Acute Fracture Patients Research Articles

CLINICAL FEATURES AND OUTCOMES OF LITTLE LEAGUE ELBOW IN YOUNG ATHLETES

Background:As participation and specialization in youth sports has increased, so too has the incidence of overuse conditions, such as medial epicondyle apophysitis, or Little League Elbow (LLE). Hypothesis/ Purpose: The study purpose was to assess the demographic features, clinical presentation, management, and outcomes of a population of skeletally immature athletes with this increasingly common, but understudied, condition.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed of patients diagnosed with LLE between 2003 and 2017 at a tertiary-care pediatric hospital. All patients had open apophyses with a clinical history of repetitive overhead athletic activity and radiographic and/or physical exam findings consistent with LLE. Study variables were derived from the electronic medical record.Results:Three hundred seventeen subjects (mean age: 12.8 years, range 8yrs – 16yrs; 310 males, 98%) were identified. The vast majority were baseball players (n=310, 98%), though there were several tennis players (n=4, 1%) and football quarterbacks (n=3, 1%). Two-hundred sixty-eight patients (85%) presented with apophysitis, while 49 (15%) presented with acute avulsion fractures from throwing (with 84% reporting preceding medial elbow pain). The acute fracture patients are the subject of a separate study. In the apophysitis cohort, all of whom presented with medial elbow pain, other presenting findings/symptoms included decreased elbow range of motion (16%) and concomitant ipsilateral shoulder pain (13%). Amongst those with documented shoulder exams, a majority (55%) demonstrated glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) with a significantly longer time from diagnosis to resolution of symptoms (p=0.025). All apophysitis patients were treated with rest (complete cessation 75%, relative rest/position change 25%). Mean follow up was 32 months (sd 33 months). Return to sports occurred at a median of 12 weeks from diagnosis (IQR 7wks – 18wks). Recurrence of elbow pain occurred a median of 24 months (IQR 11mo - 43mo) following initial diagnosis in 13% of patients, a sub-cohort with significantly longer duration of symptoms prior to index presentation (p=0.024). One patient also suffered a subsequent medial epicondylar avulsion fracture while throwing in the setting of non-compliance with recommended rest.Conclusion:Little League Elbow is most commonly seen in adolescent and pre-adolescent male pitchers but may rarely be seen in other overhead athletic sub-populations. Careful evaluation of the entire kinetic chain is critical to identify concomitant pathology such as GIRD, which may portend a prolonged recovery. Proper treatment is necessary to minimize recurrence and development of epicondyle avulsion fractures, which represent a potentially preventable, but severe variant of LLE.

A Level 1 Trauma Center's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City: a qualitative and quantitative story.

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to describe a Level 1 Trauma Center’s orthopedic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to compare outcomes of acute fracture patients pre-COVID versus during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsAll inpatient fracture cases performed over a 5-month period were identified and retrospective chart review performed. Patients were divided into pre- and COVID-era groups based on when surgery was performed relative to March 16, 2020 (the date elective operations were ceased), and groups were statistically compared. Patients with a COVID test result were further sub-divided into COVID negative and positive groups, and statistically compared. Statistical analysis was performed using independent t-test for continuous variables and chi-square analysis for categorical variables.ResultsOne hundred and nineteen patients were identified, 38% females with average age of 58 years. Average length of stay was 7 days with average time from injury to surgery of 3 days and average time from admission to surgery of 1.3 days. Overall in-hospital complication rate was 29.4%, and 30-day mortality and readmission rates were 2.5% and 5%, respectively. Sixty-nine patients comprised the pre-COVID group, and 50 in the COVID-era group. There was no significant difference with respect to length of stay, time from injury to surgery, time from admission to surgery, need for post-operative ICU stay, in-hospital complication rate, 30-day mortality rate and 30-day readmission rate. Thirty-four patients had COVID testing, with 24 negative and 10 positive. COVID-positive patients had longer time from injury to surgery (8.5 days vs. 2 days, p = 0.003) and longer time from admission to surgery (2.7 days vs. 1.2 days, p = 0.034). While more COVID-positive patients required ICU admission post-operatively (60% vs. 21%, p = 0.036), there was no difference in overall complication rate.ConclusionsOrthopedic care of acute fracture patients was not affected by a global pandemic. The response of our Level 1 Trauma Center’s orthopedic department can guide other hospitals if and when new surges in COVID cases arise, in order to prevent compromising appropriate orthopedic care.Level of evidencePrognostic III.

