Result of the implementation of telematic consultations in orthopaedic surgery and traumatology during COVID-19 laparoscopic surgery. / Resultado de la implantación de consultas telemáticas en cirugía ortopédica y traumatología durante la pandemia COVID-19.

The COVID pandemic has made telematic consultations a basic tool in daily practice. AIMS: The main objective of the study is to assess the results of the application of telematic consultations to limit the mobility of patients. The operational objectives are; to propose a consultation plan, to know how attendance limits consultations and to define which pathologies benefit the most from this plan. METHODS: A scheme is proposed with the creation of pre-scheduled clinic to assess suitability and the possibility of carrying them out in a single non face-to-face act. RESULTS: Phone call to 5,619 patients were made with a lack of response of 19%. The cases of 74% of the patients that answered were resolved virtually. There is a difference between units, obtaining a higher answering rate from patients appointed to specific clinic units, OR = 0.60, or to general trauma ones, OR = 0.67. The lowest answering rate was obtained from those derived from the emergency department. Twenty per cent of the consultations were not accompanied by complementary tests that would have favored the resolution in a single act. The general trauma consultations, OR = 0.34, postoperative control, OR = 0.49, and specific unit ones, OR = 0.40, were the ones that better met this requirement. Out of the remaining patients, the general trauma consultations, OR = 0.50, and those referred to units, OR = 0.54, were the ones that had a higher resolution rate without in- person consultation. CONCLUSIONS: The cases of 74% of the patients who answered the phone call were resolved virtually. Cases of 20% of the patients cannot be solved in a single act because they are derived without complementary tests. Osteosynthesis and postoperative arthroscopic follow-up consultations are the ones that need to be carried out in person the most.

Closed suction drainage after knee arthroplasty. A prospective study of the effectiveness of the operation and of bacterial contamination.

A prospective investigation was designed to determine the volume and the evolution of bleeding after closure of the surgical wound following knee arthroplasty, as well as the incidence of infection and bacterial contamination in relation with the time that the suction drain was left in place. The drain was removed either 12, 24 or 48 hours after the operation. The presence of any signs of clinical infection was recorded. The tip of the drain, 1 cm of its subcutaneous portion and a sample from the collecting bottle were studied for bacterial contamination. In the 12-hr group, no microorganisms were isolated in cultures either from the tip, the subcutaneous portion or the bottle of the drain. In the 24-hr group, 87% of the total postoperative bleeding was collected during the first 12 hours. In two cases, the samples obtained from the tip and the subcutaneous portion of the drain were positive for Staphylococcus epidermidis. In the 48-hr group, 91% and 97% of the total bleeding volume was collected during the first 12 and 24 hours, respectively. In two cases, St. epidermidis was isolated in cultures from the subcutaneous portion of the drain. The clinical evaluation of wound healing was comparable in all three groups.

Secondary forearm deformity due to injury to the distal ulnar physis.

We present a case of deformity of the forearm with painful functional limitation, after a fracture of the distal third of the radius associated with a nonapparent lesion of the distal physis of the ulna, Salter-Harris type V, suffered by a patient 6 years earlier. This fracture caused premature growth arrest in the bone. It was treated with a plane-oblique corrective osteotomy in the radius together with distal radio-ulnar arthrodesis, following the Sauvé-Kapandji technique, with excellent cosmetic and functional results.