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Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_7 | Pages 86 - 86
4 Apr 2023
Joumah A Al-Ashqar M Richardson G Bakhshayesh P Kanakaris N
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The aim of this study was to assess the impact of Covid-19 measures on the rate of surgical site infections (SSI) and subsequent readmissions in orthopaedic patients. Retrospective, observational study in a level 1 major trauma center comparing rates of SSI in orthopaedic patients who underwent surgery prior to the Covid-19 lockdown versus that of patients who underwent surgery during the lockdown period. A total of 1151 patients were identified using electronic clinical records over two different time periods; 3 months pre Covid-19 lockdown (n=680) and 3 months during the Covid-19 lockdown (n=470). Patients were followed up for 1 year following their initial procedure. Primary outcome was readmission for SSI. Secondary outcomes were treatment received and requirement for further surgeries. The most commonly performed procedures were arthroplasty and manipulation under anaesthesia with 119 in lockdown vs 101 non-lockdown (p=0.001). The readmission rate was higher in the lockdown group with 61 (13%) vs 44 (6.5%) in the non-lockdown group (p <0.001). However, the majority were due to other surgical complications such as dislocations. Interestingly, the SSI rates were very similar with 24 (5%) in lockdown vs 28 (4%) in non-lockdown (p=0.472). Twenty patients (4.2%) required a secondary procedure for their SSI in the lockdown group vs 24 (3.5%) in non-lockdown (p=0.381). Mortality rate was similar at 44 (9.3%) in lockdown vs 61 (9.0%; p=0.836). Whilst Covid-19 precautions were associated with higher readmission rates, there was no significant difference in rate of SSI between the two groups


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_7 | Pages 133 - 133
4 Apr 2023
Sankar S Kadakia A Szanto E
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COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. The initial response to the pandemic included the cessation of routine services including elective orthopaedic surgery. There was apprehension among both surgeons and patients about restarting elective surgical services. The high mortality rate in perioperative patients who contract COVID-19 was of particular concern. The aim of this study was to identify the perioperative viral transmission rate in orthopaedic patients at our institution following the restart of elective surgery between August 2020 and November 2020 after the first wave of Covid in the UK. All patients who had their elective Orthopaedic surgeries at our institution from 1st August 2020 to 30th November 2020 were checked whether they were Covid positive or experienced COVID symptoms within 2 weeks after the operation. All patients were advised a 14-day period of comprehensive social distancing, 3 days of self-isolation and had a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of surgery and underwent surgery at a COVID free site. The patients were contacted and the hospital database was searched to identify those patients who were Covid positive or had Covid symptoms after the surgery. Baseline patient characteristics were recorded including age, gender, procedure, the subspeciality and admission type. Patients who underwent emergency procedures and trauma operations were excluded. Out of the 499 patients, 315 were contacted over telephone and hospital database was searched for the rest of the patients. We found that none of the patients were positive for COVID or had symptoms of COVID within two weeks of surgery. 5 patients were COVID positive with symptoms few months after the procedure and all of them recovered. There were 144 inpatient admissions and 353 day cases. The development of a COVID-free pathway for elective orthopaedic patients results in very low viral transmission rates. Findings of our study confirms that COVID-free elective pathway is an efficient process, and this could be implemented in future elective Orthopaedic surgeries during COVID times. Elective surgery can be safely resumed using dedicated pathways and procedures -Surgeons, hospital staff and patients should remain vigilant