Orthoptic Vision Therapy: Establishing a Protocol for Management of Diplopia Following Orbital Fracture Repair.

Persistent diplopia following orbital fracture is a well-recognized problem. While observation is the standard-of-care, symptoms may be protracted. Orthoptic vision therapy is a form of ocular physical therapy that achieves functional rehabilitation through targeted exercises. This study presents a protocol for post-traumatic orthoptics and describes preliminary results. Protocols for home-therapy/office-assessment were developed using commercial software and exercises targeting motility and fusion. Office-assessment also included validated questionnaire chronicling symptomatology. Healthy-volunteers (n = 10) trailed the protocol three times (n = 30) and normative data was compiled. Comparative measurements were made in chronic (>1year; n = 8) and acute (<2 weeks; n = 4) fracture cohorts. Time-of-therapy was recorded, monetary cost-analysis performed, and side-effects assessed. Severe/moderate motility limitation was found in 3 of 4 acute fracture patients but not in chronic or healthy cohorts. The acute cohort had worse fusion when comparing convergence (mean break/recovery of 8.0/6.5 prism diopters (pd) versus 31.87/21.23pd; P = 0.001/0.015) and divergence (3.00/1.50pd versus 18.37/12.83pd; P = 0.000/0.001) to the healthy cohort. Those with chronic fracture had lower convergence (15.71/5.00pd; P = 0.01/0.001) and divergence (12.29/4.71pd; P = 0.04/0.002) when compared with healthy subjects, but better function than acute patients. Acute fracture patients reported greater symptomatology than chronic (mean score 18.8 versus 4.6; P = 0.003) or healthy (5.0; P = 0.02) groups, but there was no difference between chronic and healthy groups (P = 0.87). Assessment took <10 minutes. Per patient software cost was <$70. Mild eyestrain related to therapy was self-resolving in all cases. Orthoptic therapy may improve fusion and motility following orbital fracture. This protocol serves as basis for prospective work.

What Is the Role of Vitamin D Supplementation in Acute Fracture Patients? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Prevalence of Hypovitaminosis D and Supplementation Efficacy.

The objectives of this systematic review and meta-analyses are (1) to estimate the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in fracture patients and (2) to summarize the available evidence on the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in fracture patients. A comprehensive search of the MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases was conducted. Conference abstracts from relevant meetings were also searched. We included studies that investigate vitamin D insufficiency or examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25(OH)D) serum levels in fracture patients. Two authors independently extracted data using a predesigned form. We performed a pooled analysis to determine the prevalence of postfracture hypovitaminosis D and mean postfracture 25(OH)D levels. We present detailed summaries of each of the studies evaluating the impact of vitamin D supplementation. The weighted pooled prevalence of hypovitaminosis D was 70.0% (95% confidence interval: 63.7%-76.0%, I = 97.7). The mean postfracture serum 25(OH)D was 19.5 ng/mL. The studies that evaluated the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation suggest that vitamin D supplementation safely increases serum 25(OH)D levels. Only 1 meeting abstract showed a trend toward reduced risk of nonunion after a single large loading dose of vitamin D. This review found a high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in fracture patients and that vitamin D supplementation at a range of doses safely increases 25(OH)D serum levels. To date, only 1 pilot study published as a meeting abstract has demonstrated a trend toward improved fracture healing with vitamin D supplementation. Prognostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Distal Femur Nonunion Patients Can Expect Good Outcomes

The purpose of this study is to describe our experience with distal femur nonunions and to report on the functional recovery of patients treated for these injuries. Twenty-two patients with an established distal femur nonunion were identified and followed prospectively. Results were compared with a control group consisting of 18 similar patients who had sustained an acute distal femur fracture. Compared with acute fracture patients, patients with a nonunion were more likely to have had an open fracture at initial injury (p = 0.02) and required a longer time to heal after final surgery (p = 0.054). No demographic variables were found to be predictive of complications, Short Musculoskeletal Functional Assessment scores, or time to union. These results show that patients with a distal femoral nonunion can expect to attain similar ultimate outcomes to patients receiving treatment for an acute distal femur fracture. Unlike the development of nonunions following other types of fracture, such as the hip, distal femur nonunions do not portend poor functional outcomes as long as bone union is achieved.

