Aims

The primary aim of the study was to perform an analysis to identify the cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) of robot-assisted unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (rUKA) relative to manual total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) for patients with isolated medial compartment osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Secondary aims were to assess how case volume and length of hospital stay influenced the relative cost per QALY.

Prosthetic joint infections (PJI) are one of the most devastating complications of joint replacement surgery. They are associated with significant patient morbidity and carry a significant economic cost to treat. The management of PJI varies from antibiotic suppression, debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention (DAIR) procedures through to single/multiple stage revision procedures. Concerns have been raised recently in relation to the rising number of revision arthroplasty procedures that are being undertaken in relation to infection. This database aims to collect data on all PJIs that have been managed in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region. This will allow us to investigate the microbial trends, outcomes of surgical intervention and patient outcomes within our local population. This database will incorporate diagnostic, demographic, microbiological and treatment information in relation to local PJI cases. The data will be collated from the local infectious diseases database, hospital medical records, and where available the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry Data. The first 100 cases of PJI were assessed. 76% were defined as being acute. 56% of the patients received antibiotics prior to their diagnosis however only 3% were culture negative. 89% were monomicrobial and 11% polymicrobial. The intended management strategy was a DAIR in 38% of patients and a 2-stage revision in 12% of cases. The intended management strategy was successful in 46% of the patients. The ACT is uniquely placed to analyze and create a local PJI database. This will allow us to guide further treatment and local guidelines in terms of management of these complex patients

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the spine and diarthrodial joints is by far the most common cause of chronic disability in people over 50 years of age. The disease has a striking impact on quality of life and represents an enormous societal and economic cost, a burden that will increase greatly as populations age. OA is a complex condition with broad pathology. Damage to the articular cartilage is a consistent feature, accompanied by changes to the subchondral bone and synovium. Progression of the disease involves further degeneration of the articular cartilage, damage to the underlying bone and morphological changes that include subchondral bone thickening, development of cysts, osteophytes and inflammation of the synovium. Enhanced production of proinflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases accelerates degradation of the articular cartilage. It is striking that no approved pharmacological intervention, biological therapy or procedure prevents the progressive destruction of the OA joint. All current treatments, without exception, produce symptomatic rather than regenerative results. While there have been some exciting developments in the search for OA treatments in the last decade, including matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors, anti-TNF and anti-IL1 drugs for example, none of these has to date emerged as an effective medicinal product. There is thus an urgent and compelling need to identify, validate and test new biological therapeutics. Stromal cell therapy represents one such compelling approach. The results from several early clinical studies have indicated that this approach holds a great deal of promise for the treatment of OA. Most studies have involved direct intraarticular injection of a suspension of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) for treatment of knee OA. Results from a number of controlled patient studies have suggested that this treatment results in an effective repair response. Although data regarding mechanism of action are limited, it appears that the cells have an anti-inflammatory effect, possibly targeting cells within the synovium, rather than a direct cartilage repair effect. Several recent reports have highlighted a dramatic and sustained response in patients receiving MSC treatment. For example, allogeneic expanded adipose-derived MSCs have been shown to be safe and effective in the treatment of complex perianal fistulas in Crohn's disease. Also, allogeneic bone marrow-derived MSCs has a been shown to have a positive effect in pediatric acute graft versus host disease. These observations point to a mechanism of action that involves host immunomodulation, but this needs further examination. Within the field of musculoskeletal disease effective translation of MSC technology has been hindered by a lack of randomized controlled patient studies, severe inconsistencies regarding the preparation and characterization of the cell product, and an incomplete understanding of the therapeutic mechanism. Direct to consumer clinics have flourished in some countries, providing cell treatments to OA patients. Most or all of these utilize unexpanded cell fractions from marrow or fat without even rudimentary product characterization and may report an exaggerated clinical outcome. Data from these clinics is not likely to yield information that will be useful. In fact, a recent systemic review of clinical trials involving MSC treatment in OA indicated that only a limited number of studies provided high quality evidence and long term follow up. Many suffered from a lack of consistency, including a diversity of methods for MSC preparation, and thus did not contribute to a supporting evidence base. There is a compelling need to provide clear and unambiguous clinical proof of concept relating to MSC treatment for OA. The ADIPOA2 study, currently active in Europe, will go some way towards achieving this. This is a 150 patient, phase 2b study designed to to assess the efficacy of a single injection of autologous adipose-derived MSCs in the treatment of mild to moderate OA of the knee, active and unresponsive to conservative therapy for at least 12 months