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_9 | Pages 95 - 95
17 Apr 2023
Gupta P Butt S Galhoum A Dasari K
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Between 2016–2019, 4 patients developed hip infections post-hemiarthroplasty. However, between 2020–2021 (Covid-19 pandemic period), 6 patients developed hip infections following hip hemiarthroplasty. The purpose of the investigation is to establish the root causes and key learning from the incident and use the information contained within this report to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident in the future. 65 patients presented with a neck of femur fracture during Covid-19 pandemic period between 2020–2021, 26 had hip hemiarthroplasty of which 6 developed hip infections. Medical records, anaesthetic charts and post-hip infections guidelines from RCS and NICE were utilised. Proteus, Enterococci and Strep. epidermis were identified as the main organisms present causing the hip infection. The average number of ward moves was 4 with 90% of patients developing COVID-19 during their hospital stay. The chance of post-operative wound infection were multifactorial. Having had 5 of 6 patients growing enterococci may suggest contamination of wound either due to potential suboptimal hygiene measures, inadequate wound management /dressing, potential environmental contamination if the organisms (Vancomycin resistant enterococci) are found to be of same types and potential hospital acquired infection due to inadequate infection control measures or suboptimal hand hygiene practices. 3 of the 5 patients grew Proteus, which points towards suboptimal hygiene practices by patients or poor infection control practices by staff. Lack of maintenance of sterility in post op wound dressings alongside inexperience of the handling of post-operative wound in non-surgical wards; multiple ward transfers exceeding the recommended number according to trust guidelines especially due to pandemic isolation measures and COVID-19 infection itself had resulted in an increased rate of hip infections during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multidisciplinary team education and planned categorisation and isolation strategy is essential to minimise the rate of further hip infections during the pandemic period in future


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 103-B, Issue SUPP_2 | Pages 76 - 76
1 Mar 2021
Peters J Wickramarachchi L Thakrar A Chin K Wong J Mazis G Beckles V
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Abstract. Objectives. Our objective was to determine the incidence of post-operative COVID-19 infection within the first two weeks following treatment at the COVID-free site. During the COVID-19 pandemic our hospital saw one of the highest rates of COVID-19 infection in the United Kingdom. As a result, our trauma services were relocated to a vacant private elective hospital to provide a ‘COVID-free’ setting for trauma patients. Patients admitted to the COVID-free site were screened for coronavirus infection and only treated at that site if asymptomatic. Those with symptoms were treated at the ‘COVID’ site. Method. We collected data at the COVID-free site during the first seven weeks of its’ establishment. Inclusion criteria were all patients presenting for operative management of limb trauma; however, fragility hip fractures were excluded. All patients were screened for symptoms of COVID-19 infection at their 2-week follow-up appointment. Results. 72 patients presented to our service during the study period. The mean age was 34.9 years (21 to 89). 62 patients had general anaesthesia (86%), 7 patients had regional anaesthesia (10%) and 3 patients had local anaesthesia (4%). One asymptotic patient who was swabbed for COVID-19 on admission returned a positive result. This patient had contracted the infection before surgery and was excluded from further analysis. 71 patients (100%) remained asymptomatic at follow-up and none had required medical attention for suspected COVID-19 infection. Conclusion. A ‘COVID-free’ trauma service was established in a private elective hospital during the pandemic. None of the patients undergoing urgent trauma surgery in this setting developed COVID-19 symptoms as a result of their hospital admission. Establishing a separate site with screening to avoid admission of patients with COVID-19 infection can allow safe emergency surgery. This data can support informed consent and reassure patients of their risks when we resume day case and elective surgery. Declaration of Interest. (b) declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported:I declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_9 | Pages 20 - 20
17 Apr 2023
Reimers N Huynh T Schulz A
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The objectives of this study are to evaluate the impact of the CoVID-19 pandemic on the development of relevant emerging digital healthcare trends and to explore which digital healthcare trend does the health industry need most to support HCPs. A web survey using 39 questions facilitating Five-Point Likert scales was performed from 1.8.2020 – 31.10.2020. Of 260 participants invited, 90 participants answered the questionnaire. The participants were located in the Hospital/HCP sector in 11.9%, in other healthcare sectors in 22.2%, in the pharmaceutical sector in 11.1%, in the medical device and equipment industry in 43.3%. The Five-Point Likert scales were in all cases fashioned as from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). As the top 3 most impacted digital health care trends strongly impacted by CoVID-19, respondents named:. - remote management of patients by telemedicine, mean answer 4.44. - shared data governance under patient control, mean answer 3.80. - new virtual interaction between HCP´s and medical industry, mean answer 3.76. Respondents were asked which level of readiness of the healthcare system currently possess to cope with the current trend impacted by CoVID-19. - Digital and efficient healthcare logistics, mean answer 1.54. - Integrated health care, mean answer 1.73. - Use of big data and artificial intelligence, mean answer 2.03. Asked if collaborative research in the form of digital data platforms for research data sharing and increasing collaboration with multi-centric consortia would have a positive impact on the healthcare sector, the agreement was high with a value of mean 4.10 on the scale. We can conclude that the impact of COVID-19 appears to be a high agreement of necessary advances in digitalization in the health care sector and in the collaboration of HCPs with the health care industry. Health care professional are unsure, in how far the national health care sector is capable of transformation in healthcare logistics and integrated health care


