Abstract

Introduction and Objective

The most common paediatric orthopaedic injury requiring hospital admission is a femoral fracture. There is debate regarding the optimal surgical technique for fixing femoral diaphyseal fractures in children aged 4 to 12 years. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) have issued relevant guidelines, however, there is limited evidence to support these. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the complication rate following flexible intramedullary nailing (FIN), plate fixation and external fixation (EF) for traumatic femoral diaphyseal fractures in children aged 4 to 12.

The incidence of total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) in increasing. Evidence in primary hip and knee arthroplasty suggest that preoperative opioid use is a risk factor for postoperative complication. This relationship in TSA is unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate this relationship.

The Truven Marketscan claims database was used to identify patients who underwent a TSA and were enrolled for 1-year pre- and post-operatively. Preoperative opioid use status was used to divide patients into cohorts based on the number of preoperative prescriptions received. An ‘opioid holiday’ group (patients with a preoperative, 6-month opioid naïve period after chronic use) was also included. Patient information and complication data was collected. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were then performed.

Fifty-six percent of identified patients received preoperative opioids. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that patients on continuous preoperative opioids (compared to opioid naïve) had higher odds of: infection (OR 2.34, 95%CI 1.62–3.36, p<0.001), wound complication (OR 1.97, 95%CI 1.18–3.27, p=0.009), any prosthetic complication (OR 2.62, 95%CI 2.2–3.13, p<0.001), and thromboembolic event (OR 1.42, 95%CI 1.11–1.83, p=0.006). The same group had higher healthcare utilization including extended length of stay, non-home discharge, readmission, and emergency department visits (p<0.001). This risk was reduced by a preoperative opioid holiday.

Opioid use prior to TSA is common and is associated with increased complications and healthcare utilization. This increased risk is modifiable, as a preoperative opioid holiday significantly reduced postoperative risk. Therefore, preoperative opioid use represents a modifiable risk factor.

Thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) arthritis is a common and disabling condition that can be treated with an operative procedure. Before operative measures, patients typically undergo conservative treatment utilizing methods such as physical therapy and injections. This study aims to determine what clinical modalities are being used for preoperative evaluation and nonoperative therapy and the associated cost prior to operative intervention.

We queried Truven Market Scan, a large insurance provider database to identify patients undergoing CMC arthroplasty from 2010 to 2017. Patients were identified by common Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for CMC arthroplasty. All associated CPT codes listed for each patient during the 1 year period prior to operative intervention were collected and filtered to only include those codes associated with the ICD-9/10 diagnosis codes relating to CMC arthritis. The codes were then categorized as office visits, x-ray, injections, physical therapy, medical devices, and preoperative labs. The frequency and associated cost for each category was determined.

There were 44,676 patients who underwent CMC arthroplasty during the study period. A total of $26,319,848.36 was charged during the preoperative period, for an average of $589.13 per patient. The highest contributing category to overall cost was office visits (42.1%), followed by injections (13.5%), and then physical therapy (11.1%). The most common diagnostic modality was x-ray, which was performed in 74.7% of patients and made up 11.0% of total charges. Only 49% of patients received at least one injection during the preoperative period and the average number of injections per patient was 1.72. Patients who were employed full time were more likely to receive two or more injections prior to surgery compared to patients who had retired (47% of full-time workers; 34% of retirees).

The modalities used for the preoperative evaluation and conservative treatment of CMC arthritis and the associated cost are important to understand in order to determine the most successful and cost-effective treatment plan for patients. Surprisingly, despite the established evidence supporting clinical benefits, many patients do not undergo corticosteroid injections. With office visits being the largest contributor to overall costs, further inquiry into the necessity of multiple visits and efforts to combine visits, can help to reduce cost. Also, with the advent of telemedicine it may be possible to reduce visit cost by utilizing virtual medicine. Determining the best use of telemedicine and its effectiveness are areas for future investigation.

Perioperative glucocorticoids have been used as a successful non-opioid analgesic adjunct for various orthopaedic procedures. Here we describe an ongoing randomized control trial assessing the efficacy of a post-operative methylprednisolone taper course on immediate post-operative pain and function following surgical distal radius fixation. We hypothesize that a post-operative methylprednisolone taper course following distal radius fracture fixation will lead to improved patient pain and function.

This study is a randomized control trial (NCT03661645) of a group of patients treated surgically for distal radius fractures. Patients were randomly assigned at the time of surgery to receive intraoperative dexamethasone only or intraoperative dexamethasone followed by a 6-day oral methylprednisolone (Medrol) taper course. All patients received the same standardized perioperative pain management protocol. A pain journal was used to record visual analog pain scores (VAS-pain), VAS-nausea, and number of opioid tablets consumed during the first 7 post-operative days (POD). Patients were seen at 2-weeks, 6-weeks, and 12-weeks post-operatively for clinical evaluation and collection of patient reported outcomes (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Score [qDASH]). Differences in categorical variables were assessed with χ2 or Fischer's exact tests. T-tests or Mann-Whitney-U tests were used to compare continuous data.

