Provision of revision knee arthroplasty services across Scotland: A national audit.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that both low surgeon and centre case volumes are associated with poorer outcomes following Revision Knee Arthroplasty (rTKA). Given the unique challenges faced in Scotland relating to funding and geography, understanding details on the complexity of cases is required to guide development of future rTKA services. METHODS: Utilising the Scottish Collaborative Orthopaedic Trainee Research Network (SCOTnet) a retrospective review of all Scottish 2019 rTKA cases was undertaken. Regional leads co-ordinated local data collection using individual case note review. The number of cases performed by regions, hospitals and individual surgeons were identified. Patient demographics and case complexity (Revision Knee Complexity Classification [RKCC]) were also collected. Results were compared against current standards. RESULTS: 17 units performed rTKA, delivered by 77 surgeons. A total of 506 cases were included. The mean age was 69 years (46% male). Revision for infection accounted for 147/506 (29%) cases. Extensor compromise was present in 35/506 (7%) and 11/506 (2%) required soft tissue reconstruction. According to the RKCC - 214/503 (43%) were classified as R1 (Less complex cases), 228/503 (45%) R2 (complex cases), and 61/503 (12%) R3 (most complex / salvage cases). 5/17 (29%) units met current national guidelines for case volume/year, with only 11/77 (14%) surgeons meeting recommended individual case volumes. 37/77 (48%) surgeons performed ≤ 2 cases per year. CONCLUSIONS: Most individual centre volumes could be increased by re-organising services or locations providing rTKA within a region. This should provide better access to Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) involvement. We recorded a significant number of very low volume surgeons (≤2 year) that is contradictory to current evidence-based practice.

Effective and safe modification of multiple atherosclerotic risk factors in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

BACKGROUND: Patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are at an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity and thus are an excellent group in whom to evaluate the feasibility and the effect of an aggressive multifactorial intervention on atherosclerotic vascular disease risk factors. The Arterial Disease Multiple Intervention Trial (ADMIT) was designed to determine the efficacy, safety, and compliance of an multifactorial therapy on selected atherosclerotic disease risk factors in patients with PAD. METHODS: By a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design, eligible participants (N = 468) were randomly assigned to low-dose warfarin, antioxidant vitamins, and niacin or its corresponding placebo, and followed up for 1 year. All participants were encouraged to use aspirin. Pravastatin was added to the drug regimen for those who needed to reduce LDL cholesterol to recommended levels. RESULTS: Niacin increased HDL cholesterol levels by 30%, with the majority of effect achieved at a dosage of 500 mg twice daily. Warfarin had an anticoagulant effect. The antioxidant vitamins resulted in a significant increase in vitamin E, C, and beta-carotene plasma levels. Overall, compliance was high and few adverse effects were reported. CONCLUSIONS: ADMIT demonstrates that it is both feasible and safe to modify multiple atherosclerotic disease risk factors effectively with intensive combination therapy in patients with PAD.

Effect of niacin, warfarin, and antioxidant therapy on coagulation parameters in patients with peripheral arterial disease in the Arterial Disease Multiple Intervention Trial (ADMIT).

BACKGROUND: Patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) have high rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, including that caused by associated coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Previous studies have shown that coagulation parameters are altered in PAD and that altered coagulation may play a critical role in the susceptibility to cardiovascular complications in PAD. It is therefore important to assess the effect of secondary prevention measures on coagulation in patients with PAD. The Arterial Disease Multiple Intervention Trial (ADMIT), a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, was conducted to determine the feasibility of a combined lipid-modifying, antioxidant, and antithrombotic treatment regimen in patients with PAD. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of the ADMIT interventions on coagulation. METHODS: ADMIT participants were randomly assigned to low-dose warfarin, niacin, and antioxidant vitamin cocktail or corresponding placebos in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. Specialized coagulation studies were performed in a subset of 80 ADMIT participants at baseline and after 12 months of treatment. RESULTS: Low-dose warfarin (1 to 4 mg/d) resulted in a significant decrease in factor VIIc (P <.001) and in plasma F1.2 (P =.001). Unexpectedly, niacin treatment also resulted in significant decrease in both fibrinogen (48 mg/dL; P <.001) and F1.2 (P =.04). von Willebrand factor increased after antioxidant vitamin treatment (P =.04). CONCLUSIONS: A regimen of low-dose warfarin effectively modifies coagulation in patients with PAD. Niacin also favorably modifies fibrinogen and plasma F1.2. Niacin, in addition to its lipid effects, modifies abnormal coagulation factors that accompany PAD.

Patellar contact forces with and without patellar resurfacing in total knee arthroplasty.

