Demographic characteristics of patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction at a tertiary care hospital in India.

BACKGROUND: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are common sports-related injuries. Their incidence is not the same either for all the sports or for the same sport across various nations. This information is maintained by many sports leagues in their registries. However, very few nationwide registries exist for such injuries. This study is carried out to know the demographic characteristics of patients who underwent ACL reconstruction at our hospital in India. AIM: To know the demographic characteristics of patients who underwent ACL reconstruction at a tertiary care hospital in India. METHODS: All the patients who underwent ACL reconstruction from January 2020 to December 2021 were retrospectively studied. Patients with multi-ligament injuries or a history of previous knee surgery were excluded. The patients' history was obtained from the hospital records, they were interviewed telephonically, and online questionnaires were given. Their demographic data was analyzed and compared to the existing literature. RESULTS: A total of 124 patients were operated on for ACL reconstruction during this period. The mean age of the patients was 27.97 years. One hundred and thirteen patients (91.1%) were male and 11 (8.9%) were female. The majority of the patients (47.6%) sustained this injury by road traffic accidents (RTA) followed by sports-related injuries (39.5%). The commonest presenting complaint was giving way of the knee in 118 patients (95.2%). The mean duration from the injury to the first hospital visit among the patients was 290.1 d. The mean duration from the injury to surgery was 421.8 d. CONCLUSION: ACL patients' demography is different in developing nations as compared to the developed world. RTA are the leading cause of ACL injuries and are followed by recreational sports as a cause. There is delayed access to healthcare leading to delayed diagnosis as well as even greater time to surgery. This, in turn, leads to poorer prognosis and longer rehabilitation. National registries for developing nations are the need of the hour due to the different demographics of ACL injuries in developing countries.

Suprascapular nerve block is faster and as effective as hydrodistension in relieving frozen shoulder-associated pain and disability: A prospective, single-blind observational study with a follow-up of 24 weeks.

Background and Aims: Hydrodistension (HD) and suprascapular nerve block (SSNB) have been shown to reduce pain and improve shoulder function in frozen shoulder (FS). The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of HD and SSNB in the treatment of idiopathic FS. Material and Methods: This was a prospective observational study. A total of 65 patients with FS were treated with SSNB or HD. The functional outcome was evaluated by Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) score and active shoulder range of motion (ROM) measured at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks. Parametric data were analyzed using an independent sample T-test. Nonparametric data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test and Wilcoxon test. A P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Result: At the end of 24 weeks, the two-group improved significantly from the baseline and the improvement was comparable between the two groups. ROM also improved significantly in both groups. At 2nd week, SPADI score was significantly less in SSNB group (P < 0.05). About 43% of patients considered HD extremely painful. Conclusion: Both HD and SSNB are almost equally effective in reducing pain and improving shoulder function. However, SSNB leads to a faster improvement.

Body-mass index COVID-19 severity: A systematic review of systematic reviews.

Objectives: Conflicting studies have resulted in several systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the relationship between COVID-19 and body mass index (BMI). Methods: This systematic review of systematic reviews followed an umbrella review design, and preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines; Medical literature analysis and retrieval system online (MEDLINE) and SCOPUS databases were searched for systematic reviews on the topic. A predefined screening and selection procedure was done for the retrieved results based on the population, intervention/interest, comparator, outcome, study (PICOS) framework. Results: The search strategy yielded 6334 citations. With the predefined selection and screening process, 23 systematic reviews were retrieved for inclusion in the present study. Twenty-three (n = 23) systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria. As expected, there was overlap across the reviews in the included primary studies. Available evidence suggests that Class III obesity (morbid obesity) is strongly associated with increased mortality risk in patients with Covid-19. It is difficult to draw a firm conclusion about Class I and Class II obesity due to conflicting outcomes of metanalyses. Increased obesity was consistently associated with increased risk of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in all the reviews with low to moderate heterogeneity. Conclusions: Available evidence suggests that Class III obesity (morbid obesity) is strongly associated with increased mortality risk in patients with Covid-19. Increased BMI is positively associated with the risk of IMV and the severity of COVID- care.

Current Surgical Antibiotic Prophylaxis Practices: A Survey of Orthopaedic Surgeons in India.