Chronic osteomyelitis is a challenging problem and a growing burden for the National Health Service. Conventional method of treatment is 2 stage surgery, with debridement and prolonged courses of antibiotics. Recently single stage treatment of chronic osteomyelitis is gaining popularity due decreased patient morbidity and cost effectiveness. Dead space management in single stage treatment is accomplished by either a muscle / myocutaneous or antibiotic loaded calcium sulphate beads. We analysed the cost effectiveness of two dead space management strategies in single stage treatment of osteomyelitis. Study is designed to analyse the health economics at 2 time points; 45 days post surgery and 2 years post surgery. We report preliminary results at 45 days post surgery. Setting – Level 1 trauma centre and university hospital. Approval – Ethics committee approved study. 10 patients in each group were retrospectively analysed through patient records. Each group was identified for standard demographics, duration of procedure, hospital stay, type and duration of postoperative antibiotics, number of out patient visits in first 45 days and recurrence of infection. Table attached details the results of both groups. In health technology assessment four quadrant model, CSB appears in quadrant II suggesting that it is more cost effective. Based on small data set and on assessment only evaluating cost, at 45 days assessment, antibiotic calcium sulphate beads from a Health Economic Cost Effectiveness Analysis offers a better economic outcome. This is holding constant the morbidity of the patients and effectiveness, assuming both treatments are standards of care, which is best evaluated at 24 months. Acknowledgements. Biocomposites for funding the cost of health economist

We examined the rates of infection and colonisation by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) between January 2003 and May 2004 in order to assess the impact of the introduction of an MRSA policy in October 2003, which required all admissions to be screened. Emergency admissions were treated prophylactically and elective beds ring-fenced. A total of 5594 admissions were cross-referenced with 22 810 microbiology results. The morbidity, mortality and cost of managing MRSA-carrying patients, with a proximal fracture of the femur were compared, in relation to age, gender, American Society of Anaesthesiologists grade and residential status, with a group of matched controls who were MRSA-negative. In 2004, we screened 1795 of 1796 elective admissions and MRSA was found in 23 (1.3%). We also screened 1122 of 1447 trauma admissions and 43 (3.8%) were carrying MRSA. All ten ward transfers were screened and four (40%) were carriers (all p < 0.001). The incidence of MRSA in trauma patients increased by 2.6% per week of inpatient stay (r = 0.97, p < 0.001). MRSA developed in 2.9% of trauma and 0.2% of elective patients during that admission (p < 0.001). The implementation of the MRSA policy reduced the incidence of MRSA infection by 56% in trauma patients (1.57% in 2003 (17 of 1084) to 0.69% in 2004 (10 of 1447), p = 0.035). Infection with MRSA in elective patients was reduced by 70% (0.56% in 2003 (7 of 1257) to 0.17% in 2004 (3 of 1806), p = 0.06). The cost of preventing one MRSA infection was £3200. Although colonisation by MRSA did not affect the mortality rate, infection by MRSA more than doubled it. Patients with proximal fractures of the femur infected with MRSA remained in hospital for 50 extra days, had 19 more days of vancomycin treatment and 26 more days of vacuum-assisted closure therapy than the matched controls. These additional costs equated to £13 972 per patient. From this experience we have been able to describe the epidemiology of MRSA, assess the impact of infection-control measures on MRSA infection rates and determine the morbidity, mortality and economic cost of MRSA carriage on trauma and elective orthopaedic wards

