Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Hand and Wrist Trauma: Is There Sufficient Evidence of Reliability, Validity, and Responsiveness?

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are important tools for assessing outcomes following injuries to the hand and wrist. Many commonly used PROMs have no evidence of reliability, validity, and responsiveness in a hand and wrist trauma population. This systematic review examines the PROMs used in the assessment of hand and wrist trauma patients, and the evidence for reliability, validity, and responsiveness of each measure in this population. METHODS: A systematic review of Pubmed, Medline, and CINAHL searching for randomized controlled trials of patients with traumatic injuries to the hand and wrist was carried out to identify the PROMs. For each identified PROM, evidence of reliability, validity, and responsiveness was identified using a further systematic review of the Pubmed, Medline, CINAHL, and reverse citation trail audit procedure. RESULTS: The PROM used most often was the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire; the Patient-Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE), Gartland and Werley score, Michigan Hand Outcomes score, Mayo Wrist Score, and Short Form 36 were also commonly used. Only the DASH and PRWE have evidence of reliability, validity, and responsiveness in patients with traumatic injuries to the hand and wrist; other measures either have incomplete evidence or evidence gathered in a nontraumatic population. CONCLUSIONS: The DASH and PRWE both have evidence of reliability, validity, and responsiveness in a hand and wrist trauma population. Other PROMs used to assess hand and wrist trauma patients do not. This should be considered when selecting a PROM for patients with traumatic hand and wrist pathology.

Stage 3 pyomyositis of the gluteus minimus; Staphylococcus aureus sepsis, autoanticoagulation, proximal femoral osteomyelitis and the role of surgical intervention.

Primary pyomyositis is a rare bacterial infection of the skeletal muscle. Traditionally a tropical disease, it is increasingly described in westernised urban populations. The aetiology is due to transient bacteraemia in the presence of risk factors such as traumatised muscle, or immunocompromise. The condition presents in one of three stages, representing progression of disease severity. Intravenous antibiotic therapy is often sufficient for this disease at its early stage, but surgical drainage is necessary for advanced presentations. We report a severe case of stage 3 pyomyositis of the gluteus minimus, which led to Staphylococcus aureus sepsis, deranged liver function, acute kidney injury, autoanticoagulation and proximal femoral osteomyelitis in a healthy 64-year-old Caucasian man. This illustrates the potential severity of the disease, the life-threatening sequelae when diagnosis is delayed and the role of surgical drainage in averting the progression of systemic sepsis to end-organ dysfunction, disseminated intravascular coagulation and potentially death.

Shelbourne's update of the O'Donoghue knee triad in a 17-year-old male Rugby player.

Acute athletic knee injuries are often caused by a combination of valgus impact with external rotation of the tibia leading to a triad of injuries involving medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligament disruption with associated meniscal damage. This injury pattern has been greatly discussed in the literature with conflicts of opinion and evidence as to whether medial or lateral meniscal pathology has a higher incidence. This case report introduces a 17-year-old male athlete with this unhappy triad It will evaluate the clinical assessment which suggested a medial meniscal lesion follow the patient through arthroscopy revealing a lateral meniscal tear in addition to complete anterior cruciate ligament rupture and grade 2 medial collateral ligament tear. It will go on to look at the evidence base for the relative incidence of lateral and medial meniscal injuries and will evaluate the role of MRI in assessing acute athletic knee injuries.

Falling up the stairs: the equivalent of 'bashing it with a bible' for an ACL ganglion cyst of the knee.

Intra-articular anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) cysts are rare, the pathogenesis remains unknown, with trauma often implicated. Often asymptomatic, incidental MRI findings, 11% produce symptoms such as pain, locking or instability. Treatment of intra-articular ganglia differs from the traditional 'bash it with a bible' mantra for ganglia elsewhere with surgical debridement generally indicated for symptomatic cases. This case report describes a 43-year-old male car mechanic who presented with a symptomatic ACL cyst diagnosed on MRI. While waiting for surgery the patient fell up his stairs at home, causing forced hyperflexion of his knee. After an initial sharp pain, within 24 h the patient experienced complete resolution of symptoms. Postfall MRI showed no evidence of the initial lesion, leading to our conclusion that for this patient, a fall up the stairs was the equivalent of 'bashing it with a bible' for an ACL ganglion cyst of the knee.