rates or functional outcomes when using a superior vs. anterior plating technique.
We sought to evaluate whether tourniquet use, with the resultant ischemia and reperfusion, during surgical treatment of an open lower-extremity fracture was associated with an increased risk of ...complications.
This is a retrospective cohort study of 1,351 patients who had an open lower-extremity fracture at or distal to the proximal aspect of the tibia and who participated in the FLOW (Fluid Lavage of Open Wounds) trial. The independent variable was intraoperative tourniquet use, and the primary outcome measures were adjudicated unplanned reoperation within 1 year of the injury and adjudicated nonoperative wound complications.
Unplanned reoperation and nonoperative wound complications were roughly even between the no-tourniquet (18.7% and 19.1%, respectively) and tourniquet groups (17.8% and 20.8%) (p = 0.78 and p = 0.52). Following matching, as determined by model interactions, tourniquet use was a significant predictor of unplanned reoperation in Gustilo Type-IIIA (odds ratio, 3.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.16 to 11.78) and IIIB fractures (odds ratio, 16.61; 95% confidence interval, 2.15 to 355.40).
The present study showed that tourniquet use did not influence the likelihood of complications following surgical treatment of an open lower-extremity fracture. However, in cases of severe open fractures, tourniquet use was associated with increased odds of unplanned reoperation; surgeons should be cautious with regard to tourniquet use in this setting.
Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
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