Patellar contact forces were measured in 7 fresh-frozen cadaver knees during continuous flexion-extension cycling for the normal knee and after total knee arthroplasty without and with patellar resurfacing using 2 prosthesis systems with different designs for the femoral and patellar components. Analysis of variance with specimen as a repeated measure was used to examine the effect of contact surface. When compared to normal knees, total knee arthroplasty without patellar resurfacing resulted in no change in patellar contact forces. The magnitude of the inferosuperior patellar shear force increased significantly after patellar replacement with an oval, biconcave patellar component and increased further after replacement with an oval, domed patellar component. There were no significant changes in the mediolateral and anteroposterior contact force components after patellar replacement.

Acute exercise induces GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscle of normal human subjects and subjects with type 2 diabetes.

Total GLUT4 content in skeletal muscle from individuals with type 2 diabetes is normal; however, recent studies have demonstrated that translocation of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane is decreased in response to insulin stimulation. It is not known whether physical exercise stimulates GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscle of individuals with type 2 diabetes. Five subjects (two men, three women) with type 2 diabetes and five normal control subjects (5 men), as determined by a standard 75-g oral glucose tolerance test, were recruited to determine whether an acute bout of cycle exercise activates the translocation of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane in skeletal muscle. Each subject had two open biopsies of vastus lateralis muscle; one at rest and one 3-6 weeks later from the opposite leg after 45-60 min of cycle exercise at 60-70% of VO2max. Skeletal muscle plasma membranes were prepared by subcellular fractionation, and GLUT4 content was determined by Western blotting. Plasma membrane GLUT4 increased in each subject in response to exercise. The mean increase in plasma membrane GLUT4 for the subjects with type 2 diabetes was 74 +/-20% above resting values, and for the normal subjects the increase was 71+/-18% above resting values. Although plasma membrane GLUT4 content was approximately 32% lower at rest and after exercise in the muscle of the subjects with type 2 diabetes, the differences were not statistically significant. We conclude that in contrast to the previously reported defect in insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscle of individuals with type 2 diabetes, a single bout of exercise results in the translocation of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane in skeletal muscle of individuals with type 2 diabetes. These data provide the first direct evidence that GLUT4 translocation is an important cellular mechanism through which exercise enhances skeletal muscle glucose uptake in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Utility of the prehospital electrocardiogram in diagnosing acute coronary syndromes: the Myocardial Infarction Triage and Intervention (MITI) Project.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether the prehospital electrocardiogram (ECG) improves the diagnosis of an acute coronary syndrome. BACKGROUND: The ECG is the most widely used screening test for evaluating patients with chest pain. METHODS: Prehospital and in-hospital ECGs were obtained in 3,027 consecutive patients with symptoms of suspected acute myocardial infarction, 362 of whom were randomized to prehospital versus hospital thrombolysis and 2,665 of whom did not participate in the randomized trial. Prehospital and hospital records were abstracted for clinical characteristics and diagnostic outcome. RESULTS: ST segment and T and Q wave abnormalities suggestive of myocardial ischemia or infarction were more common on both the prehospital and hospital ECGs of patients with as compared with those without acute coronary syndromes (p < or = 0.00001). Those with prehospital thrombolysis were more likely to show resolution of ST segment elevation by the time of hospital admission (14% vs. 5% in patients treated in the hospital, p = 0.004). In patients not considered for prehospital thrombolysis, both persistent and transient ST segment and T or Q wave abnormalities discriminated those with from those without acute coronary ischemia or infarction. Compared with ST segment elevation on a single ECG, added consideration of dynamic changes in ST segment elevation between serial ECGs improved the sensitivity for an acute coronary syndrome from 34% to 46% and reduced specificity from 96% to 93% (both p < 0.00004). Overall, compared with abnormalities observed on a single ECG, consideration of serial evolution in ST segment, T or Q wave or left bundle branch block (LBBB) abnormalities between the prehospital and initial hospital ECG improved the diagnostic sensitivity for an acute coronary syndrome from 80% to 87%, with a fall in specificity from 60% to 50% (both p < 0.000006). CONCLUSIONS: ECG abnormalities are an early manifestation of acute coronary syndromes and can be identified by the prehospital ECG. Compared with a single ECG, the additional effect of evolving ST segment, T or Q waves or LBBB between serially obtained prehospital and hospital ECGs enhanced the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes, but with a fall in specificity.

