The American journal of orthopedics
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Review Case Reports
Local infiltration of liposome bupivacaine in orthopedic trauma patients: case-based reviews.
Orthopedic trauma surgery is often associated with considerable postoperative pain, which can result in a cascade of direct and indirect clinical consequences. Patients undergoing orthopedic trauma surgery are at risk for the development of chronic postsurgical pain, which may persist for 2 years or longer. Effective approaches to reducing postoperative pain in orthopedic trauma surgery patients include the use of minimally invasive procedures and multimodal analgesia. ⋯ The first case involves repair of a subtrochanteric nonunion in a 63-year-old woman with a history of bisphosphonate use and prior treatment with a cephalomedullary nail. The second case involves a young woman undergoing outpatient surgery for repair of a fractured clavicle. Both patients experienced good control of postsurgical pain, supporting the clinical utility of EXPAREL® in orthopedic trauma surgery.
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The emergence of procedure-specific multimodal pain management regimens that provide effective control of postoperative pain, while markedly reducing the amount of opioid medication required, has been one of the most important advances in hip and knee replacement in recent years. When peripheral nerve blockade first became widely available for inclusion in multimodal regimens, it was viewed as a revolution in the management of postoperative pain. This approach, however, is costly and has some important limitations, including an increased incidence of falls. ⋯ EXPAREL® offers some important clinical and administrative benefits over nerve blocks. Preliminary data from a pilot study comparing the relative effectiveness of EXPAREL® versus sciatic nerve blockade has shown a noticeable reduction in average pain scores at rest with EXPAREL® following both hip and knee arthroplasty, as well as a reduction in the 6- to 12-hour pain score following hip arthroplasty. There was also a significant reduction in opioid use with EXPAREL®, as well as a $411 reduction in the cost of total knee arthroplasty and a $348 reduction in the cost of total hip arthroplasty.
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Comparative Study
Acute achilles tendon ruptures: a comparison of minimally invasive and open approach repairs followed by early rehabilitation.
We retrospectively compared the outcomes of early functional weight-bearing after use of 2 different approaches (minimally invasive, standard) for surgical repair of the Achilles tendon. We reviewed the cases of 63 consecutive patients who underwent repair of an acute closed Achilles tendon rupture and had follow-up of at least 6 months. Of these 63 patients, 33 were treated with a minimally invasive posterolateral approach (minimal group), and 30 were treated with a standard posteromedial approach (standard group). ⋯ At final follow-up, the groups did not differ in their functional outcomes (ability to perform a single heel raise, American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society scores). Used after a minimally invasive posterolateral or standard posteromedial approach, early functional weightbearing is an effective and safe method for treating acute ruptures of the Achilles tendon, and it has a lower rate of soft-tissue complications. A standard posteromedial approach has a higher rate of wound complications, and a minimally invasive posterolateral approach has a higher rate of sural nerve injury.