What’s New in Limb Lengthening and Deformity Correction 2020
Every month, JBJS delivers a review of the most pertinent and impactful studies published in the orthopaedic literature during the previous year in 13 subspecialties. Click here for a collection of all OrthoBuzz specialty-update summaries.
This month, Andrew G. Georgiadis, MD, co-author of the August 19, 2020 “What’s New in Limb Lengthening and Deformity Correction,” selected the five most clinically compelling findings from among the more than 50 noteworthy studies summarized in the article.
Congenital Limb Deficiencies
–A study of 42 children with severe fibular hemimelia found that levels of psychosocial adjustment and health-related quality of life were comparable among those who underwent staged reconstruction and those who underwent amputation, at a minimum of 2 years after treatment.
Congenital Dysplasia
–A study evaluating long-term outcomes of 34 patients who were treated with the Charnley-Williams procedure for congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia found high rates of refracture after initial union, and that failure to operate on the fibula at the time of index surgery resulted in poor outcomes. On a more positive note, 10 of the 13 refractures healed upon retreatment.
Trauma
–A series of 14 patients with aseptic nonunion of the femur or tibia underwent long-bone compression with magnetic lengthening nails programmed “in reverse.”1 The nails shortened by 6.7 mm and the bones shortened by an average of 3.1 mm. Union was achieved in 13 of 14 cases.
Limb Lengthening
–In a study comparing motorized internal lengthening with external fixation for humeral lengthening,2 ultimate lengthening parameters were comparable, but motorized lengthening mitigated pin-site complications and allowed for reuse of the implant.
Pin-Site Management
–A randomized trial of 114 patients with external fixators concluded that there is no role for antiseptic preparations in routine pin care.3 Neither the antiseptic preparation used nor daily dressing changes affected the pin-site infection rate.
References
- Fragomen AT, Wellman D, Rozbruch SR. The PRECICE magnetic IM compression nail for long bone nonunions: a preliminary report. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2019 Nov;139(11):1551-60. Epub 2019 Jun 19.
- Morrison SG, Georgiadis AG, Dahl MT. Lengthening of the humerus using a motorized lengthening nail: a retrospective comparative series. J Pediatr Orthop. 2019 Sep 23. Epub 2019 Sep 23.
- Subramanyam KN, Mundargi AV, Potarlanka R, Khanchandani P. No role for antiseptics in routine pin site care in Ilizarov fixators: a randomised prospective single blinded control study. Injury. 2019 Mar;50(3):770-6. Epub 2019 Jan 23.
Sustained Fevers After Spinal Fusion: A Sentinel for Infection?
Postoperative fevers occur frequently. During the first 2 to 3 days after surgery, these fevers are often due to atelectasis or the increased inflammatory response that arises from tissue injury during surgery. However, persistent postoperative fevers should be cause for concern. In the August 19, 2020 issue of The Journal, Hwang et al. examine the relationship between sustained fevers after spine instrumentation and postoperative surgical site infection.
The authors retrospectively reviewed 598 consecutive patients who underwent lumbar or thoracic spinal instrumentation. They excluded patients who underwent surgery to treat tumors or infections and those with other identified causes of fever, such as a urinary tract infection or pneumonia. Sustained fevers were defined as those that began on or after postoperative day (POD) 4 and those that started on POD 1 to 3 if they persisted until or beyond POD 5.
Sixty-eight patients (11.4%) met the criteria for a sustained fever after spinal instrumentation. Nine of those 68 (13.2%) were diagnosed with a surgical site infection. Of the 530 patients who did not have a sustained fever, only 5 (0.9%) developed a surgical site infection (p<0.001 for the between-group difference).
Further analysis revealed 3 diagnostic clues for surgical site infections among the patients with sustained fevers:
- Continuous fever (rather than cyclic or intermittent)
- Levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) >4 mg/dL after POD 7
- Increasing or stationary patterns of CRP level and neutrophil differential
In addition, the authors found that CRP levels >4 mg/dL between PODs 7 and 10 had much greater sensitivity for discriminating surgical site infection than gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging data obtained within 1 month of the surgical procedure.