Many studies have evaluated bilateral versus unilateral surgery in large joints, however, limited research is available to compare outcomes of bilateral-staged foot surgeries versus synchronous-bilateral foot surgery. 186 consecutive cases of first metatarsophalangeal joint surgery were prospectively included in this study; 252 procedures were performed: 120 were unilateral or staged-bilateral, and 66 were synchronous-bilateral operations. Patients were evaluated at 6–and 12-weeks for specific early complications, and surveyed about there return to work, activities of daily living, shoe gear requirements, satisfaction, and reasons for choosing staged or synchronous surgery. Additionally, a cost analysis was performed on all surgical scenarios. Student-t test showed no statistical significance between groups in all clinical settings to a 95% confidence level. Complication rates were similar and few in all situations. Patients were very satisfied when choosing bilateral-synchronous surgery and would elect to repeat it the same way 97% of the time. The economic costs to the health system average 25% greater when patients undergoing first metatarsophalangeal joint surgery have the procedure performed one foot at a time. Combined with the time lost from work, this reveals a significant economic cost to both society and patient

Introduction and Objectives: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most frequent compressive neuropathy, it is seen in 1% of the general population. It mainly affects women between 40 and 60 years of age, and it is frequently bilateral. There are a variety of surgical techniques for its treatment, both open and endoscopic. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of the mini-incision and endoscopic techniques in the relief of symptoms and resumption of daily living activities; to assess risks and complications; and to determine the efficiency of each technique. Materials and Methods: We compared 2 groups of 58 individuals, with idiopathic CTS, with a minimum 2 year follow-up The patients in group 1 were operated endoscopically, those in group 2 were operated using a minimally invasive technique; in both cases the median nerve was anesthetized. We described both surgical techniques. We applied a modified DASH test. Results: There were no immediate or late complications or reoperations in any of the patients in either group. In group II 20% of the patients reported discomfort at the site of the scar on their first follow-up exam, this was not present 1 year after surgery. There was a slight subjective loss of force in 5% of the patients, with no differences between groups. The mean time of return to work was 21 days in both groups. All patients reported that they were satisfied with the results. Discussion and Conclusions: Both techniques leave a minimal scar and have little morbidity. Endoscopic surgery requires a greater learning curve and has greater potential risks. The greater economic cost of this technique and the operating room time it requires lead us to prefer the use of the mini-incision technique for the treatment of TCS

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common causes of knee pain in the aging population and presents with higher odds with increased BMI. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has become the standard of care for the treatment of OA. Over “719,000 TKA's were performed in 2010 in the USA alone, with dramatic economic burden- costing 16,000 USD per TKA” (CDC 2012). Over the past two decades, this cost was compounded by the unknown increasing rate of primary TKA and cannot be explained by the expanding population or worldwide obesity epidemic. These facts raise two key questions: are patients' quality of life expectations higher and driving the TKA rate up, or have surgeons changed their indications and started to operate on less disabled people? Our study aimed to determine the average functional profile for patients undergoing TKA using patient reported Outcome Measure (SF-36), to document if preoperative SF-36 scores have changed over the past two decades, and lastly to asses if patient pre-operative SF-36 scores are lower in in the USA vs the rest of the world. A literature search of Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases was performed extracting data from publishing year 1966 to 2016 with a search date of Dec 12, 2016. Two independent reviewers revised the abstracts and excluded articles with: no TKA, revision TKA, no pre-op SF-36, no SF-36 reported, incomplete scores to calculate SF-36, duplicates, review article, meta-analysis, letter to the editor, conference proceeding or abstract, disagreements were resolved with a third reviewer. All languages were included to maximize the catchment of data. All remaining articles were independently read and excluded if they did not provide data required for our study. Included articles were analyzed for data including: for year of patient enrollment, location (USA vs. non-USA), pre-operative SF-36 mental (MCS) and physical (PCS) component summary, level of evidence. Recorded data was compared post completion to assess inter-observer accuracy as per PRISMA guidelines for meta-analysis. After applying all the exclusion criteria on 923 selected abstracts, a total of 136 articles of which 30 were randomized control trials, were completely reviewed and included in our study. A total of 56,713 patients' physical component scores were analyzed and revealed an overall pre-operative SF-36 physical component score 31.93. When stratifying the data, it was revealed that patients operated in the USA had an average score of 32.3 whereas Non-US countries were 31.7, with no statistical significance. No statistical difference between SF36 scores was seen over time amongst studies of all nations. Based on the results of this study, we have shown that orthopaedic surgeons are performing TKA universally at the same pre-operative scores, independent of country of origin or year of surgery. The indications thus have remained consistent for two decades regardless of the advances in technology. Functional profiles of patients appear similar among US and Non-US countries. Further, we infer that based on pre-operative SF-36 PCS scores, the optimal time to undergo a TKA is when PCS is 31.9 +/−3