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_8 | Pages 91 - 91
11 Apr 2023
Pervaiz A Nahas S Waterman J
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Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS has been under unprecedentedpressure. Elective surgery had ceased, and trauma surgery has decreased dramatically. Surgical training is multi-faceted and requires a specialist trainee to have a timetable which includes regular elective non-emergency operating, trauma operating and training in outpatient clinics. Consequently, training in theatre and the achievement of operative numbers and index procedures had not been possible for Trauma and Orthopaedic (T&O) specialist trainees. The Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST) has clear training index requirements for all T&O specialist trainees. In this study, we surveyed specialist trainees in the North West London deanery against the annual requirements set by the JCST guidelines. In addition, we retrospectively assessed the total number of trauma referrals and operations scheduled in our unit during the COVID-19 outbreak compared to that one year previously. The aim of this study is to objectively assess the effect the pandemic has on T&O specialist training. A total of 24 responses were collected from specialist trainees. The results of the survey showed 87% of trainees believed that their training had been affected. 75% of trainees felt they were not on track to meet operative numbers for the year, and 71% felt index number achievement had been affected. Trauma case numbers dropped by 20% compared to that one year previously. We recommend timely, planned and conscientious remediation for specialist trainees’ educational requirements. Specialist trainees must take responsibility for their training and use of additional educational opportunities. Clinical supervisors and training programme directors must provide additional support and guidance to achieve ARCP outcomes however in some scenarios extension of training may be necessary


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 102-B, Issue SUPP_11 | Pages 10 - 10
1 Dec 2020
Lim JA Thahir A Korde VA Krkovic M
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Object. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management and outcome of patients with neck of femur fractures. Methods. Data was collected for 96 patients with neck of femur fractures who presented to the emergency department between March 1, 2020 and May 15, 2020. This data set included information about their COVID-19 status. Parameters including inpatient complications, hospital quality measures, mortality rates, and training opportunities were compared between the COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative groups. Furthermore, our current cohort of patients were compared against a historical control group of 95 patients who presented with neck of femur fractures before the COVID-19 pandemic. Results. Seven (7.3%) patients were confirmed COVID positive by RT-PCR testing. The COVID positive cohort, when compared to the COVID negative cohort, had higher rates of postoperative complications (71.4% vs 25.9%), increased length of stay (30.3 days vs 12 days) and quicker time to surgery (0.7 days vs 1.3 days). The 2020 cohort compared to the 2019 cohort, had an increased 30-day mortality rate (13.5% vs 4.2%), increased number of delayed cases (25% vs 11.8%) as well as reduced training opportunities for Orthopaedic trainees to perform the surgery (51.6% vs 22.8%). Conclusions. COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the care and outcome of neck of femur fracture patients during the pandemic with an increase in 30-day mortality rate. There were profound adverse effects on patient management pathways and outcomes while also affecting training opportunities