Although a vast majority (87%) of patients with sustained postoperative fevers in this study did not develop an infection, persistent fever after spine instrumentation surgery is something to be mindful of. The authors describe their findings as “tentative” and advise readers to interpret them with caution. Those caveats notwithstanding, I consider this information to be valuable because it might help prevent delays in the diagnosis of a potentially serious perioperative complication.
Matthew R. Schmitz, MD
JBJS Deputy Editor for Social Media
Drug to Improve Tibial Shaft Fracture Healing Fizzles
In our ongoing attempt to identify pharmacologic interventions that improve fracture healing, the sclerostin inhibitor romosozumab is a logical candidate, as it has been shown to decrease bone resorption, improve bone healing in animal and human studies, and reduce the prevalence of some fragility fractures in postmenopausal women. In the August 19, 2020 issue of The Journal, Bhandari et al. present the results of a randomized trial comparing romosozumab to placebo in the healing of tibial diaphyseal fractures treated with intramedullary (IM) nails. Tibial shaft fractures are common in adults, but even after IM nail fixation there is a significant rate of healing failure and subpar functional outcomes with this fracture type.
The study by Bhandari et al. was very well designed and conducted with high-quality data collection. In terms of the primary outcome—median time to radiographic healing—there was no significant difference between the placebo group (n=100) and 9 romosozumab groups (n=293 total, testing 3 different dose levels and 3 different frequencies). Additionally, analysis revealed no differences between placebo and romosozumab groups in median time to clinical healing or in changes in physical function from baseline. (See related OrthoBuzz post about a recent randomized trial investigating romosozumab for hip fractures.)
Kudos to Amgen for funding the trial and for allowing the 66-center, international academic consortium that conducted it to publish the results, warts and all. Such negative findings appropriately inform decisions about which compounds to investigate and about study designs for retesting the same compounds. For example, Bhandari et al. encourage further study of romosozumab in tibial-fracture patients at high risk of poor fracture healing, such as those with diabetes or patients undergoing treatment with corticosteroids.
We are likely to see many such “failures” in the search for pharmacological adjuncts to improve fracture healing, but it seems our orthopaedic community has laid out a clear roadmap for studying this important question further.
Marc Swiontkowski, MD
JBJS Editor-in-Chief
Treating Developmental Hip Dislocations Diagnosed after Walking Age
There is a wry saying in academic medicine that “nothing ruins good results like long-term follow-up.” But long-term follow-up helps us truly understand how our orthopaedic interventions affect patients. This is especially important with procedures on children, and the orthopaedic surgeons at the University of Iowa have been masterful with long-term outcome analysis in pediatric orthopaedics. They demonstrate that again in the August 5, 2020 issue of The Journal, as Scott et al. present their results comparing outcomes among 2 cohorts of patients who underwent treatment for developmental hip dislocations between the ages of 18 months and 5 years—and who were followed for a minimum of 40 years.
Seventy-eight hips in 58 patients underwent open reduction with Salter innominate osteotomy, and 58 hips in 45 patients were treated with closed reduction. At 48 years after reduction, 29 (50%) of the hips in the closed reduction cohort had undergone total hip arthroplasty (THA), compared to 24 (31%) of hips in the open reduction + osteotomy group. This rate of progression to THA nearly doubled compared to previously reported results at 40 years of follow-up, when 29% of hips in the closed reduction group and 14% of hips in the open reduction group had been replaced.
In addition, the authors found that patient age at the time of reduction and presence of unilateral or bilateral disease affected outcomes. Patients with bilateral disease who were treated at 18 months of age had a much lower rate of progression to THA when treated with closed reduction, compared to those treated with open reduction—but the opposite was true among patients with bilateral disease treated at 36 months of age. Treatment type and age did not seem to substantially affect hip survival among those with unilateral disease.
I commend the authors for their dedication to analyzing truly long-term follow-up data to help us understand treatment outcomes among late-diagnosed developmental hip dislocations in kids. Long-term follow-up may “ruin” good results, but it gives us more accurate and useful results. And, in this case, the findings reminded us how important it is to diagnose and treat developmental hip dislocations as early in a child’s life as possible.
Read the JBJS Clinical Summary about this topic.
