Preoperative embolization in surgical treatment of long bone metastasis: a systematic literature review.

Surgery of long bone metastases is associated with a significant risk of perioperative blood loss, which may necessitate blood transfusion.Successful embolization (> 70% obliteration of vascularity) can be achieved in 36-75% of cases.The reported rate of embolization-related complications is 0-9%.Three out of six level III evidence studies showed a reduction in perioperative blood loss and/or blood transfusion requirement after preoperative embolization of renal cell carcinoma metastasis in long bones; three out of six studies did not.One level III evidence study did not show a reduction in perioperative blood loss and/or transfusion requirement after preoperative embolization of hepatocellular carcinoma metastases in long bones.There were no studies found that support preoperative embolization of thyroid metastases or other frequent long bone metastases (e.g. mamma carcinoma, lung carcinoma, or prostate carcinoma).The clinical level of evidence of the studies found is low and randomized studies taking into account primary tumour, location of metastases and type of surgery are therefore desired. Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2020;5:17-25. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.5.190013.

Diagnostic value of medical history and physical examination of anterior cruciate ligament injury: comparison between primary care physician and orthopaedic surgeon.

PURPOSE: Well-designed validity studies on the clinical diagnosis of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury are scarce. Our purpose is to assess the diagnostic value of ACL-specific medical history assessment and physical examination between primary and secondary care medical specialists. METHODS: Medical history assessment and physical examination were performed by both an orthopaedic surgeon and a primary care physician, both blinded to all clinical information, in a secondary care population. A knee arthroscopy was used as reference standard. A total of 60 participants were divided into an index group with an arthroscopically proven complete ACL rupture and a control group with an arthroscopically proven intact ACL. RESULTS: The orthopaedic surgeon recognized 94 % of the participants with an ACL rupture through a positive medical history combined with a positive physical examination; of the participants with an intact ACL, 16 % were misclassified by the orthopaedic surgeon. The primary care physician recognized 62 % of the participants with an ACL rupture and misclassified 23 % of the participants with an intact ACL. Physical examination appeared to have no additional value for the primary care physician. CONCLUSIONS: Combined medical history and physical examination have strong diagnostic value in ACL rupture diagnostics performed by an orthopaedic surgeon, whereas for the primary care physician, only medical history appeared to be of value. For current practice, this could mean that only orthopaedic surgeons can perform an ACL physical examination with accuracy. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.