Aims. The aims of this study were to determine if vacuum assisted closure (VAC) therapy affords quicker wound closure in diabetic and ischaemic wounds or ulcers than standard treatment, if it helps debride wounds and if it prevents the need for further surgery. Materials and methods. We retrospectively reviewed 12 patients, average aged 52.1 yrs (22 to 67) at an average of 6.3 months (1 to12 months). Seven had diabetes and three had chronic osteomyelitis. All wounds or ulcers were surgically debrided prior to application of the VAC therapy. The VAC therapy was applied according to the manufacturers instructions. The main outcome measures were the time to satisfactory healing and the change in the wound surface area. Results. Satisfactory healing was achieved in six patients (50%), seven were diabetic and one patient had peripheral vascular disease. The average time to satisfactory healing was 2.5 months, (1 to 6 months). The average size of the wound /ulcer was 7.41 cm2 prior to treatment and 1.58 cm2 following treatment for an average 2.5 months in those in whom the wound/ulcer was still present. VAC therapy helped debride all wounds which remained sloughy following surgical debridement. In 8 patients the need for further surgery, such as soft tissue flaps or more radical surgery was avoided. Conclusion. VAC therapy is a useful adjunct to the standard treatment of chronic wound /ulcers in patients with diabetes or peripheral vascular disease. Its use in foot and ankle surgery leads to a quicker wound closure and in some cases, avoids the need for further surgery. There are significant economic cost savings with its use in foot and ankle surgery

Purpose: To present our experience in the treatment of sub-acromial impingement by the method of arthroscopic acromioplasty. Material – Method: This study includes 41 patients (17 males and 24 females) with average age 53.07 years (range 22 – 69). All patients were suffering from intense pain in the shoulder joint and presented movement limitation. The patients were evaluated clinically and with plain Xrays and MRI of the region. Prior to the intervention all the patients had followed a variety of adequate conservative treatment including immobilization, anti-inflammatory therapy, physical therapy, local infiltration with corticoids and xylocain. The results proved unsatisfactory. The surgical technique consisted of triple portal arthhroscopic intervention (anterior, posterior, lateral) and the use of a shaver for the completion of the acromio – plasty. The surgical time was 40 minutes (30 – 55). The post – operative protocol, which included passive and active physiotherapy, was identical for all patients. Results: The required average hospitalization was 36 hours (14 – 48). The average time needed for satisfactory rehabilitation amounted to 27 days (20 – 45). We followed closely our patients for an average of 11 months. (4 – 16). The painful symptoms disappeared thoroughly in 92.7% of our cases (38). Moderate pain persisted in 7.3% (3). Shoulder movements were fully restored in 95.1% (39). We observed no peri-operative or post – operative complications. Conclusions: The arthroscopic airomioplasty is the surgical treatment of choice in the cases of sub-aromial impingement. The method presents no great technical difficulties. The operative time is considered short, and the results in their great majority are excellent. The hospitalization needed is minimal, the rehabilitation is rapid, and the economic cost is not significant. We firmly believe that the arthroscopic acromio – plasty is the treatment of choice in the case of failed conservative treatment

