Webinar—When Great Surgeons Have Challenging Behaviors
Sometimes the most talented, skilled physicians with whom you work are also prone to displaying challenging behaviors. Often, these physicians are not cognizant of how their colleagues perceive them. So how can you—as the supervisor, friend, and/or peer of such clinicians—help ensure that patients continue to benefit from their clinical and surgical gifts without behavioral difficulties diminishing their contributions?
On Thursday, October 26, 2017 at 8:00 pm EDT, the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) and The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) will host a complimentary webinar that will deliver practical and effective methods you can use to help physicians who are clinically outstanding, but behaviorally difficult, start to make remedial changes.
The presentations about how to be helpful to such colleagues will be led by:
- Gerald Hickson, senior VP for Quality,Safety, and Risk Prevention at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- William Hopkinson, professor of orthopaedic surgery at Loyola Medicine
- George Russell, professor and chair of orthopaedic traumatology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center
Moderated by Dr. Douglas Lundy, orthopaedic trauma surgeon at Resurgens Orthopaedics, this webinar will include a 15-minute live Q&A session during which attendees can ask questions of the panelists.
Seats are limited, so register now!
New Level-I Data on TKA Blood Conservation
Minimizing perioperative blood loss during total knee arthroplasty (TKA) helps curtail the risks and costs of allogeneic blood transfusions. Currently, the most popular pharmacological approach to blood conservation is the antifibrinolytic agent tranexamic acid (TXA). But in a randomized trial published in the October 4, 2017 edition of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, Boese et al. found that a similar and much less expensive compound, epsilon-aminocaproic acid (EACA), performed almost as effectively and just as safely as TXA in patients undergoing unilateral knee replacement.
Although the 98 patients in the study who received TXA averaged less estimated blood loss than the 96 patients who received EACA, no transfusions were required in either group, and there were no statistically significant or clinically relevant between-group differences in the change in hemoglobin levels. On the safety/complication side, there were no statistically significant between-group differences in any measured parameter, including postoperative serum creatinine levels or renal, bleeding, or thrombotic complications. However, there were 3 pulmonary emboli in the EACA group compared with only 1 in the TXA group. While that was not a statistically significant difference, “an observed difference of this magnitude could limit the usefulness of EACA in TKA,” the authors caution.
This study did not compare the current cost of the two compounds, but back in 2012, when the authors’ institution added antifibrinolytics to their blood management program, TXA cost $43/g, compared with $0.20/g for EACA. The cost differential is striking, even when you consider that TXA is at least 7 times more potent than EACA on a molar basis, so less of the former drug is required.
Boese et al. conclude that “TXA does not have superior blood conservation effects or safety profile compared with EACA in TKA,” but they cite a need for future equivalence, superiority, and noninferiority trials with these drugs.
Faster Relief for Patients with Painful Bone Metastases
A technique that combines magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with high-intensity focused ultrasound hyperthermia provides faster pain relief than conventional radiation therapy (RT) for patients with a painful bone metastasis.
In the September 20, 2017 issue of JBJS, Lee et al. report on a matched-pair study of 63 patients with a painful bone metastasis who received either magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) or RT as first-line treatment. Both modalities were effective overall, yielding response rates of >70% at the three-month follow-up evaluation. However, MRgFUS was more efficient, providing a 71% response rate at 1 week after treatment, compared with 26% for RT at that same time point.
The total treatment time and cost of the two modalities were similar, and neither was associated with adverse events above grade 2. Among MRgFUS patients, there was a 14% rate of positioning-related pain and a 33% rate of sonication-related pain, which typically resolved within 1 day after treatment.
Lee et al. report that the median overall survival of patients in the study was 12.7 months in the MRgFUS group and 9.8 months in the RT group, a statistically nonsignificant difference. But the authors emphasize that the study was more about pain relief than extending life. “Reduc[ing] pain, restor[ing] function, and maintain[ing] quality of life is imperative” for those with bone metastasis, the authors conclude. They also caution that MRgFUS is not appropriate for bone metastases of the skull or most of the spine, or for any lesion that is not at least 1 cm away from “tissues at risk.”
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