Matthew R. Schmitz, MD
JBJS Deputy Editor for Social Media
Electronic Portal Usage among Orthopaedic Patients
Physician groups and hospitals have come to rely on electronic patient portals (EPPs) for many things, including appointment scheduling and reminders, delivery of test results, and pre- and post-visit information gathering from patients. Most of the research into the clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of EPPs has taken place in primary care and internal medicine settings. But in the August 5, 2020 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, Varady et al. examine the benefits of EPP use among patients undergoing orthopaedic procedures of various types. In the process, they also uncover racial and socioeconomic disparities in the use of EPPs.
The retrospective review of >18,000 patients (average age of 56.9 years) undergoing an orthopaedic procedure at 2 Boston-area academic hospitals found a veritable 50-50 split between those who used the EPP and those who did not. Relative to white patients, African-American and Hispanic patients were significantly less likely to use the EPP. Other demographic factors associated with portal nonuse were non-English speaking, male sex, low income, and having less than a college education.
Multivariable regression analysis demonstrated that, relative to EPP nonuse, EPP use was associated with significantly lower no-show rates, increased odds of completing one or more patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), and improved overall patient satisfaction. The degree of after-surgery functional improvements measured with PROMs was the same among EPP users and nonusers.
The authors home in on the benefits of the 27% reduction in missed appointments this study divulged. First and foremost, missed appointments have been shown to negatively affect patient outcomes. On the provider side, no-shows increase staff frustration and cost time and money. (The 2 hospitals realized a combined estimated $200,000 in savings over 1 year from the reduction in no-shows.) Consequently, Varady et al. say that “the benefit of reducing missed appointments alone may be sufficiently strong to warrant efforts to increase EPP enrollment.”
Increased efforts among orthopaedic office staff and clinicians to enroll patients in portal usage during their hospital stay or during pre- or postoperative visits could also help address the disparity issue. “These results have important implications for the orthopaedic surgery community in…achieving more equitable care,” the authors conclude.
Less Drinking/Smoking Associated with Fewer Hip Fractures
OrthoBuzz occasionally receives posts from guest bloggers. This guest post comes from Shahriar Rahman, MS in response to a recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Hip fractures are an important cause of morbidity and mortality among the elderly population worldwide. However, age-adjusted hip fracture incidence has decreased in the US over the last 2 decades. While many attribute the decline to improved osteoporosis treatment, the definitive cause remains unknown. A population-based cohort study of participants in the Framingham Heart Study prospectively followed a cohort of >10,000 patients for the first hip fracture between 1970 and 2010.
The age-adjusted incidence of hip fracture decreased by 4.4% per year during this study period. That decrease in hip fracture incidence was coincident with a decrease over those same 4 decades in rates of smoking (from 38% in 1970 to 15% by 2010) and heavy drinking (from 7% to 4.5%), with subjects born more recently having a lower incidence of hip fracture for a given age. Meanwhile, during the study period, the prevalence of other hip-fracture risk factors–such as being underweight, being obese, and experiencing early menopause–remained stable.
This study’s findings should be interpreted in light of 2 major limitations. First of all, there was a lack of contemporaneous bone mineral density data across the study period; secondly, all the study subjects were white. Nevertheless, these findings should encourage physicians to continue carefully managing patients who have osteoporosis and at the same time caution them against smoking and heavy drinking.
Shahriar Rahman, MS is an assistant professor of orthopaedics and traumatology at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital in Bangladesh and a member of the JBJS Social Media Advisory Board.
Validity of Non-English PROMs to Assess TKA
Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have become increasingly important tools in the 30 years since the orthopaedic community began embracing the movement toward the “patient perspective.” Clinical findings such as range of motion and imaging results remain important, but we have come to understand that pain and function–as reported by the patient–are the most crucial data points. And we are not alone. Insurance companies, registries, scholarly publications, and research review panels now often require PROMs as part of their core evaluations.
But not all PROMs are created equal. For clinicians to trust the output from these instruments, validation of the measures is required. This entails reliability testing and assessment of face, construct, and criterion validity. Furthermore, translating PROMs validated in English into other languages involves not only linguistic translation, but also cultural components in order to capture the full patient perspective.
