Trauma patient heterotopic ossification diagnosis is associated with increased hospital length of stay.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic heterotopic ossification (tHO) refers to the development of extra-skeletal bone in muscle and soft tissues following tissue insult secondary to surgery or trauma. This presents a persistent clinical concern associated with significant patient morbidity and expense to diagnose and treat. Traumatic HO is a substantial barrier to rehabilitation for trauma-injured patients. As such, the development of tHO after burn and other trauma is hypothesised to prolong inpatient length of stay (LOS) and thus increase health care costs. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between an inpatient tHO diagnosis and hospital LOS in trauma patients. METHODS: A retrospective audit of trauma patients over a 14-year period was completed using data from four WA hospitals. Burn and neurological trauma patients diagnosed with tHO as an inpatient (tHO+) and control subjects (tHO-), matched (1:3) by age, gender, and injury severity factors, were identified using medical diagnostic codes. Data relating to patient and injury-related determinants of LOS from tHO+ and tHO- subjects were analysed to model the association of tHO on total hospital length of stay. RESULTS: 188 identified patients were hospitalised due to traumatic injury; 47 patients with tHO following burn injury (n = 17), spinal cord injury (n = 13) and traumatic brain injury (n = 17), and 141 control patients. Those who developed tHO during hospitalisation had a significantly higher median LOS than matched trauma patients who did not develop tHO (142 days vs. 61 days). Multivariate regression analyses identified the following independent predictive factors of a prolonged hospital LOS: tHO diagnosis, mechanical ventilation hours, injury to the hip region and thigh area, other ossification disorder, pressure injury, admission to intensive care unit and deep vein thrombosis. Trauma patients diagnosed with tHO during their hospital admission stayed 1.6 times longer than trauma patients matched for injury severity without a tHO diagnosis (IRR 1.56, 95% CI 1.35-1.79, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Traumatic heterotopic ossification is an independent explanatory factor for increased hospital LOS in patients following burns, spinal cord, and traumatic brain injury. Early diagnosis may assist in reducing the impact of tHO on acute hospital stay after trauma.

Evaluation of the accuracy of diagnostic coding and clinical documentation for traumatic heterotopic ossification diagnoses in Western Australian hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic heterotopic ossification (tHO) refers to the pathological formation of ectopic bone in soft tissues that can occur following burn, neurological ororthopaedic trauma. As completeness and accuracy of medical diagnostic coding can vary based on coding practices and depend on the institutional culture of clinical documentation, it is important to assess diagnostic coding in that local context. To the authors' knowledge, there is no prior study evaluating the accuracy of medical diagnostic coding or specificity of clinical documentation for tHO diagnoses across Western Australia (WA) trauma centres or across the full range of inciting injury and surgical events. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the clinical documentation and the diagnostic accuracy of ICD-10-AM coding for tHO in trauma populations across 4 WA hospitals. METHODS: A retrospective data search of the WA trauma database was conducted to identify patients with tHO admitted to WA hospitals following burn, neurological or orthopaedic trauma. Patient demographic and tHO diagnostic characteristics were assessed for all inpatient and outpatient tHO diagnoses. The frequency and distribution of M61 (HO-specific) and broader, musculoskeletal (non-specific) ICD-10-AM codes were evaluated for tHO cases in each trauma population. RESULTS: HO-specific M61 ICD-10-AM codes failed to identify more than a third of true tHO cases, with a high prevalence of non-specific HO codes (19.4 %) and cases identified via manual chart review (25.4 %). The sensitivity of M61 codes for correctly diagnosing tHO after burn injury was 50 %. ROC analysis showed that M61 ICD-10-AM codes as a predictor of a true positive tHO diagnosis were a less than favourable method (AUC=0.731, 95 % CI=0.561-0.902, p = 0.012). Marked variability in clinical documentation for tHO was identified across the hospital network. CONCLUSION: Coding inaccuracies may, in part, be influenced by insufficiencies in clinical documentation for tHO diagnoses, which may have implications for future research and patient care. Clinicians should consistently employ standardised clinical terminology from the point of care to increase the likelihood of accurate medical diagnostic coding for tHO diagnoses.

Heterotopic Ossification in adults following a burn: A phenomenological analysis.

Heterotopic Ossification (HO) is a rare but severely debilitating complication after a burn. Despite there being literature of varying quality explaining the postulated pathological process, risk factors and treatment for HO, the individual experiences of adults diagnosed with HO following a burn, remains unreported. This study sought to explore and describe burn survivors' experiences of HO to gain a greater understanding of the clinical needs for this unique patient population. A phenomenological inquiry of five men and one woman selected through purposeful sampling collected in-depth interviews analysed using Colaizzi's method of data analysis. Five emergent themes: (1) Early signs and symptoms, (2) Impact on the rehabilitation journey, (3) The role of the health care professionals (4) Loss of independence and an increased reliance on others and, (5) Learning to live with it: uncertainty, hope and adaptation. Eleven cluster themes were identified, highlighting the meaning of each emergent theme. These findings describe the significant impact the unique symptomology of HO had on the physical and psychosocial functioning of participants throughout the rehabilitation journey. Central to engagement in rehabilitation, is the participants' desire for autonomy particularly in the domains of living independently and community re-integration.

The development and impact of heterotopic ossification in burns: a review of four decades of research.

INTRODUCTION: Heterotopic ossification (HO) is the formation of lamellar bone within connective and other tissue where bone should not form and is a rare complication after burn injury. However, it leads to severe pain and distress, marked reduction in joint range of motion (ROM), impaired function and increased hospital length of stay. The pathophysiology, incidence and risk factors of HO remain poorly understood in burns and other traumas and the management, controversial. The aim of this comprehensive review, therefore, was to synthesise the available evidence on the development and treatment of HO after acute burn injury. METHODS: The review was based on a systematic search of five electronic databases PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, LILACS and Scopus. RESULTS: Synthesis and analysis of the data highlighted that, despite the passage of time, little translatable evidence is available to guide any prevention, screening, diagnostic or pharmacological or physical management protocols. DISCUSSION: Causes of HO remain confounded, therefore prevention is difficult. Although spontaneous resolution is possible, surgical resection remains the recommended treatment when ROM and activities of daily living are severely affected. CONCLUSION: The findings from this review indicate that multicentre data pooling is needed to understand the optimum pathway to prevention, identification and treatment of HO in acute burn patients.