Forty-three patients were enrolled from October 2018 to October 2019. 20 patients have been assigned to the control group and 23 patients have been assigned to the treatment group. There were no differences in age (p=0.7259), Body Mass Index (p=0.361), race (p=0.5605), smoking status (p=0.0844), or pre-operative narcotic use (p=0.2276) between cohorts. 83.7% (n=36) of patients were female and the median age was 56.9 years. No differences were seen in pre-operative qDASH (p=0.2359) or pre-operative PRWE (p=0.2329) between groups. In the 7 days following surgery, patients in the control group took an average of 16.3 (±12.02) opioid tablets, while those in the treatment group took an average of 8.71 (±7.61) tablets (p=0.0270). We see that significant difference in Opioid consumption is formed at postoperative day two between the two groups with patients in the control group taking. Patient pain scores decreased uniformly in both groups to post-operative day 7. Patient pain was not statistically from POD0 to POD2 (p=0.0662 to 0.2923). However, from POD4 to POD7 patients receiving the methylprednisolone taper course reported decreased pain (p=0.0021 to 0.0497). There was no difference in qDASH score improvement at 6 or 12 weeks. Additionally, no differences were seen for wrist motion improvement at 6 or 12 weeks.

A methylprednisolone taper course shows promise in reducing acute pain in the immediate post-operative period following distal radius fixation. Furthermore, although no statistically significant reductions in post-operative opioid utilization were noted, current trends may become statistically significant as the study continues. No improvements were seen in wrist motion or qDASH and continued enrollment of patients in this clinical trial will further elucidate the role of methylprednisolone for these outcomes.

Introduction: It has been shown that acrylic bone cement is weakened by its porosity, which enhances the formation of micro-cracks that contribute to major crack propagation. It has also been observed, that mixing procedures play a significant role in determining the quality of bone cement produced. A high degree of porosity is found to exist in cement that is inadequately mixed.

Currently mixing system allow for the preparation of the bone cement under the application of a vacuum in a closed, sealed chamber by means of a repeatable mixing action. These systems are perceived to be repeatable, reliable, and operator independent. The objective of this study is to evaluate the quality and consistency of acrylic bone cement prepared by scrub staff in an orthopaedic theatre using a commercially available third generation vacuum mixing syringe, in terms of the level of voids within the cement microsturcture.

Materials and Methods: The mixing devices were stored at 23°C ± 1°C for a minimum of 24 hours prior to mixing. The acrylic bone cement (Palacos R® with gentamicin, Biomet Merck, UK) was stored at 4°C ± 1°C for a minimum of 24 hours prior to mixing.

Bone cement was mixed using a commercially available third generation mixing device (vacuum = −550mmHg) at Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The cement was mixed according to the device manufacturers’ instructions for use. Mixing was carried out during a joint replacement surgery by a number of experienced theatre scrub staff (n = 35). The cement remaining at the end of the procedure was allowed to cure within the delivery nozzle, made from linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and having an internal diameter of 10mm. 205 nozzles were collected post-operatively and stored at 23°C ± 1°C prior to testing. The percentage porosities were determined by measuring the apparent densities based on Archimedes principle and, as a direct result; it was possible to calculate the mean percentage porosities.

Discussion: It can be observed that the majority of the theatre nurses, ie 46.8% prepared bone cement using the vacuum mixing system containing a porosity of between 2% to 4%. A cement porosity of this range would be the accepted optimum content for acrylic bone cement. However, 6.4% of the theatre nurses prepared cement demonstrating a porosity content ranging from 8–16%, which is highly unsatisfactory when you consider that the cement mixing system is perceived to be a consistent and reliable mixing device that is operator independent.

Figure 2 illustrates a bar chart representing the bone cement porosity as a function of which orthopaedic theatre the cement was prepared. There was no significance difference when comparing the quality of the cement mixed in terms of porosity with the different theatres. The mean porosity values of the cement mixed ranged between 2.5% and 5.2% depending on which theatre was used.

Conclusions: Bone cement mixed using the commercially available third generation device in theatre by 35 scrub staff was found to have a high degree of variability. Thus demonstrating that even an alleged reproducible mixing system is independent on mixing technique when used in a clinical situation by a number of users. Thus illustrating the system is not wholly user independent.

As a consequence of this investigation it is recommended that the key to ensuring high quality bone cement, with a good mechanical strength, that can be consistently prepared in theatre by scrub staff are two fold.

The orthopaedic staff must be aware of the significance of cement mixing and how it is affected by a number of factors including the type of mixing system, vacuum level applied, and mixing technique.