In the August 5, 2020 issue of The Journal, Bin Sheeha et al. report their work in evaluating the responsiveness, reliability, and validity of the Arabic-language version of the Oxford Knee Score (OKS-Ar). After painstaking statistical analysis of OKS-Ar questionnaires completed by 100 Arabic-speaking patients (80 of whom were female) before and after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), the authors concluded that the OKS-Ar is a valid, sensitive, and easy-to-use instrument to assess pain and function in TKA-treated individuals whose main language is Arabic.
To be truthful, this is not very glamorous research to conduct or very exciting to read about. However, it is absolutely fundamental to ensuring the validity of multicenter, international trials and registry studies. In essence, Bin Sheeha et al. have dug a conduit that facilitates the flow of reliable data and that will help improve future patient care worldwide. As such, it deserves our attention, understanding, and appreciation.
Marc Swiontkowski, MD
JBJS Editor-in-Chief
Owning the Bone in Spine Surgery
This post comes from Fred Nelson, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon in the Department of Orthopedics at Henry Ford Hospital and a clinical associate professor at Wayne State Medical School. Some of Dr. Nelson’s tips go out weekly to more than 3,000 members of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), and all are distributed to more than 30 orthopaedic residency programs. Those not sent to the ORS are periodically reposted in OrthoBuzz with the permission of Dr. Nelson.
Approximately 20% of patients who undergo spine surgery have osteoporosis, which has a significant impact on spine-surgery complications such as failure of fixation devices and collapse fractures following fusion procedures. In a recent critical analysis review, authors focus on improving outcomes by identifying and optimizing patients with osteoporosis prior to spine surgery. The multidisciplinary team involved in that process should include primary care providers, endocrinologists, physical therapists, and orthopaedic surgeons.
The predominant tool for assessing bone mineral density (BMD) is dual x-ray absorptiometry. The diagnosis is based on a T score, which represents the number of standard deviations between the patient’s BMD and that of a healthy 30-year-old woman. Standard deviations ≤─2.5 define osteoporosis. The Z score is similar to the T score but compares the patient to an age- and sex-matched individual.
A history of low-energy fracture, such as a wrist fracture following a fall from a standing height, is considered a sentinel event for suspicion of fragility fractures. The combination of a fragility fracture and low BMD is considered to be severe osteoporosis. The most common form of osteoporosis is associated with a postmenopausal decrease in mineralization, but there are other causes. These include advanced kidney disease, hypogonadism, Cushing disease, vitamin D deficiency, anorexia and/or bulimia, rheumatoid arthritis, hyperthyroidism, primary hyperparathyroidism, and some medications (e.g., anticonvulsants, corticosteroids, heparin, and proton pump inhibitors).
Forty-seven percent of patients undergoing spine deformity surgery and 64% of cervical spine surgery patients have low vitamin D levels. Postoperative bone health can be enhanced in women ≥51 years old with daily intake of 800 to 1,000 units of vitamin D and 1,200 mg of daily calcium. There is no solid evidence that pre- or postoperative bisphosphonates have a positive impact on bone healing. Conversely, some series have shown that teriparatide, an anabolic parathyroid hormone, may improve time-to-fusion and help reduce screw pull-out after lumbar fusion in postmenopausal women.
Calcitonin has been shown to reduce the incidence of vertebral compression fracture, but there is no concrete evidence that it supports spine-fusion healing. Similarly, there is no strong evidence for the use of estrogen or selective estrogen receptor modulators in this surgical scenario. There is evidence that when the human monoclonal antibody denosumab is combined with teriparatide, spine-fusion healing may be improved relative to the use of teriparatide alone. Finally, the review article identifies screw size, screw position, and other surgical considerations that can improve fixation strength.
Using the “Own the Bone” practices promulgated by the American Orthopaedic Association and the technical considerations described in this review, we should be able to mitigate osteoporosis-related postoperative complications in spine-surgery patients.
What’s New in Musculoskeletal Infection 2020
Every month, JBJS publishes a review of the most pertinent and impactful studies published in the orthopaedic literature during the previous year in 13 subspecialties. Click here for a collection of all OrthoBuzz specialty-update summaries.
This month, Thomas K. Fehring, MD, co-author of the July 15, 2020 “What’s New in Musculoskeletal Infection,” selected the five most clinically compelling findings—all focused on periprosthetic joint infection (PJI)—from among the more than 80 noteworthy studies summarized in the article.