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_8 | Pages 99 - 99
11 Apr 2023
Domingues I Cunha R Domingues L Silva E Carvalho S Lavareda G Carvalho R
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The covid-19 pandemic had a great impact in the daily clinical and surgical practice. Concerning patients with a femoral neck fracture, there is the need of a negative Sars-CoV-2 test or an established isolation period for the positive cases, pre-operatively. The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of the pandemic in the management of patients with femoral neck fractures, who were submitted to surgical treatment with hemiarthroplasty, in our hospital. A retrospective, observational study was performed, analysing the patients with femoral neck fractures submitted to hip hemiarthroplasty, during the years 2019 (before the pandemic) and 2020 (first year of the pandemic). We analysed the first 5 patients operated in each month of the mentioned years. We analysed 56 and 60 patients submitted to surgery in the years 2019 and 2020, respectively. The inpatient days were, in average, 14.1 and 13.1. Patients were operated, in average, 3.0 and 3.8 days after admission (corrected to 2.5 and 3.6 days if the time of discontinuation of anticoagulants or antiplatelets needed before surgery is deducted). There were peri-operative complications in 53.6% and 46.7% of the patients, in 2019 and 2020 respectively. The most common complication in both groups was a low postoperative haemoglobin level needing red blood cell transfusion. One-year postoperative mortality rate was 17.9% and 13.3%, respectively. Despite the changes triggered by the new pandemic, there was an overall maintenance of the quality of the management of these patients, with only a slight increase in the interval between admission and surgery. Some of the remaining variables even showed an improvement when comparing the two groups of patients. Nevertheless, it is important to mention that there were patients infected with Covid-19 who died before being submitted to surgery, therefore not being present in these statistics


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 103-B, Issue SUPP_13 | Pages 14 - 14
1 Nov 2021
Singh P Gouk C Tuffley C Gewin J
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Introduction and Objective. In anticipation of reduced workload and need for minimisation of staff contact with infectious patients during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Cairns Hospital reduced the junior orthopaedic staffing and absolved team structure. Materials and Methods. We performed a retrospective audit of our department's workload during a predetermined three week period during the 2020 lockdown and in 2019. Results. 699 patient referrals from Emergency Department were captured; 358 in 2019 and 341 in 2020, a decrease of 4.7%. The same proportion were admitted (64.5%); similar numbers required operative intervention; 51.7% (2019) vs 50.1% (2020). There was a small reduction in spine and neck of femur fracture presentations (2% and 0.9% respectively). Common presentations such as supracondylar fractures and distal radius fractures remained nearly unchanged (increased 0.7% and 0.2% respectively). Overall, the referred patients’ demographics were essentially unchanged. Department workforce was reduced by 45% (20 vs 11 doctors). Elective operating, excluding category 1, was suspended, resulting in an overall reduction of total admissions and operations by 29.7%. The average length of stay of inpatients increased by 25.3% (2.5 vs 3.16 days). Conclusions. During lockdown, the acute orthopaedic burden remained almost unchanged. Despite a reduction in inpatient patient load, the average length of stay increased. This was multifactorial, including staffing reduction disproportional to workload, loss of team structure and continuity of care, and government enforced restrictions to the Cape York region. This can be used in future for planning the staffing allocation if further lockdowns are enforced during this, or future, pandemic