Introduction: Ranked as the second most common cause of long-term disability amongst American adults, osteoarthritis (OA) affects well over 60 million Americans per year. OA is one of the major contributors to health care-related economic cost in the US, which is generally considered unacceptably high when compared other Western industrialized nations. Methods: Three hundred and thirty-five patients undergoing primary unilateral or bilateral total hip arthroplasty (THA), metal-on-metal hip resurfacing (MOMHR), total knee arthroplasty (TKA), or unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA) were offered voluntary participation in an one-on-one preoperative education session with a pre-operative educator. Length of stay (LOS) and in-patient costs was collected for patients who received individual pre-operative education. This was then compared to patients who chose not to participate in the education sessions using linear regression models. Results: Patients who chose to participate enjoyed a significantly shorter LOS than those who did not receive education, controlling for age, sex, type of procedure, and number of co-morbid conditions (3.1 ± 1.1 vs. 4.5 ± 4.7; p< 0.01). THA patients participating in the preoperative education program exhibited a calculated cost savings of $861 per case over non-educated patients (p=0.06), while TKA patients participating in the program exhibited a statistically significant savings of $1,144 per case (p=0.02). This translated into a cost savings of $84,351 for 93 THA patients and $93,493 for 74 TKA patients at our institution, accounting for the cost of the patient educator. Of higher significant impact on cost savings was the number of co-morbid conditions for both THA (p=0.01) and TKA (p=0.01) patients. If applied in the national setting, national cost savings projections for a mean 0.84 day reduction in LOS for educated THA patients estimated a savings of nearly $800 million; a mean 0.56 day reduction for preoperatively educated TKA translated into a projected savings of $1.1 billion on the national scale. Conclusion: Preoperative education in the setting of hip and knee arthroplasty is an important cost-savings tool for hospitals, Medicare and third party payers in this era of rising health care costs

Introduction. Osteoporosis (OP), osteoarthrosis (OA), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are the most common age-related degenerative bone diseases, and major public health problems in terms of enormous amount of economic cost. RA is considered as a major cause of secondary osteoporosis. At late stage, OP often leads to skeletal fractures, and OA and RA result in severe joint disability. Over the last a few decades, much significant research on the properties has been carried out on these diseases, however, a detailed comparison of the microarchitecture of cancellous bones of these diseases is not available. In this study, we investigated three-dimensional (3-D) microarchitectural properties of OP, OA and RA cancellous bone. We hypothesized that there were significant differences in microarchitecture among OP, OA and RA bone tissues that might lead to different bone quality. Materials and Method. Twenty OP, fifty OA, and twelve RA femur heads were harvested from patients undergone total hip replacement surgery. Cubic cancellous bone samples (8∗8∗8 mm3) were prepared and scanned with a high resolution microtomographic system (vivaCT 40, Scanco Medical AG., Brüttisellen, Switzerland). Then micro-CT images were segmented using individual thresholds to obtain accurate 3-D data sets. Detailed microarchitectural properties were evaluated based on novel unbiased, model-free 3-D methods. For statistical analysis, one-way ANOVA was used, and a p<0.05 was considered significant. Results. Significant differences in the microarchitecture of cancellous bone were observed among the OP, OA and RA groups. Compared with the other groups, OP cancellous bone had lowest density, thinner, typical rod-like structure and less connectivity (all p<0.01). Interestingly, there were no significant differences in the microarchitectural properties measured between the OA and RA cancellous bones. Both OA and RA cancellous bones had significant higher bone volume fraction and were thicker, typical plate-like structure compared with the OP group (all p<0.01), even though there was clearly bone erosion observed in RA cancellous bone. Discussion. Quantification of the alterations in bone properties and quality will help to gain more insights into the pathogenesis of degenerative bone diseases and to target and develop novel approaches for the intervention and treatment, and for the design, fixation and durability of total joint prosthesis. Our study demonstrated that there were significant differences in the microarchitecture of the OP, OA and RA femur head cancellous bone. The OA and RA cancellous bone had similar bone density and microarchitecture despite apparent bone erosion in the RA cancellous bone. These results from femur head did not support the traditional notion that RA and OP had similar low bone density. Thus, whether femur head bone tissues from these diseases have similar bone collagen, mineral and mechanical properties, more importantly bone quality, should be clarified in the future