The physician's role in minimizing prehospital delay in patients at high risk for acute myocardial infarction: recommendations from the National Heart Attack Alert Program. Working Group on Educational Strategies To Prevent Prehospital Delay in Patients at High Risk for Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Physicians and other health care professionals play an important role in reducing the delay to treatment in patients who have an evolving acute myocardial infarction. A multidisciplinary working group has been convened by the National Heart Attack Alert Program (which is coordinated by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health) to address this concern. The working group's recommendations target specific groups of patients: those who are known to have coronary heart disease, atherosclerotic disease of the aorta or peripheral arteries, or cerebrovascular disease. The risk for acute myocardial infarction or death in such patients is five to seven times greater than that in the general population. The working group recommends that these high-risk patients be clearly informed about symptoms that they might have during a coronary occlusion, steps that they should take, the importance of contacting emergency medical services, the need to report to an appropriate facility quickly, treatment options that are available if they present early, and rewards of early treatment in terms of improved quality of life. These instructions should be reviewed frequently and reinforced with appropriate written material, and patients should be encouraged to have a plan and to rehearse it periodically. Because of the important role of the bystander in increasing or decreasing delay to treatment, family members and significant others should be included in all instruction. Finally, physicians' offices and clinics should devise systems to quickly assess patients who telephone or present with symptoms of a possible acute myocardial infarction.

The biology and clinical relevance of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy in adrenal tumor management.

Somatostatin receptors are present in the normal adrenal cortex and medulla. These receptors are also expressed by tumors that cause Cushing's syndrome and by pheochromocytomas. Somatostatin analogues such as octreotide have been developed to target somatostatin receptors for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. This article reviews the current knowledge of the biology of somatostatin receptors in the normal adrenal gland and in adrenal tumors and defines the current role of the somatostatin receptor in the diagnosis, staging and management of Cushing's syndrome and pheochromocytomas.

Four-year follow-up of patients undergoing percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy. A report from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Balloon Valvuloplasty Registry.

OBJECTIVES: This study reports the long-term outcome of patients undergoing percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy who were enrolled in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Balloon Valvuloplasty Registry. BACKGROUND: The NHLBI established the multicenter Balloon Valvuloplasty Registry in November 1987 to assess both short- and long-term safety and efficiency of percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy. METHODS: Between November 1987 and October 1989, 736 patients > or = 18 years old underwent percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy at 23 registry sites in North America. The maximal follow-up period was 5.2 years. RESULTS: The actuarial survival rate was 93 +/- 1% (mean +/- SD), 90 +/- 1.2%, 87 +/- 1.4% and 84 +/- 1.6% at 1, 2, 3 and 4 years, respectively. Eighty percent of the patients were alive and free of mitral surgery or repeat balloon mitral commissurotomy at 1 year. The event-free survival rate was 80 +/- 1.5% at 1 year, 71 +/- 1.7% at 2 years, 66 +/- 1.8% at 3 years and 60 +/- 2.0% at 4 years. Important univariable predictors of actuarial mortality at 4 years included age > 70 years (51% survival), New York Heart Association functional class IV (41% survival) and baseline echocardiographic score > 12 (24% survival). Multivariable predictors of mortality included functional class IV, higher echocardiographic score and higher postprocedural pulmonary artery systolic and left ventricular end-diastolic pressures (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy has a favorable effect on the hemodynamic variables of mitral stenosis, and long-term follow-up data suggest that it is a viable alternative with respect to surgical commissurotomy in selected patients.

The ABCs of managing hyperthyroidism in the older patient.

Hyperthyroidism in the older patient often presents with nonspecific symptoms, such as apathy, weight loss, and atrial fibrillation. General screening is not cost-effective, with the exception of two populations: women over age 40 with one or more nonspecific complaints and patients being admitted to a specialized geriatric unit. The sensitive TSH test is an excellent screen; a low TSH should be confirmed by an actual or estimated high free thyroxine test (FT4). The RAIU can help narrow the differential diagnosis. Radioiodine is the preferred treatment for the older patient with Graves' disease, the most common form of thyrotoxicosis. Graves' must be differentiated from thyroiditis and toxic nodular goiters, as treatment regimens differ for each disorder.

Cost-effectiveness of prescription recommendations for cholesterol-lowering drugs: a survey of a representative sample of American cardiologists.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the cost-effectiveness of the recommendations of cardiologists for the pharmacologic treatment of hypercholesterolemia. BACKGROUND: Despite the publication of guidelines such as the report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults, little is known about the national prescribing practices of physicians and how they compare with the recommendations of cost-effectiveness analyses. METHODS: Under the auspices of the Cardiovascular Norms Committee of the American College of Cardiology, a nationally representative sample of cardiologists was surveyed, and their recommendations for the pharmacologic treatment of hypercholesterolemia were assessed to determine cost-effectiveness. RESULTS: The 346 responding cardiologists were reasonably representative of the membership of the American College of Cardiology. For the 12 hypothetical patients, the cardiologists recommended pharmacologic treatment more commonly in cases in which previously published studies estimated the treatment to be more cost-effective, although there was a tendency to recommend such treatment for primary prevention even when it was estimated to cost well over $100,000/year of life saved. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the cardiologists' pharmacologic recommendations for lowering lipids are correlated with published cost-effectiveness analyses. However, substantial variation in their recommendations remains, with somewhat less aggressive treatment for secondary prevention and more aggressive treatment for primary prevention than would be recommended on the basis of cost-effectiveness analyses.