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_9 | Pages 71 - 71
17 Apr 2023
Cochrane I Hussain A Kang N Chaudhury S
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, video/phone consultations (VPC) were increasingly utilised as an alternative to face-to-face (F2F) consultations, to minimise nosocomial viral exposure. We previously demonstrated that VPCs were highly rated by both patients and clinicians. This study compared satisfaction between both clinic modalities in contemporaneously delivered outpatient surveys. We also assessed the feasibility and effects of converting F2F orthopaedic consultations to VPC. Surveys were posted to patients who attended VPCs and F2F consultations at a large tertiary centre from August to October 2020 inclusive, across 51 specialties. F2F and VPC patients ranked their overall satisfaction with their consultation on a 10-point numerical scale (10=highest satisfaction). Simultaneously, a pilot study was undertaken of outpatient fracture clinics to identify patients suitable for VPCs, with X-rays (if needed) taken and transferred from satellite sites to reduce tertiary centre footfall. For F2F consultations, 1419 of 4465 surveys (31.8%) were returned with similar rates for VPCs (1332 of 4572, 29.1%). While mean satisfaction ratings were high for both clinic modalities, they were significantly higher for F2F: 9.13 (95% CI 9.05-9.22) for F2F clinics, compared to 8.23 (95% CI 8.11-8.35) for VPCs (p<0.001, t-test). F2F patients were almost four times more likely to state a preference for future F2F appointments compared to VPCs, whereas patients who attended VPCs showed an equal preference for either option (p< 0.001, chi2 test). 53% of 111 fracture clinic patients sampled were identified as suitable for VPCs. 1 patient (1.7%) requested their VPC to be converted to F2F due to poor symptom control. Our study showed patients reported high satisfaction ratings for both F2F clinics and VPCs, with prior experience of VPCs affecting patients’ future preferences. Only 1.7% of F2F patients converted to VPCs declined their virtual appointment. Our results support future use of VPCs


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 102-B, Issue SUPP_11 | Pages 15 - 15
1 Dec 2020
Haider Z Aweid B Subramanian P Iranpour F
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Telemedicine is the delivery of healthcare from a remote location using integrated computer/communication technology. This systematic review aims to explore evidence for telemedicine in orthopaedics to determine its advantages, validity, effectiveness and utilisation particularly during our current pandemic where patient contact is limited. Databases of PubMed, Scopus and CINHAL were systematically searched and articles were included if they involved any form of telephone or video consultation in an orthopaedic population. Findings were synthesised into four themes: patient/clinician satisfaction, accuracy and validity of examination, safety and patient outcomes and cost effectiveness. Quality assessment was undertaken using Cochrane and Joanna Briggs Institute appraisal tools. Twenty studies were included consisting of nine RCTs across numerous orthopaedic subspecialties including fracture care, elective orthopaedics and oncology. Studies revealed high patient satisfaction with telemedicine for convenience, less waiting and travelling time. Telemedicine was cost effective particularly if patients had to travel long distances, required hospital transport or time off work. No clinically significant differences were found in patient examination nor measurement of patient reported outcome measures. Telemedicine was reported to be a safe method of consultation. However, studies were of variable methodological quality with selection bias. In conclusion, evidence suggests that telemedicine in orthopaedics can be safe, cost effective, valid in clinical assessment with high patient/clinician satisfaction. Further work with high quality RCTs is required to elucidate long term outcomes. This systematic review presents up-to-date evidence on the use of telemedicine and provides data for organisations considering its use in the current COVID-19 pandemic and beyond


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 103-B, Issue SUPP_13 | Pages 54 - 54
1 Nov 2021
Lichtenstein A Ovadia J Albagli A Krespi R Rotman D Lichter O Efrima B
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Introduction and Objective. The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, first identified in China in December 2019, halted daily living with mandatory lockdowns imposed in Israel in March 2020. This halt induced a sedentary lifestyle for most citizens as well as a decreased physical activity time. These are both common risk factors for the development of low back pain (LBP) which is considered a major global medical and economical challenge effecting almost 1 in 3 people and a leading cause of Emergency Department (ED) visits. It is hypothesized that prevalence of minor LBP episodes during the first total lockdown should have increased compared to previous times. However, due to “Covid-19 fear” we expect a decrease in ED visits. We also speculate that rate of visits due to serious spinal illness (causing either immediate hospitalization or spinal surgery within 30-days of presentation) did not change. Materials and Methods. Retrospective study based on patients visiting the ED in Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center During the first pandemic stage in 2020 compared to parallel periods in 2018 and 2019 due to LBP. Results. During the first lockdown period on March 11th-April 21st, only 171 patients attended the ED due to non-traumatic LBP compared to more than 330 patients in the corresponding time during the years 2018 and 2019. This represents a statistically significant drop of 52.5% (p-value < 0.01) and 48.7% (p-value < 0.01) in LBP ED visits during the first pandemic lockdown of 2020 compared to 2019 and 2018, respectively. Additionally, there was no significant drop in immediate hospitalization or spine surgeries within 30 days following the ED visit (p-value >0.10 for all analysis types). Conclusions. “Covid-19 fear” was probably the main reason for patients with an LBP episode to stay at home during the Covid-19 massive outbreak. Since no significant change was shown in the more severe cases, it seems that the minor LBP patients were able to contain the episode outside hospital walls. This presents an opportunity for clinicians and policy decisions makers to learn and find ways to improve our care of back pain in the community and to reduce unnecessary burden on EDs and the healthcare system