The fractures of the upper end of the femur presents one of the most important medico-social problems in the developed countries of Europe and North America and the developed and under development countries of Asia and other areas of our planet. It is a real epidemic with an increasing rate, higher than the rate expected, due to the increasing elderly population. The mortality rate, the complications and in general the social, and economic cost of these injuries are particularly high. The hip fractures in 1999 were 800 in Crete and 16000 were estimated in Greece. Ninety-five percent of these fractures are due to falls mainly within the house and 80% occur to individuals over the age of 70 years. During last decade, the need to prevent fractures and protect the elderly against falls led to the design and production of hip protectors. The design concept of a hip protector aiming to protect the hip during a fall is the object of this study. The beginning of our project was the biomechanical analysis of the fall of an elderly person. In this study the impact forces and the resulting pressures caused by the fall on the hip, as well as the minimal force that can be exerted on the upper part of the femur to cause a fracture were calculated. Absorbing the energy of the impact load and shunting the energy away from the risk area of the greater trochanter was the main object of the design process. The construction of a simple apparatus that simulated the impact loads during a fall on the hip allowed the test of various geometry and material combinations, so that to meet the requirements for the new hip protector design that were set previously in the specification list. At the same time the numerical modelling of the hip protector and the use of a commercial finite element code allowed non-destructive tests in various fall conditions in order to optimize the geometry and the material of the new hip protector. The first data coming from the fall simulation apparatus provided satisfactory results for the new hip protector. The protector was found to attenuate a 10500 N impact force to 1700 N on the femur, providing the requested safety. Thus, the force received by the proximal femur remains below the literature provided average fracture threshold (3100+/−1200N). The anatomical design concept of the protector provides a good comfort level that is very important for the compliance requested by the users

Purpose of the study: This retrospective analysis compared surgical treatments of femoral neck fractures in patients aged over 80 years. Material and methods: Two hundred femoral neck fractures (Garden 3 and 4) were treated in three different manners: total prosthesis with a retaining cup (74 patients), intermediary prosthesis (58 patients), and osteosynthesis (68 patients). Indications were the same, but the periods of treatment were successive. Study variables were: mortality, number of revisions, duration of hospital stay, discharge to home or rehabilitation center, cost per hospital day. Follow-up was at least two years. The chi-square test was applied with p< 0.05. Results: Mortality was similar for the three groups: eight deaths during stay in orthopedic unit (4%), three after total prosthesis (4%), three after osteosynthesis (5%) and two after intermediary prosthesis (3%). The difference was nonsignificant (p=0.24). Among the total prostheses, five dislocations (6.7%) required anesthesia despite the retaining cup. The rate of dislocation was 12% for intermediary prostheses and to avoid recurrence four revisions were needed to totalize an intermediary prosthesis with a retaining cup. Among the osteosynthesis cases, the rate of revision was 25%; transformation to a total prosthesis was necessary for 17% and material removal with resection of the head and neck was necessary in 8%. One total prosthesis and one intermediary prosthesis had to be removed because of infection. Resection of the head and neck for infection also occurred in one patient with an intermediary prosthesis. The rate of revision for an orthopedic problem was significantly less (p< 0.01) in the total prosthesis group. At last follow-up, or before death, patients with a total prosthesis were more independent and returned to their home significantly more often than patients treated with osteosynthesis. The economic cost of these interventions were not significantly different, the cost of the implant being insignificant compared with the cost of hospitalization and reeducation of this very elderly population. Discussion: Total hip arthroplasty is a recognized treatment for painful degenerative hip disease. Historically, the total prosthesis was not considered as a first-intention treatment for fractures of the femoral neck in elderly subjects due to the risk of intraoperative blood loss, the risk of infection, and the risk of dislocation if a hip stabilization mechanism was not applied. This study demonstrated that, in light of the complications observed with the other methods, progress in anesthesia and use of implants avoiding dislocation can be proposed as first-intention treatment for total prosthesis patients who suffer a fracture of the femoral neck

