ABSTRACT
Diabetes predisposes to spine degenerative diseases often requiring surgical intervention. However, the statistics on the prevalence of spinal fusion success and clinical indications leading to the revision surgery in diabetes are conflicting. The purpose of the presented retrospective observational study was to determine the link between diabetes and lumbar spinal fusion complications using a database of patients (n = 552, 45% male, age 54 ± 13.7 years) residing in the same community and receiving care at the same health care facility. Outcome measures included clinical indications and calculated risk ratio (RR) for revision surgery in diabetes. Paravertebral tissue recovered from a non-union site of diabetic and nondiabetic patients was analyzed for microstructure of newly formed bone. Diabetes increased the RR for revision surgery due to non-union complications (2.80; 95% CI, 1.12-7.02) and degenerative processes in adjacent spine segments (2.26; 95% CI, 1.45-3.53). In diabetes, a risk of revision surgery exceeded the RR for primary spinal fusion surgery by 44% (2.36 [95% CI, 1.58-3.52] vs 1.64 [95% CI, 1.16-2.31]), which was already 2-fold higher than diabetes prevalence in the studied community. Micro-CT of bony fragments found in the paravertebral tissue harvested during revision surgery revealed structural differences suggesting that newly formed bone in diabetic patients may be of compromised quality, as compared with that in nondiabetic patients. In conclusion, diabetes significantly increases the risk of unsuccessful lumbar spine fusion outcome requiring revision surgery. Diabetes predisposes to the degeneration of adjacent spine segments and pseudoarthrosis at the fusion sites, and affects the structure of newly formed bone needed to stabilize fusion.
ABSTRACT
Spanning ankle external fixation is a commonly used technique for the treatment of fractures of the lower extremity. Traditionally, a single pin is placed in the safe zone of the calcaneus to provide a point of traction for fracture reduction and stabilization. Complications include infection and pin loosening with subsequent loss of fracture reduction. We aim to highlight the benefits and techniques of adding a second calcaneal pin to reduce the likelihood of infection, pin loosening, and possible loss of fracture reduction. Using the standard medial-to-lateral placement technique, two centrally threaded Schanz pins were placed within the safe zone of the calcaneus approximately 2 cm apart and were connected by clamps and a short carbon fiber rod. The remainder of the external fixation apparatus is assembled using a standard technique after obtaining fracture reduction. There is an increased incidence of infection and pin loosening with decreased bone quality and a longer duration within an external fixator. The addition of a second calcaneal pin can be used to reduce the incidence of pin loosening and associated sequela, especially in patients with decreased bone quality, thus improving outcomes for patients undergoing spanning ankle external fixation.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: More emphasis is being placed on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), but the myriad of PROMs makes standardization and cross-study comparison difficult. As the era of big data and massive total joint registries matures, it will be critical to identify and implement the best PROMs. METHODS: All abstracts published in the years 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2016 in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery-American volume, the Bone and Joint Journal, Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research, and the Journal of Arthroplasty were reviewed. A PubMed search was performed with filters limiting results only to total knee, total hip, and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty articles with available abstracts. Each abstract was reviewed to identify all PROMs. Trends over time were evaluated using the Cochran-Armitage test. In the non-trend analysis, Pearson chi-square tests and one-way analysis of variance were performed. RESULTS: A total of 42 unique PROMs were used 1073 times across 644 studies. The number of PROMs in these 4 journals increased from 97 in 2004 to 228 in 2016 (P < .0001). The proportion of articles with more than one PROM increased from 20.6% in 2004 to 47.8% in 2016 (P = .0001). The most common PROMs used in total knee, total hip, and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty studies were the Knee Society Score, the Harris Hip Score, and the Oxford Knee Score, respectively. CONCLUSION: Providers and registries should consider the relative prevalence of published outcome measures when selecting which PROMs to use, to better facilitate future cross-study comparison.