Bone & Joint Research
Vol. 9, Issue 8 | Pages 531 - 533
1 Aug 2020
Magan AA Plastow R Haddad FS


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 106-B, Issue SUPP_1 | Pages 37 - 37
2 Jan 2024
Mineiro J
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In March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The pandemic imposed drastic changes in our social and professional routine. Professionally at all levels our hospital tasks were changed and prioritized. Surgeons and residents were deployed on rotations to fields other than their expertise in orthopaedics. Health-care education received major changes in these challenging times, and students did face difficulties in receiving education, as well as training due to limited clinical and surgical exposure. In response to the WHO regulations, most of the teaching centres and hospitals worldwide have adopted the web-based teaching and learning model to continue the education and training of orthopaedic residents. These results brought significant changes to the training experience in orthopaedic surgery in combination with the fact that clinical duty hours and case volume were substantially reduced. In what concerns orthopaedic journal publications, the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a decline in the annual publication rate for the first time in over 20 years. Although not uniform, the reduction was most likely due to multifactorial causes. Regarding the appraisal at the end of training, at the Orthopaedic European Board Examination we were able to verify that the outcome at the written part 1 exam was good, equivalent to the outcome prior to the pandemic. However the oral viva was much worse, probably due to the fact that residents skipped much of the clinical and surgical teaching and exposure during 2020 and 2021. At the end of training, theoretical/factual knowledge was good but poor from the clinical practical experience


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 106-B, Issue SUPP_2 | Pages 41 - 41
2 Jan 2024
Balmayor E
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Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a new class of drug that can be used to express a therapeutic protein and, in contrast to DNA, is safer and inexpensive. Among its advantages, mRNA will immediately begin to express its encoded protein in the cell cytoplasm. The protein will be expressed for a period of time, after which the mRNA is degraded. There is no risk of genetic damage, one of the concerns with plasmid DNA (pDNA) used in traditional gene therapy approaches. Nevertheless, mRNA application in tissue regeneration and regenerative medicine remains limited. In this case, mRNA must overcome its main hurdles: immunogenicity, lack of stability, and intracellular delivery. Research has been done to overcome these limitations, and the future of mRNA seems promising for tissue repair. 1,2. This keynote talk will address questions including: What are the opportunities for mRNA to improve outcomes in musculoskeletal tissue repair, in particular bone and cartilage? What are the key factors and challenges to expediting this technology to patient treatment (beyond COVID-19 vaccination)?. Acknowledgements: E.R.B thanks the cmRNAbone project funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the grant agreement no. 874790 and the NIH R01 AR074395 from NIAMS for funding her mRNA work


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_9 | Pages 94 - 94
17 Apr 2023
Gupta P Butt S Dasari K Galhoum A Nandhara G
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The Nottingham Hip Fracture Score (NHFS) was developed in 2007 as a predictor of 30-day mortality after hip fracture surgery following a neck of femur fracture. The National Hip Fracture Database is the standard used which calculated their own score using national data. The NHF score for 30-day mortality was calculated for 50 patients presenting with a fractured neck femur injury between January 2020 to March 2020. A score <5 was classified as low risk and >/=5 as high risk. Aim was to assess the accuracy in calculating the Nottingham Hip Fracture Score against the National Hip Fracture Database. To explore whether it should it be routinely included during initial assessment to aid clinical management?. There was an increase in the number of mortalities observed in patients who belonged to the high-risk group (>=5) compared to the low risk group. COVID-19 positive patients had worse outcomes with average 30-day mortality of 6.78 compared to the average of 6.06. GEH NHF score per month showed significant accuracy against the NHFD scores. The identification of high-risk groups from their NHF score can allow for targeted optimisations and elucidation of risk factors easily gathered at the point of hospitalisation. The NHFS is a valuable tool and useful predictor to stratify the risk of 30-day mortality and 1-year mortality after hip fracture surgery. Inclusion of the score should be considered as mandatory Trust policy for neck of femur fracture patients to aid clinical management and improve patient safety overall


