Clinical orthopaedics and related research
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Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. · Oct 2003
Validity of index of suspicion for pulmonary embolism after hip arthroplasty.
Pulmonary embolism after total hip arthroplasty is problematic, and intravenous heparin treatment in the absence of pulmonary embolism carries risk. Algorithms for treating pulmonary embolism often cite clinical index of suspicion as a basis for initiating intravenous heparin, but most information regarding variables to predict pulmonary embolism originate from studies of patients rather than only from patients who had arthroplasty. We studied the hypothesis that a more homogenous subpopulation, patients who had total hip arthroplasty, may have findings more accurately predictive of pulmonary embolism. ⋯ No significant differences were found between patients with or without pulmonary embolism regarding subjective complaints, physical examination, blood gas results, electrocardiogram findings, radiographs of the chest, and imaging of the veins of the legs. All attempts to model these variables into an index of suspicion that accurately predicted pulmonary embolism were unsuccessful. We advise adherence to established treatment algorithms rather than clinical suspicion when deciding whether to initiate heparin therapy.
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Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. · Oct 2003
Pathologic fracture as a complication in the treatment of Ewing's sarcoma.
The purpose of the current study was to define the outcome of patients with Ewing's sarcoma who sustained a fracture either at initial presentation or subsequent to multimodal treatment, and to identify parameters that may influence the treatment of these patients. The age of the 21 males and 14 females who sustained a fracture during the treatment for Ewing's sarcoma averaged 15 years (range, 4-30 years) at diagnosis. Fourteen patients presented with a pathologic fracture, whereas 21 patients had a fracture develop subsequent to the initial treatment at a mean of 4 years (range, 1-19 years). ⋯ Therefore, a fracture at presentation may not mandate amputation. However, it occurs frequently subsequent to initial multimodal treatment because of delayed fracture healing. Because conservative or minimal osteosynthesis have high failure rates, more aggressive resection and reconstruction have to be considered carefully.
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Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. · Oct 2003
Case ReportsRotationplasty after failed limb-sparing tumor surgery: a report of two cases.
Rotationplasty was used in two cases of failed limb salvage in adults after tumor resection and reconstruction. Each patient had distal femoral osteosarcoma, one treated with osteoarticular allograft reconstruction, the other with a custom endoprosthetic reconstruction. Both patients had failure attributable to infection, and after multiple surgeries, elected to have rotationplasty. ⋯ One patient died of metastatic disease 29 months after rotationplasty, the other had no problems 50 months after rotationplasty. Although rotationplasty offers a functional improvement over transfemoral amputation in the salvage of failed tumor reconstructions, only 10 such cases have been reported in adults. Rotationplasty should be considered in selected patients for whom an amputation is being considered after failed limb salvage surgery.
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Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. · Oct 2003
Mortality after reamed intramedullary nailing of bilateral femur fractures.
We performed retrospective review of 743 patients treated with reamed intramedullary nailing of a femoral shaft fracture was done to assess the clinical impact of bilateral femur fractures on the mortality, hospital stay, and length of intensive care treatment in patients with blunt trauma. Unilateral injuries occurred in 689 patients and bilateral injuries occurred in 54 patients. Mortality in patients with bilateral femur fractures was 5.6% compared with 1.5% in patients with unilateral femur fractures. ⋯ As expected, when analyzed separately, patients with bilateral femur fractures had significantly higher Injury Severity Scores, longer lengths of stay in the intensive care unit, and longer lengths of stay in the hospital. Patients with bilateral femur fractures have an increased mortality when compared with patients with unilateral femur fractures after controlling for Injury Severity Score and age. When used alone, the Injury Severity Score underestimates the contribution of a second femur fracture.
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Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. · Oct 2003
Publication rates of abstracts presented at annual musculoskeletal tumor society meetings.
Beware of the unpublished abstract. What is the publication rate of abstracts presented at Musculoskeletal Tumor Society meetings, and how does this compare with other orthopaedic and medical meetings? Three hundred thirty-six podium presentations from six annual meetings were identified and their publication was searched at a minimum of 3 years after the event. An effort was made to determine what percent of these abstracts eventually were published in a peer-reviewed journal. ⋯ The rate of publication and time until publication was similar to other orthopaedic meetings and to other medical disciplines. Changes to the cohort, title, or authors occurred in approximately (1/3) of the published articles compared with the abstracts. These results suggest that for various reasons the majority of presented material at Musculoskeletal Tumor Society meetings may not survive peer review and may not be scientifically valid.