BACKGROUND: Surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP) has become the standard of care in orthopaedic surgery. Inappropriate usage of antibiotics (dosage, strength, and/or administration time and duration) can inadvertently result in superadded infections and antimicrobial resistance. The purpose of this study was to document and analyse the prescription patterns for SAP, and to investigate the factors associated with divergence from standard guidelines. METHODS: We conducted an online cross-sectional questionnaire-based study to collect information about the SAP practices of the members of the Indian Orthopaedic Association (IOA) using Google forms. A link to the questionnaire was sent by e-mails. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 5.73%. While 97.3% respondents practised SAP routinely, the practice was not aligned with standard guidelines' recommendations. There was heterogeneity in the use of SAP in terms of choice of antibiotic(s), number of co-prescribed drugs, single- versus multiple-dose regimens, and the duration of therapy. The prescription practice patterns showed that orthopaedic surgeons almost always used broad-spectrum antibiotics for long durations, regardless of the type of surgery. CONCLUSION: While Orthopaedic surgeons in India are practicing SAP, the pattern of antibiotic usage is heterogeneous. Variations were noted in the choice of antibiotics for different types of surgeries, time of administration, duration of usage in the postoperative period as well as co-prescriptions. This study highlights the urgent need for a comprehensive, rational, and robust national SAP policy for orthopaedic surgeries.

A cadaveric morphometric analysis of coracoid process with reference to the Latarjet procedure using the "congruent arc technique".

INTRODUCTION: Congruent arc Latarjet procedure involves rotating the coracoid process so that its inferior surface is flush with the glenoid face, owing to their matching radius of curvature (ROC). However, there has been no cadaveric study to actually measure and compare the ROC of coracoid with glenoid, especially in Indian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 44 shoulders were dissected in 24 cadavers to measure usable length of coracoid process, width, height, ROC of coracoid and glenoid as well as ulnar length (as proxy of cadaver height). Critical coracoid height and length were estimated based on screw sizes of 2.7 mm, 3.5 mm, 4 mm and 4.5 mm, and pair concordance between height and length calculated. ROC of coracoid and glenoid were compared to measure extent of congruency. RESULTS: The mean usable length of coracoid process, width and height at mid-point were 21.8 mm, 13.7 mm and 8.6 mm, respectively. Out of the different screw sizes, 2.7 mm screws were found safe in 82% shoulders. 24 coracoid-glenoid pairs fulfilled the operational definition (≤ 5 mm) of congruency while rest 20 were seemingly incongruent chiefly due to coracoid variations, with mean ROC difference 4.13 mm (95% CI 1.51-6.74 mm). The ulnar length was significantly smaller in the incongruent ROC group (p = 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: The available length as well as height of the transferred coracoid must be considered when deciding optimum diameter fixation screws in Latarjet procedure. Owing to smaller anatomic dimensions of coracoid in Indian population, 2.7-mm screws provide the safest fixation option. Also, the ROC of coracoid and glenoid does not match in substantial proportion of the cadavers. Pre-operative planning should include a CT-based assessment of glenoid and coracoid dimensions to decide the technique of Latarjet procedure and the optimum diameter fixation screws required.

Performance validation of different trauma scoring systems among polytrauma patients having predominantly blunt abdominal trauma.

INTRODUCTION: Blunt abdominal trauma substantially contributes to mortality and morbidity in patients with polytrauma. Appropriate clinical assessment is important in setups lacking facilities of advanced diagnostics (abdominal computed tomography scans and ultrasonography) to decide if the patients' needs exceed the facilities available. This study aimed to assess the utility of the commonly used trauma scores in predicting the outcome (favorable or unfavorable) in patients with predominantly blunt abdominal trauma. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: In this prospective observational study of 12-month duration, we calculated three scores (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS], Revised Trauma Score [RTS], and Injury Severity Score [ISS]) in patients brought to emergency department and fulfilling the inclusion criteria. These patients were categorized into two categories (favorable and unfavorable) depending on their treatment outcome. The difference in the mean scores for both outcomes in each score was calculated and further inferences were obtained by using the unpaired t test. A receiver-operating characteristic curve for each score was drawn to understand the trade-off between sensitivity and specificity at each cutoff value and for determining area under curve (AUC) for all three scores. RESULT: A total of 103 patients were recruited in the study (88 men and 15 women) with the mean age of 31.03 (±13.40) years and 34.47 (±18.04) years, respectively. The difference in the scores was maximum for ISS and minimal for RTS. The visual impression, as well as AUC values, shows that ISS performed well to discriminate between the favorable and unfavorable outcomes in each cutoff values (AUC -0.806, lower bound 0.678 to upper bound 0.934) compared to GCS and RTS scores. The Youden's J statistic for ISS value of 42 was maximum (0.298) and corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 0.651 and 0.647. CONCLUSION: ISS is superior as compared to GCS and RTS in predicting outcome in polytrauma patients with a blunt abdominal injury. ISS value of <42 predicts a favorable outcome.