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_8 | Pages 102 - 102
11 Apr 2023
Mosseri J Lex J Abbas A Toor J Ravi B Whyne C Khalil E
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Total knee and hip arthroplasty (TKA and THA) are the most commonly performed surgical procedures, the costs of which constitute a significant healthcare burden. Improving access to care for THA/TKA requires better efficiency. It is hypothesized that this may be possible through a two-stage approach that utilizes prediction of surgical time to enable optimization of operating room (OR) schedules. Data from 499,432 elective unilateral arthroplasty procedures, including 302,490 TKAs, and 196,942 THAs, performed from 2014-2019 was extracted from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical and Quality Improvement (NSQIP) database. A deep multilayer perceptron model was trained to predict duration of surgery (DOS) based on pre-operative clinical and biochemical patient factors. A two-stage approach, utilizing predicted DOS from a held out “test” dataset, was utilized to inform the daily OR schedule. The objective function of the optimization was the total OR utilization, with a penalty for overtime. The scheduling problem and constraints were simulated based on a high-volume elective arthroplasty centre in Canada. This approach was compared to current patient scheduling based on mean procedure DOS. Approaches were compared by performing 1000 simulated OR schedules. The predict then optimize approach achieved an 18% increase in OR utilization over the mean regressor. The two-stage approach reduced overtime by 25-minutes per OR day, however it created a 7-minute increase in underutilization. Better objective value was seen in 85.1% of the simulations. With deep learning prediction and mathematical optimization of patient scheduling it is possible to improve overall OR utilization compared to typical scheduling practices. Maximizing utilization of existing healthcare resources can, in limited resource environments, improve patient's access to arthritis care by increasing patient throughput, reducing surgical wait times and in the immediate future, help clear the backlog associated with the COVID-19 pandemic