Good function after shoulder arthroplasty

Background and purpose Different results after shoulder arthroplasty have been found for different diagnostic groups. We evaluated function, pain, and quality of life after shoulder arthroplasty in 4 diagnostic groups.Patients and methods Patients with shoulder arthroplasties registered in the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register from 1994 through 2008 were posted a questionnaire in 2010. 1,107 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA), acute fracture (AF), or fracture sequela (FS) returned completed forms (65% response rate). The primary outcome measure was the Oxford shoulder score (OSS), which assesses symptoms and function experienced by the patient on a scale from 0 to 48. A secondary outcome measure was the EQ-5D, which assesses life quality. The patients completed a questionnaire concerning symptoms 1 month before surgery, and another concerning the month before they received the questionnaire.Results Patients with RA and OA had the best results with a mean improvement in OSS of 16 units, as opposed to 11 for FS patients. Both shoulder pain and function had improved substantially. The change in OSS for patients with AF was negative (–11), but similar end results were obtained for AF patients as for RA and OA patients. Quality of life had improved in patients with RA, OA, and FS.Interpretation Good results in terms of pain relief and improved level of function were obtained after shoulder arthroplasty for patients with RA, OA, and—to a lesser degree—FS. A shoulder arthropathy had a major effect on quality of life, and treatment with shoulder replacement substantially improved it.

Impaired fracture healing associated with amino acid disturbances

Five percent to 10% of all fracture patients experience an inadequate healing process that results in a nonunion of fracture parts. Previous experimental studies have indicated the importance of sufficient nitric oxide production from arginine during normal fracture healing. However, during conditions of stress, such as inflammation, arginine availability can become limited, which may lead to a nonunion as a result of insufficient callus formation. The aim of this study was to measure callus and plasma amino acid concentrations in patients with and without a fracture nonunion. Amino acid concentrations in plasma and callus were measured with HPLC in atrophic nonunions (n = 12) and compared with those in hypertrophic nonunions (n = 12), acute fractures (n = 15), and healed fractures (n = 8). Arginine (61 compared with 180 μmol/mg; P < 0.0001), citrulline (13 compared with 44 μmol/mg; P < 0.0001), and ornithine (25 compared with 149 μmol/mg; P < 0.0001) in callus were significantly lower in atrophic-nonunion patients than in healed-fracture patients. In hypertrophic nonunions, arginine was significantly higher and ornithine was lower than in healed fractures. Plasma arginine concentrations were significantly lower in patients with hypertrophic nonunions (62 μmol/L; P < 0.001) and acute-fracture patients (41 μmol/L; P < 0.001) but not in atrophic-nonunion patients. Plasma ornithine concentrations were lower in all groups than in acute-fracture patients. Amino acid concentrations were significantly changed in nonunion patients. Atrophic nonunions had lower concentrations of all amino acids, whereas hypertrophic nonunions had higher arginine and lower ornithine concentrations at fracture sites than did healed-fracture and acute-fracture patients.

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) for fracture healing in adults.