PJI Prevention
–A retrospective case-control study1 found that patients who received an allogeneic blood transfusion during or after knee or hip replacement had a higher risk of PJI than those who were not transfused.
PJI Diagnosis
–A retrospective review2 found that using inflammatory markers to diagnose PJI in immunosuppressed joint-replacement patients is not suitable and that newly described thresholds for synovial cell count and differential have better operative characteristics.
Treating PJI
–A retrospective review3 of a 2-stage debridement protocol with component retention in 83 joint-replacement patients showed an 86.7% success rate of infection control at an average follow-up of 41 months.
–A single-center study4 of perioperative antibiotic selection for patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty found that the risk of PJI was 32% lower among those who received cefazolin compared with those who received other antimicrobial agents. The findings emphasize the importance of preoperative allergy testing in patients with stated beta-lactam allergies.
–A review of regional and state antibiograms5 showed that 75% of methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) isolates and 60% of both methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus isolates were susceptible to clindamycin, whereas 99% of all isolates were susceptible to vancomycin.
References
- Taneja A, El-Bakoury A, Khong H, Railton P, Sharma R, Johnston KD, Puloski S, Smith C, Powell J. Association between allogeneic blood transfusion and wound infection after total hip or knee arthroplasty: a retrospective case-control study. J Bone Jt Infect. 2019 Apr 20;4(2):99-105.
- Lazarides AL, Vovos TJ, Reddy GB, Kildow BJ, Wellman SS, Jiranek WA, Seyler TM. Traditional laboratory markers hold low diagnostic utility for immunosuppressed patients with periprosthetic joint infections. J Arthroplasty.2019 Jul;34(7):1441-5. Epub 2019 Mar 12.
- Chung AS, Niesen MC, Graber TJ, Schwartz AJ, Beauchamp CP, Clarke HD, Spangehl MJ. Two-stage debridement with prosthesis retention for acute periprosthetic joint infections. J Arthroplasty.2019 Jun;34(6):1207-13. Epub 2019 Feb 16.
- Wyles CC, Hevesi M, Osmon DR, Park MA, Habermann EB, Lewallen DG, Berry DJ, Sierra RJ. 2019 John Charnley Award: Increased risk of prosthetic joint infection following primary total knee and hip arthroplasty with the use of alternative antibiotics to cefazolin: the value of allergy testing for antibiotic prophylaxis. Bone Joint J.2019 Jun;101-B(6_Supple_B):9-15.
- Nodzo SR, Boyle KK, Frisch NB. Nationwide organism susceptibility patterns to common preoperative prophylactic antibiotics: what are we covering? J Arthroplasty.2019 Jul;34(7S):S302-6. Epub 2019 Jan 17.
JOPA 2019 Writing Awards
Since 2016, The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery and JBJS Journal of Orthopaedics for Physician Assistants (JOPA) have awarded two $500 prizes to outstanding JOPA review articles or case studies written by authors who were PA students at the time of article submission.
The 2019 award winners for best articles by PA students produced high-quality literature reviews that address current and impactful topics. We recognized author Matthew Morrow, BA, PA-S out of Northwestern University for “The Effects of Cannabinoid Use on Acute Orthopaedic Pain: A Review of the Current Literature,” which showed that cannabis use provided little to no pain relief for acute musculoskeletal pain. The review also concluded that cannabis use while recovering from musculoskeletal trauma may be associated with an increased use of narcotics. The article suggests that cannabis use has a larger role for chronic rather than acute musculoskeletal pain.
Brittany Szabo, PA-S and Justin Gambini, MSPAS, PA-C, from Campbell University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, were recognized for “Ewing Sarcoma: A Review on Primary Bone Malignancy in Pediatrics and the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Challenges of Managing Ewing Sarcoma.” This article provided a comprehensive review of a “can’t miss” orthopaedic diagnosis, including clinical and diagnostic signs for orthopaedic providers to look for.
Congratulations to our 2019 PA student writing-award winners! We are offering two $500 awards again this year, so please encourage all of your PA students to submit an article for consideration! Deadline for submission is December 31, 2020.
And be on the lookout for an announcement about 2 additional 2019 JOPA Writing Award winners.
Dagan Cloutier, PA-C
Editor, JBJS Journal of Orthopaedics for Physician Assistants
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