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_16 | Pages 14 - 14
17 Nov 2023
Raghu A Kapilan M Sahae I Tai S
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Abstract. Background. 1. 63,284 patients presented with neck of femur fractures in England in 2020 (NHFD report 2021)2. To maximise theatre efficiency during the first wave of COVID-19, NHSE guidance recommended the use of HA for most patients requiring arthroplasty.3. The literature reports an incidence of Hemiarthroplasty dislocations of 1–15%. Aims. 1. To study the number and possible causes of dislocations in patients with Primary hemiarthroplasty for fracture neck of femur2. To compare our data with national and international data in terms of dislocation and revision rates for Hemiarthroplasty. Methods. Retrospective study Duration- 1st April 2021–31st March 20223. Inclusion criteria- Patients with neck of femur fracture treated with Hemiarthroplasty. Exclusion criteria- Patients treated with other surgical options for neck of femur fractures. Results. 1. No. of neck of femur patients- 4442. No. of patients treated with Hemiarthroplasty- 2143. No. of dislocations- 44. 75% were female, 75% had AMTS>7, 50% were operated within 36 hours of trauma, 75% dislocated within a month of surgery, 75% of the dislocations were revised. 5. One dislocation was due to >72 hour delay to surgery, second dislocation was due to smaller offset and shortening, third was due to acetabular dysplasia, fourth was due to larger head used. Discussion-1. Our 1.86% dislocation rate matches that in the literature of 1–6%2. 75% dislocated within a month of surgery matches that in the literature that maximum dislocations occur within one month. 3. Closed reduction as definitive method of management of dislocation 25% matches that in the literature of 22–25%4. 75% dislocations revised similar to literature of 75–80% revision rate. Conclusion. Pre-operative templating can reduce surgical error involving limb length discrepancy and shortening to prevent dislocations. Declaration of Interest. (b) declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported:I declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_7 | Pages 68 - 68
4 Apr 2023
Kelly E Gibson-Watt T Elcock K Boyd M Paxton J
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The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a pivot to online learning for many traditional, hands-on subjects such as anatomy. This, coupled with the increase in online education programmes, and the reduction of time students spend in anatomy dissection rooms, has highlighted a real need for innovative and accessible learning tools. This study describes the development of a novel 3-dimensional (3D), interactive anatomy teaching tool using structured light scanning (SLS) technology. This technique allows the 3D shape and texture of an object to be captured and displayed online, where it can be viewed and manipulated in real-time. Human bones of the upper limb, vertebrae and whole skulls were digitised using SLS using Einscan Pro2X/H scanners. The resulting meshes were then post-processed to add the captured textures and to remove any extraneous information. The final models were uploaded into Sketchfab where they were orientated, lit and annotated. To gather opinion on these models as effective teaching tools, surveys were completed by anatomy students (n=35) and anatomy educators (n=8). Data was collected using a Likert scale response, as well as free text answers to gather qualitative information. 3D scans of the scapula, humerus, radius, ulna, vertebrae and skull were successfully produced by SLS. Interactive models were produced via scan data in Sketchfab and successfully annotated to provide labelled 3D models for examination. 94% of survey respondents agreed that the interactive models were easy to use (n=35, 31% agree and 63% strongly agree) and 97% agreed that the 3D interactive models were more useful than 2D images for learning bony anatomy (n=35; 26% agree and 71% strongly agree). This initial study has demonstrated a suitable proof-of-concept for SLS technology as a useful technique for producing 3D interactive online tools for learning and teaching bony anatomy. Current studies are focussed on determining the SLS accuracy and the ability of SLS to capture soft tissue/joints. We believe that this tool will be a useful technique for generating online 3D interactive models to study orthopaedic anatomy


Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 105-B, Issue SUPP_9 | Pages 53 - 53
17 Apr 2023
Woodhead J Paxton J
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While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for more accessible anatomy instruction tools, it is also well known that the time allocated to practical anatomy teaching has reduced in the past decades. Notably, the opportunity for anatomy students to learn osteology is not prioritised, nor is the ability of students to appreciate osteological variation. As a potential method of increasing accessibility to bone models, this study describes the process of developing 3D-printed replicas of human bones using a combination of structured light scanning (SLS) technology and 3D printing. Human bones were obtained from the Anatomy Lab at the University of Edinburgh and were digitised using SLS via an Einscan H scanner. The resulting data was then used to print multiple replicas of varying materials, colours, scales and resolutions on an Ultimaker S3 3D printer. To gather opinion on these models and their variables, surveys were completed by anatomy students and educators (n=57). Data was collected using a Likert scale response, as well as free-text answers to gather qualitative information. 3D scans of the scapula, atlas (C1 vertebrae) and femur were successfully obtained. Plastic replicas were produced with defined variables in 4 separate stations e.g. different colours, to obtain results from survey respondents. For colour, 87.7% of survey respondents preferred white models, with 7% preferring orange and 5.3% preferring blue. For material, 47.4% of respondents preferred PLA (Polylactic acid), while 33.3% preferred ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), 12.3% preferred Pet-G (Polyethylene terephthalate glycol), 3.5% preferred Glassbend and 3.5% had no preference. Additional results based on scale and resolution were also collected. This initial study has demonstrated a proof-of-concept workflow for SLS technology to be combined with 3D printing to produce plastic replicas of human bones. Our study has provided key information about the colour, scale, material and resolution required for these models. Our future work will focus on determining accuracy of the models and their use as teaching aids for osteology education