Delay in fracture healing is a complex clinical and economic issue for patients and health services. To assess the incremental effectiveness and costs of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) on fracture healing in acute fractures and nonunions compared with standards of care. We searched The Cochrane Library (2008, Issue 4), MEDLINE, and other major health and health economics databases (to October 2008). Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and full or partial economic evaluations of BMP for fracture healing in skeletally mature adults. All clinical and economic data were extracted by one author and checked by another. Eleven RCTs, all at high risk of bias, and four economic evaluations were included. Apart from one study, the times to fracture healing were comparable between the BMP and control groups. There was some evidence for increased healing rates, without requiring a secondary procedure, of BMP compared with usual care control in acute, mainly open, tibial fractures (risk ratio (RR) 1.19, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.43). The pooled RR for achieving union for nonunited fractures was 1.02 (95% CI 0.90 to 1.15). One study found no difference in union for patients who had corrective osteotomy for radial malunions. Data from three RCTs indicated that fewer secondary procedures were required for acute fracture patients treated with BMP versus controls (RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.83). Adverse events experienced were infection, hardware failure, pain, donor site morbidity, heterotopic bone formation and immunogenic reactions. The evidence on costs for BMP-2 for acute open tibia fractures is from one large RCT. This indicates that the direct medical costs associated with BMP would generally be higher than treatment with standard care, but this cost difference may decrease as fracture severity increases. Limited evidence suggests that the direct medical costs associated with BMP could be offset by faster healing and reduced time off work for patients with the most severe open tibia fractures. This review highlights a paucity of data on the use of BMP in fracture healing as well as considerable industry involvement in currently available evidence. There is limited evidence to suggest that BMP may be more effective than controls for acute tibial fracture healing, however, the use of BMP for treating nonunion remains unclear. The limited available economic evidence indicates that BMP treatment for acute open tibial fractures may be more favourable economically when used in patients with the most severe fractures.

Gadolinium-enhanced dynamic MRI of the fractured carpal scaphoid: preliminary results.

The aim of the present report was to evaluate the vascularity of fracture fragments of the fractured carpal scaphoid in the acute (< 4 weeks) and chronic (> 3 months) phases using a gadolinium-enhanced dynamic MRI sequence. Eight patients with acute scaphoid fractures, six patients with chronic scaphoid fractures, and three control patients without fractures were evaluated using a T1-weighted fast spoiled gradient recalled acquisition (fSPGR) sequence with gadolinium-DTPA enhancement (0.1 mmol/kg bodyweight). Signal intensity over time plots were obtained using region of interest measurements from both fracture fragments. Enhancement factors (EF) were then calculated from the plots. No enhancement of the scaphoid was seen in control subjects (EF: distal scaphoid pole 1.04 +/- 0.01, proximal pole 1.07 +/- 0.08). In acute fracture patients, enhancement of the distal pole was greater than that of the proximal in all cases but one in which the two poles enhanced in a similar fashion (EF: distal 1.99 +/- 0.77, proximal 1.43 +/- 0.99). In chronic fracture patients the enhancement pattern was reversed, as the proximal pole enhanced to a greater degree than the distal with the exception of one case where both poles enhanced equally (EF: distal 1.74 +/- 0.52, proximal 2.64 +/- 0.50). Using a two-tailed non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test, the difference in enhancement of the proximal poles between the acute and chronic groups was found to be highly significant (P < 0.003). Dynamic contrast-enhanced (fSPGR) MRI demonstrates significant differences in the enhancement patterns of the scaphoid when chronic and acute fractures are compared.

Experience in the management of odontoid process injuries: an analysis of 128 cases.

The authors present a retrospective analysis of 128 cases of odontoid process injury treated at the University of Minnesota and affiliated hospitals between the years 1967 and 1983. Of these 128 cases, 110 were acute fractures, while 18 patients suffered from old, unstable odontoid injuries. Motor vehicle accident was the leading cause of injury, and the largest group of patients was in their second decade. Type II fractures were the most commonly encountered type of injury, and anterior subluxation was the most common displacement. Posterior subluxation, however, had the highest incidence of associated neurological deficit. Regarding treatment, the 110 acute fracture patients fell into the following groups: 16 patients died during the acute phase, 14 patients underwent early posterior cervical fusion, and 80 patients underwent a course of external skeletal fixation. The remaining 18 patients with old unstable injuries underwent posterior cervical fusion. An analysis of the results in these groups led to the elucidation of certain factors that likely are important in determining the treatment of each individual patient. These factors include age of the patient, type of odontoid fracture, direction and degree of fracture displacement, and diagnostic delay. Fracture reduction and halo immobilization are the treatments preferred for patients who are diagnosed within 1 week of injury, who are less than 65 years of age and who have anteriorly, nondisplaced, or minimally posteriorly subluxed (less than 2 mm) Type II fractures, or who have any Type III injury.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)