Aims

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the Orthopaedic Trauma Society (OTS) classification of open fractures and economic costs.

Aims

The aim of this study was to perform the first population-based description of the epidemiological and health economic burden of fracture-related infection (FRI).

Periprosthetic infection involving TKR has been projected to rise as the burden of implanted TKR continues to grow. A study by Kurtz et al. found a significant increase in the annual incidence of TKR infection, 2001 (2.05%) to 2.18% in 2009. Thus, deep prosthetic infection around a TKR remains a significant problem that has not been solved, even as technologies improve and the operation is more commonly performed. The economic hospital cost of periprosthetic TKR infection is approximately $100,000 US for a two-stage removal and reimplantation; by the year 2020, it is estimated that 48,000 of these operations will be necessary. The total annual hospital cost for PJI treatment is expected to be over $1 billion by 2020, and does not include the doctor, pharmacologic, and physical therapy fees. Many factors have been found to be associated with an increased risk of PJI. This lecture will focus upon the peri-, intra-, and post-operative factors that have been found historically to carry an increased or decreased risk of infection. Preoperative factors that have been found to affect the risk of infection include: perioperative administration of intravenous antibiotics, patient nutrition, weight, and hemoglobin A1C in diabetic patients. Intraoperative factors include the duration of surgery, the use of antibiotic impregnated cement, and the use of dilute povidone/iodine solution irrigation. Postoperatively, wound care with antimicrobial agents, and a resistance to transfusing blood seem to lower the risk of infection. Yang et al. found that diabetes mellitus carried a 1.6x greater risk of TKR infection, in a meta-analysis of 11 cohort studies. In a registry study of over 32,000 TKA, increasing BMI from 25 kg/m2 to 35 kg/m2 was found to be associated with a greater risk of wound infection in TKR patients, increasing from 3 to 4.1%. Preoperative colonization with MRSA has been found by several investigators to be a risk for surgical site infection, despite attempts at eradication. Operatively, a wash of the surgical site for 3 minutes with a dilute solution of betadine has been found by Brown et al. to have decreased the incidence of periprosthetic joint infection from 0.97% to 0.15%. Postoperatively, the type of dressing placed over the incision may play a role; Grosso et al. found a significantly reduced rate of PJI (0.33% vs. 1.58%) when a silver impregnated, antimicrobial, dressing was used as compared to standard xeroform gauze. Finally, patients who received an allogeneic blood transfusion were found to have a higher risk of PJI (1.67%) than those who did not (0.72%)

Aims

Prior cost-effectiveness analyses on osseointegrated prosthesis for transfemoral unilateral amputees have analyzed outcomes in non-USA countries using generic quality of life instruments, which may not be appropriate when evaluating disease-specific quality of life. These prior analyses have also focused only on patients who had failed a socket-based prosthesis. The aim of the current study is to use a disease-specific quality of life instrument, which can more accurately reflect a patient’s quality of life with this condition in order to evaluate cost-effectiveness, examining both treatment-naïve and socket refractory patients.