Pediatrics News

Selective ultrasound screening may be effective in the diagnosis of developmental dysplasia of the hip among infants with risk factors and normal findings on physical examination, according to study results.

SEATTLE — Pediatric patients with operative supracondylar humeral fractures have poorer outcomes if nerve injuries with neurologic deficits are observed compared with patients who do not have such injuries, according to data presented at the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Annual Meeting, here.

Health care is changing at a fast pace. Not long ago, our job as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon was to solely take care of the musculoskeletal health of the children in the best possible manner. This is not the case anymore. Now, terms like efficiency, value, quality and accountability dictate health practices. The repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate formula is not the end of payment reforms, but rather the beginning of the merit-based incentive payment system. Physicians and practices would be rewarded for providing quality services at an affordable value and penalized if they do not. The definitions and metrics used for “quality” and “value” are not fully understood. In this Orthopedics Today Round Table, I asked leaders in the field of pediatric orthopedics about their opinions on the future of the subspecialty.

No significant correlation was found between high school pitchers’ maximum velocity pitches and how much they adapted their shoulder range of motion, according to results of a study in Orthopedics.

Investigators who evaluated pediatric patients with supracondylar humerus fractures noted that complications and a need for physical or occupational therapy could be predicted based on fracture rotation, as well as coronal plane displacement.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Patients who underwent posterior spinal fusion or bracing for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis had similar long term health-related quality of life as compared to the general population, according to results of a long-term study presented here.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The use of gelatine matrix with human thrombin in adolescent patients who underwent posterior spinal fusion for idiopathic scoliosis was shown in results of a randomized clinical trial presented at the EuroSpine Annual Meeting, here, to reduce intraoperative blood loss and postoperative hemoglobin loss.

Understanding that patterns of patellofemoral instability injuries among high school athletes may vary by sport, sex and type of exposure, which investigators in this study found, may help with the formulation of new injury prevention strategies and to decrease the risk of further patellofemoral instability injuries.

The first bilateral hand transplant patient, 8-year-old Zion Harvey, who received the transplant earlier this summer, was discharged from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia yesterday.

Orthopedics Today has highlighted ten important stories to keep your practice up-to-date regarding sports medicine issues in younger patients.