A retrospective evaluation of reliability and reproducibility of Arbeitsgemeinschaftfür Osteosynthesefragen classification and Fernandez classification for distal radius fracture.

This is a retrospective evaluated. The objective of this study was to test the interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility of fracture classification with Arbeitsgemeinschaftfür Osteosynthesefragen (AO) system and Fernandez system used by 5 senior orthopedic surgeons.Anteroposterior and lateral radiographs of 160 patients hospitalized for displaced distal radius fracture were examined. Independently, 5 orthopedic surgeons evaluated the radiographs according to 2 different distal radius classification systems (3 types of results). Three statistical tools were used to measure interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility. The intraclass correlation coefficient and kappa coefficient (k) were used to assess both interobserver and intraobserver agreement of AO and Fernandez. Kappa value indicated poor agreement (<0), slight (0-0.20), fair (0.21-0.40), moderate (0.41-0.60), good (0.61-0.80), and perfect (0.81-1.00).The intraobserver reproducibility of AO system (9 types) and Fernandez system were moderate with a value of 0.577 and 0.438. The intraobserver reproducibility of AO system (27 subtypes) was 0.286. The interobserver reliability of AO system (9 types) was moderate with a value of 0.469 and that of Fernandez was moderate with a value of 0.435. The interobserver reliability of AO system (27 subtypes) was 0.299.Neither of the 2 systems can give us a satisfactory agreement between interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility. In AO system, the interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility of the 9 types decreased with the increase of subgroups.

A Randomized Controlled Trial on Qi-tonifying, Stasis-resolving and Kidney-tonifying Treatment of Lumbar Disc Herniation / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

This study was aimed to evaluate the clinical effect and safety of Chinese medicine treatment of lumbar disc herniation with qi-tonifying, stasis-resolving and kidney-tonifying method. The randomized con-trolled trial (RCT) was applied in the study to evaluate the clinical effect of qi-tonifying, stasis-resolving and kidney-tonifying method in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation . A total of 122 lumbar disc herniation pa-tients were randomly divided into the treatment group ( n = 61 ) and the control group ( n = 61 ) . Chinese medicine treatment with the qi-tonifying, stasis-resolving and kidney-tonifying method was applied in the treatment group . And Celecoxib and Methycobal were orally administered in the control group . Then , the VAS scores, JOA scores, Oswestry disability index (ODI) were recorded and analyzed pre-treatment, four weeks af-ter treatment and the twelfth week of follow-up in order to evaluate the clinical effect . Adverse reactions were also observed and recorded at the same time to give a comprehensive evaluation on its safety . The results showed that there were no significant differences between the treatment group and control group in the baseline data before treatment . Hence , data from two groups were comparable . Compared with pre-treatment , the VAS scores and ODI scores were obviously reduced in both groups after four-week treatment . The JOA scores were increased obviously ( P both groups . There were no statistical differences between two groups . There were no statistical differences on the total effective rate between two groups . In the treatment group , four patients received surgery , four cases lost to follow-up , and four cases with mild adverse event . In the control group , six patients received surgery , three cases lost to follow-up , and two cases with mild adverse event . It was concluded that the RCT of Chi-nese medicine treatment of lumbar disc herniation with q i-tonifying , stasis-resolving and kidney-tonifying method received same clinical effect as the combination of Celecoxib and Methycobal . The Chinese medicine treatment can effectively relieve pain degree of lumbar disc herniation , improve function of the lumbar vertebrae and improve the daily life and social activity ability of patients. The short-term follow-up effects were con-firmed . However , the long-term efficacy still requires further study .