Adapting Policy Guidelines for Spine Surgeries During COVID-19 Pandemic in View of Evolving Evidences: An Early Experience From a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital.

Introduction The recent novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. This outbreak not only affected healthcare systems but the resultant economic losses were also enormous. COVID-19 has demanded that the health care systems globally evolve, develop new strategies, identify new models of functioning, and at times, fall back on the old conservative methods of orthopedic care to decrease the risk of disease transmission. Although, the majority of hospitals are refraining from performing elective surgeries, emergent and urgent procedures cannot be delayed. Various strategies have been developed at the institute level to reduce the risk of infection transmission among the theatre team from an unsuspected patient (asymptomatic and presymptomatic) during the perioperative period. Material and methods The present study is a part of an ongoing project which is being conducted in a tertiary level hospital after obtaining research review board approval. All patients admitted either for vertebral fracture or spinal cord compression from February 2020 to May 2020 were included. The present study included 13 patients (nine males and four females) with an average age of 35.4 years The oldest patient was of 63 years which is considered a risk factor for developing severe COVID-19 infection.  Results Eight patients (61.5%) presented with spinal cord injury (SCI) due to vertebral fracture with fall from height (87.5%) as the most common etiology. Among the traumatic SCI patients, six (75%) were managed surgically with posterior decompression and instrumented fusion with pedicle screws while two patients (25%) were managed conservatively. There were four patients (30.8%) of tuberculosis of the spine of whom two (50%) were managed with posterior decompression, debridement, and stabilization with pedicle screws, samples for culture, biopsy, and cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (CBNAAT) were collected during the procedure; for the remaining two patients (50%), a trans-pedicular biopsy was performed to confirm the diagnosis for initiation of anti-tubercular therapy. Prolapsed intervertebral disc causing cauda equina syndrome was the reason for emergency surgery in one patient (7.7%). COVID-19 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test was performed in four patients (30.8%), in whom the most common symptom was fever (two patients (50%)). These patients were residents of high prevalence area for COVID-19 infection. Sore throat (25%), fatigue (25%), and low oxygen saturation (25%) were present in one patient which prompted us to get the COVID-19 test. All patients were reported negative for COVID-19. Conclusion The structural organization and the management protocol we describe allowed us to reduce infection risk and ultimately hospital stay, thereby maximizing the already stretched available medical resources. These precautions helped us to reduce transmission and exposure to COVID-19 in health care workers (HCW) and patients in our institute. The aim of this article is that our early experience can be of value to the medical communities that will soon be in a similar situation.

Concordance and Discordance of Orthopedicians with Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program with Reference to Musculoskeletal Tuberculosis: A Qualitative Inquiry.

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal tuberculosis (TB) continues to share the major burden of extrapulmonary TB. This burden up to some extent may be attributed to the implementation gap which is reasonably broadest at the level of the immediate point of care. As an orthopedic physician is an important stakeholder at this juncture, it is imperative to recognize their experiences, perceptions, and anticipations to fill this gap. This qualitative inquiry tries to explore these attributes in the context of the recent development at the policy level in Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program. METHODOLOGY: Type of Study Qualitative inquiry with framework approach. SETTINGS: Orthopedic surgeons working in different work settings. SAMPLING METHOD: Purposive sampling. An iterative topic guide for an in-depth interview was prepared by reviewing the literature and expert opinions. The questions were contextual, diagnostic, evaluative, and strategic. This study adopted a framework approach as the issue was near to evaluative and strategic policy research. The recorded interviews were transcribed and coded into axial and serial codes. A framework matrix was created and thematic mapping was done to understand the phenomena and to offer the solution framework. RESULTS: The investigators detected an element of unawareness of the current context coupled with the perceived previous stringency of the program. This is in conjunction with already multifaceted diagnostic and prognostic complexity. This leads to mutual dissociation and skepticism. CONCLUSION: This qualitative inquiry explored an element of dissociation between programmatic objectives and individualistic concerns of the caregivers. An integrated ecosystem which may take care of synergistic reciprocation among the two is imperative for successful implementation.

