Bulletin of the NYU hospital for joint diseases
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Bull NYU Hosp Jt Dis · Jan 2012
Multicenter StudyHospital for joint diseases participates in international spine registry Spine Tango after successful pilot study.
Spine Tango is currently the only international spine registry in existence. It was developed under the auspices of Eurospine, the Spine Society of Europe, and is hosted at the University of Bern, Switzerland. ⋯ Workflow integration and dedicated research staff are key factors for such an endeavor. Participation enables benchmarking against national and international peers and outcome research and quality assurance of surgical and non-surgical treatments.
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Bull NYU Hosp Jt Dis · Jan 2012
Review"Incidental" bone lesions--when to refer to the tumor specialist.
Incidental bone tumors are, by definition, asymptomatic lesions that are discovered through routine radiographs obtained for other reasons. Generally, these lesions are benign and latent, requiring no further intervention except observation. However, occasionally these radiographs will detect benign aggressive processes or even malignant lesions that do require further treatment and referral to a tumor specialist. ⋯ It will then focus on the types of bone lesions that are often found incidentally by routine radiography. Specific recommendations, including recommendation for referrals to orthopaedic tumor specialists, will be noted for lesions described. Most malignant lesions will present with pain and a constellation of history and physical exam findings that will signal the patient to seek medical care; although they will be mentioned for the sake of comparison and completeness, they will not be the focus of this review.
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Our aim was to determine whether the administration of intravenous tranexamic acid is a safe and effective means of reducing blood loss associated with hip and knee replacement surgery. ⋯ The administration of 1 gram of intravenous tranexamic acid is a safe and effective means of reducing operative blood loss and blood transfusion rates in patients undergoing hip and knee replacements.
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Nonunions of the upper and lower extremity have been associated with pain and functional deficits. Recent studies have demonstrated that healing of these nonunions is associated with pain relief and both subjective and objective functional improvement. The purpose of this study was to determine which patient and surgical factors correlated with successful healing of a nonunion following surgical intervention. ⋯ Our data is similar to other studies assessing outcomes following other complex reconstructive procedures. It appears that more experienced (higher volume) reconstructive surgeons and the development of fewer postoperative complications is associated with greater success following repair of a long bone nonunion. Infection at any point during treatment is associated with failure to achieve successful union.
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Bull NYU Hosp Jt Dis · Jan 2012
ReviewCorticosteroids as disease modifying drugs in rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
The current approach to treatment of RA includes early and aggressive treatment with routine monitoring of outcomes to give patients the best chance of decreasing disease activity as much as possible, with low disease activity and remission being a realistic goal for many patients. In this quest, DMARDs, especially MTX, are the anchor treatment, and low dose prednisone should also be considered in combination with MTX as the best initial choice for RA treatment. Current data suggest that corticosteroids are disease modifying agents that enhance the effects of DMARDs with no real impact on adverse events. We are much better positioned now then in earlier times to provide a good outcome for our patients, and every available tool needs to be considered and utilized for this purpose.