Sagittal deformity of Garden type I and II geriatric femoral neck fractures is frequently misclassified by lateral radiographs.

The objective of this study was to determine the validity and inter-rater reliability of radiographic assessment of sagittal deformity of femoral neck fractures. Design: This is a retrospective cohort study. Setting: Level 1 trauma center. Patients/Participants: Thirty-one patients 65 years or older who sustained low-energy, Garden type I/II femoral neck fractures imaged with biplanar radiographs and either computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging were included. Main Outcome Measurements: Preoperative sagittal tilt was measured on lateral radiographs and compared with the tilt identified on advanced imaging. Fractures were defined as "high-risk" if posterior tilt was ≥20 degrees or anterior tilt was >10 degrees. Results: Of 31 Garden type I/II femoral neck fractures, advanced imaging identified 10 high-risk fractures including 8 (25.8%) with posterior tilt ≥20 degrees and 2 (6.5%) with anterior tilt >10 degrees. Overall, there was no significant difference between sagittal tilt measured using lateral radiographs and advanced imaging (P = 0.84), and the 3 raters had good agreement between their measurements of sagittal tilt on lateral radiographs (interclass correlation coefficient 0.79, 95% confidence interval [0.65, 0.88], P < 0.01). However, for high-risk fractures, radiographic measurements from lateral radiographs alone resulted in greater variability and underestimation of tilt by 5.2 degrees (95% confidence interval [-18.68, 8.28]) when compared with computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging. Owing to this underestimation of sagittal tilt, the raters misclassified high-risk fractures as "low-risk" in most cases (averaging 6.3 of 10, 63%, range 6 - 7) when using lateral radiographs while low-risk fractures were rarely misclassified as high-risk (averaging 1.7 of 21, 7.9%, range 1 - 3, P = 0.01). Conclusions: Lateral radiographs frequently lead surgeons to misclassify high-risk sagittal tilt of low-energy femoral neck fractures as low-risk. Further research is necessary to improve the assessment of sagittal plane deformity for these injuries. Level of Evidence: Level IV diagnostic study.

Limb Injuries and Disability in the Southwest Region of Cameroon.

INTRODUCTION: Extremity injuries are a leading cause of morbidity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), often resulting in marked short-term and long-term disabilities. Most of the existing knowledge on these injuries originates from hospital-based studies; however, poor access to health care in LMICs limits these data because of inherent selection bias. This subanalysis of a larger population-level cross-sectional study in the Southwest Region of Cameroon aims to determine patterns of limb injury, treatment-seeking behaviors, and predictors of disability. METHODS: Households were surveyed in 2017 on injuries and subsequent disability sustained over the previous 12 months using a three-stage cluster sampling framework. Subgroups were compared using the chi square, Fisher exact, analysis of variance, Wald, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. Logarithmic models were used to identify predictors of disability. RESULTS: Of 8,065 subjects, 335 persons (4.2%) sustained 363 isolated limb injuries. Over half of the isolated limb injuries (55.7%) were open wounds while 9.6% were fractures. Isolated limb injuries most commonly occurred in younger men and resulted from falls (24.3%) and road traffic injuries (23.5%). High rates of disability were reported, with 39% reporting difficulty with activities of daily living. Compared with individuals with other types of limb injuries, those with fractures were six times more likely to seek a traditional healer first for care (40% versus 6.7%), 5.3 times (95% CI, 1.21 to 23.42) more likely to have any level of disability after adjustment for injury mechanism, and 2.3 times more likely to have difficulty paying for food or rent (54.8% versus 23.7%). DISCUSSION: Most traumatic injuries sustained in LMICs involve limb injuries and often result in high levels of disability that affect individuals during their most productive years. Improved access to care and injury control measures, such as road safety training and improvements to transportation and trauma response infrastructure, are needed to reduce these injuries.

Prophylactic Topical Antibiotics in Fracture Repair and Spinal Fusion.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this systematic review with meta-analysis is to determine whether prophylactic local antibiotics prevent surgical site infections (SSIs) in instrumented spinal fusions and traumatic fracture repair. A secondary objective is to investigate the effect of vancomycin, a common local antibiotic of choice, on the microbiology of SSIs. METHODS: An electronic search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases and major orthopedic surgery conferences was conducted to identify studies that (1) were instrumented spinal fusions or fracture repair and (2) had a treatment group that received prophylactic local antibiotics. Both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and comparative observational studies were included. Meta-analysis was performed separately for randomized and nonrandomized studies with subgroup analysis by study design and antibiotic. RESULTS: Our review includes 44 articles (30 instrumented spinal fusions and 14 fracture repairs). Intrawound antibiotics significantly decreased the risk of developing SSIs in RCTs of fracture repair (RR 0.61, 95% CI: 0.40-0.93, I 2 = 32.5%) but not RCTs of instrumented spinal fusion. Among observational studies, topical antibiotics significantly reduced the risk of SSIs in instrumented spinal fusions (OR 0.34, 95% CI: 0.27-0.43, I 2 = 52.4%) and in fracture repair (OR 0.49, 95% CI: 0.37-0.65, I 2 = 43.8%). Vancomycin powder decreased the risk of Gram-positive SSIs (OR 0.37, 95% CI: 0.27-0.51, I 2 = 0.0%) and had no effect on Gram-negative SSIs (OR 0.95, 95% CI: 0.62-1.44, I 2 = 0.0%). CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic intrawound antibiotic administration decreases the risk of SSIs in fracture surgical fixation in randomized studies. Therapeutic efficacy in instrumented spinal fusion was seen in only nonrandomized studies. Vancomycin appears to be an effective agent against Gram-positive pathogens. There is no evidence that local vancomycin powder is associated with an increased risk for Gram-negative infection.

Ghosts of infections past: using archival samples to understand a century of monkeypox virus prevalence among host communities across space and time.

Infectious diseases that originate from multiple wildlife hosts can be complex and problematic to manage. A full understanding is further limited by large temporal and spatial gaps in sampling. However, these limitations can be overcome, in part, by using historical samples, such as those derived from museum collections. Here, we screened over 1000 museum specimens collected over the past 120 years to examine the historical distribution and prevalence of monkeypox virus (MPXV) in five species of African rope squirrel (Funisciurus sp.) collected across Central Africa. We found evidence of MPXV infections in host species as early as 1899, half a century earlier than the first recognized case of MPXV in 1958, supporting the suggestion that historic pox-like outbreaks in humans and non-human primates may have been caused by MPXV rather than smallpox as originally thought. MPX viral DNA was found in 93 of 1038 (9.0%) specimens from five Funisciurus species (F. anerythrus, F. carruthersi, F. congicus, F. lemniscatus and F. pyrropus), of which F. carruthersi and pyrropus had not previously been identified as potential MPXV hosts. We additionally documented relative prevalence rates of infection in museum specimens of Funisciurus and examined the spatial and temporal distribution of MPXV in these potential host species across nearly a hundred years (1899-1993).