Thoracic Pedicle Morphometry of Dry Vertebral Columns in Relation to Trans-Pedicular Fixation: A Cross-Sectional Study From Central India.

Introduction Trans-pedicular screw fixation is one of the main modalities of spinal instrumentation today. It is particularly challenging in the thoracic spine due to the narrow pedicle dimensions especially in the upper and mid-thoracic levels. We aimed to study the anatomical variations like pedicle dimensions and angulation in transverse and sagittal planes. Material and methods We conducted an anatomical investigation on 20 dry vertebral columns (14 male and six female), from T1 to T12 levels. The measurements included pedicle width, height, and transverse and sagittal angles of the pedicle. Numerical variables were summarized using mean and standard deviation. Results T12 vertebra was found to have the widest pedicle width (mean 7.89 ± 0.70 mm) and the widest pedicle height (mean 15.45±0.78 mm) while T5 vertebra (mean 3.65±0.40 mm) had the narrowest pedicle width. T1 vertebra had the maximum transverse angle of the pedicle (mean 30.37±2.56 degree); whereas, T2 vertebra had the maximum sagittal angle (mean 19.22±2.24 degree). Conclusion We have reported detailed pedicle measurements including their angulation for the thoracic spine in dry vertebral columns of central India. The pedicles are directed more medially from T1 to T10 levels and are almost neutral at T11 and T12 levels. These findings would not only be of immense help to the spinal surgeons but also help in designing implants and instrumentations specific for the thoracic spine for the central Indian population as well as aiding surgeons to perform more precise and, therefore, safe surgical procedures.

Morphometry of distal end radius in the Indian population: A radiological study.

INTRODUCTION: The morphometry of distal end radius (DER) comprises the four necessary parameters: radial inclination, palmer tilt, radial height, and ulnar variance. The unblemished intellect about the morphometry is urged for the management of fracture of DER. The goal of our study was to determine the values of morphometric parameters of the DER from the adult Indian. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a single hospital- based observational cross-sectional, prospective study. Radial inclination, radial height, and ulnar variance were measured on posteroanterior view, and the measurement of palmer tilt was accomplished on the lateral view. All the statistical analysis was done by Microsoft XL 2007 (data add in function were installed for data analysis). T-test was used for comparing the means of the parameters. RESULTS: Two hundred and forty two (n = 242) X-rays were included in this study to analyze. The mean value (n = 242) of radial inclination was 23.27°± (standard deviation [SD]) 7.42° (range: 11.3-42.1°), palmer tilt 10.07° ± (SD) 5.28° (range: 1-16.9°), radial height 11.31 mm ± (SD) 4.9 mm (range: 7.1-30.4 mm), and ulnar variance 0.66 mm ± (SD) 2.46 mm (range: -2.4 to +4.1). CONCLUSION: This study may provide an inauguratory plinth to prosecute the further analytical research in the Indian population. Moreover, the data may also be used as a reference data for the anatomical alignment while treating the injuries of the DER in the Indian population.

Utility of follow-up radiographs in conservatively managed acute fifth metatarsal fractures.

Fifth metatarsal fractures are the most common fracture of the foot, with the majority being managed conservatively. A variety of treatment methods are described in the literature. Follow-up radiographs are taken to identify fracture displacement, and subsequently to assess for bony union throughout treatment. We assessed the utility of serial radiographic assessment in management of these fractures. Clinical notes and radiographs of 79 patients with fifth metatarsal fractures were analysed retrospectively. Serial radiographs were studied to identify displacement and the last X-ray was reviewed for evidence of fracture union. 96% of fractures were managed conservatively. 29% showed radiological healing at last clinic visit, the rest being discharged as were considered clinically healed. Similar fracture types were managed differently. 3 fractures were surgically treated after failed conservative management. 1 fracture showed displacement from initial radiographs, and was successfully managed conservatively. Without clear guidelines, these injuries are managed differently from a radiological perspective. Follow-up radiographs taken before 6-8 weeks do not appear to alter patient management. Based on the current study we present our recommendations for radiographic assessment of acute fifth metatarsal fractures.