Occult (clinical) injuries represent 15% of all scaphoid fractures, posing significant challenges to the clinician. MRI has been suggested as the gold standard for diagnosis, but remains expensive, time-consuming, and is in high demand. Conventional management with immobilization and serial radiography typically results in multiple follow-up attendances to clinic, radiation exposure, and delays return to work. Suboptimal management can result in significant disability and, frequently, litigation. We present a service evaluation report following the introduction of a quality-improvement themed, streamlined, clinical scaphoid pathway. Patients are offered a removable wrist splint with verbal and written instructions to remove it two weeks following injury, for self-assessment. The persistence of pain is the patient’s guide to ‘opt-in’ and to self-refer for a follow-up appointment with a senior emergency physician. On confirmation of ongoing signs of clinical scaphoid injury, an urgent outpatient ‘fast’-wrist protocol MRI scan is ordered, with instructions to maintain wrist immobilization. Patients with positive scan results are referred for specialist orthopaedic assessment via a virtual fracture clinic.Aims
Methods
This observational cross-sectional study aimed to answer the following questions: 1) how has nonunion incidence developed from 2009 to 2019 in a nationwide cohort; 2) what is the age and sex distribution of nonunions for distinct anatomical nonunion localizations; and 3) how high were the costs for surgical nonunion treatment in a level 1 trauma centre in Germany? Data consisting of annual International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 diagnosis codes from German medical institutions from 2009 to 2019, provided by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), were analyzed. Nonunion incidence was calculated for anatomical localization, sex, and age groups. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were determined and compared with a two-sample z-test. Diagnosis-related group (DRG)-reimbursement and length of hospital stay were retrospectively retrieved for each anatomical localization, considering 210 patients.Aims
Methods
This observational study examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic upon the paediatric trauma burden of a district general hospital. We aim to compare the nature and volume of the paediatric trauma during the first 2020 UK lockdown period with the same period in 2019. Prospective data was collected from 23 March 2020 to 14 June 2020 and compared with retrospective data collected from 23 March 2019 to 14 June 2019. Patient demographics, mechanism of injury, nature of the injury, and details of any surgery were tabulated and statistically analyzed using the independent-samples Aims
Methods
Little is known about tissue changes underlying bone marrow lesions (BMLs) in non-weight-bearing joints with osteoarthritis (OA). Our aim was to characterize BMLs in OA of the hand using dynamic histomorphometry. We therefore quantified bone turnover and angiogenesis in subchondral bone at the base of the thumb, and compared the findings with control bone from hip OA. Patients with OA at the base of the thumb, or the hip, underwent preoperative MRI to assess BMLs, and tetracycline labelling to determine bone turnover. Three groups were compared: trapezium bones removed by trapeziectomy from patients with thumb base OA (n = 20); femoral heads with (n = 24); and those without (n = 9) BMLs obtained from patients with hip OA who underwent total hip arthroplasty.Objectives
Methods
Despite its intrinsic ability to regenerate form and function after injury, bone tissue can be challenged by a multitude of pathological conditions. While innovative approaches have helped to unravel the cascades of bone healing, this knowledge has so far not improved the clinical outcomes of bone defect treatment. Recent findings have allowed us to gain in-depth knowledge about the physiological conditions and biological principles of bone regeneration. Now it is time to transfer the lessons learned from bone healing to the challenging scenarios in defects and employ innovative technologies to enable biomaterial-based strategies for bone defect healing. This review aims to provide an overview on endogenous cascades of bone material formation and how these are transferred to new perspectives in biomaterial-driven approaches in bone regeneration. Cite this article: T. Winkler, F. A. Sass, G. N. Duda, K. Schmidt-Bleek. A review of biomaterials in bone defect healing, remaining shortcomings and future opportunities for bone tissue engineering: The unsolved challenge.
Lengthening osteotomies of the calcaneus in children are in general
grafted with bone from the iliac crest. Artificial bone grafts have
been introduced, however, their structural and clinical durability
has not been documented. Radiostereometric analysis (RSA) is a very
accurate and precise method for measurements of rigid body movements including
the evaluation of joint implant and fracture stability, however,
RSA has not previously been used in clinical studies of calcaneal
osteotomies. We assessed the precision of RSA as a measurement tool
in a lateral calcaneal lengthening osteotomy (LCLO). LCLO was performed in six fixed adult cadaver feet. Tantalum
markers were inserted on each side of the osteotomy and in the cuboideum.
Lengthening was done with a plexiglas wedge. A total of 24 radiological
double examinations were obtained. Two feet were excluded due to
loose and poorly dispersed markers. Precision was assessed as systematic
bias and 95% repeatability limits.Objectives
Methods
Cartilage repair in terms of replacement, or
regeneration of damaged or diseased articular cartilage with functional tissue,
is the ‘holy grail’ of joint surgery. A wide spectrum of strategies
for cartilage repair currently exists and several of these techniques
have been reported to be associated with successful clinical outcomes
for appropriately selected indications. However, based on respective
advantages, disadvantages, and limitations, no single strategy, or
even combination of strategies, provides surgeons with viable options
for attaining successful long-term outcomes in the majority of patients.
As such, development of novel techniques and optimisation of current techniques
need to be, and are, the focus of a great deal of research from
the basic science level to clinical trials. Translational research
that bridges scientific discoveries to clinical application involves
the use of animal models in order to assess safety and efficacy
for regulatory approval for human use. This review article provides
an overview of animal models for cartilage repair. Cite this article:
Osteoarthritis (OA) is an important cause of
pain, disability and economic loss in humans, and is similarly important in
the horse. Recent knowledge on post-traumatic OA has suggested opportunities
for early intervention, but it is difficult to identify the appropriate
time of these interventions. The horse provides two useful mechanisms
to answer these questions: 1) extensive experience with clinical
OA in horses; and 2) use of a consistently predictable model of
OA that can help study early pathobiological events, define targets
for therapeutic intervention and then test these putative therapies.
This paper summarises the syndromes of clinical OA in horses including
pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment, and details controlled studies
of various treatment options using an equine model of clinical OA.
