Injury
-
By a prospective database analysis of patients with an injury to the chest admitted to the University Medical Center Utrecht between 2000 and 2004 were studied. All patients with a blood gas analyses were included. Absolute BD was used for analyses. Clinical outcome parameters were recorded. ⋯ Admission BD is a predictive factor in thoracic trauma patients for mortality and chest related complications. Furthermore it is a predictive factor for ICU admission, required ventilation and hospital stay. The use of BD in thoracic trauma patients can potentially identify patients who require additional monitoring or early aggressive therapy.
-
The results of treatment for 83 patients treated with a new implant designed specifically for the internal fixation of intracapsular hip fractures are reported. Nonunion occurred in one out of the 37 undisplaced fractures (3%) and seven out of the 46 displaced fractures (15%). ⋯ The functional recovery at patients at 1 year was excellent. The results to date for this new implant suggest that it may lead to reduced fracture-healing complications in comparison to the currently used methods of internal fixation.
-
The utilisation and consequences of standardised operative procedures may importantly differ between different healthcare systems. This is the first investigation comparing the treatment and outcome of femoral shaft fractures stabilised with an identical implant between trauma centres in 2 continents (Europe, EU and South Africa, SA). ⋯ Our investigation demonstrates the importance of several major differences between 2 different regions of the world in the treatment of femoral shaft fractures, despite involving only high level trauma centres and using an identical implant. The intercontinental comparison of results from clinical studies should be interpreted very carefully considering the heterogeneity of populations and clinical settings.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Kyphoplasty for chronic painful osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures via unipedicular versus bipedicular approachment: a comparative study in early stage.
Osteoporotic compression fractures (OVCFs) commonly occur in aged people, and as much as one-third of these fractures progress to chronic pain. Kyphoplasty (KP) is proved to be efficacious for pain relief and vertebral height restoration in chronic OVCFs, but there is still no data available about the clinical and radiographical outcomes compared by unipedicular and bipedicular KP in treating chronic painful OVCFs. ⋯ Both unipedicular kyphoplasty and bipedicular kyphoplasty can achieve satisfactory clinical and radiographic outcomes in treating the chronic painful OVCFs and the operation time is shorter in unipedicular kyphoplasty. However, the bipedicular kyphoplasty is more efficacious in height restoration.