Trauma News

Patients with distal radial fractures who did not undergo routine radiography after 2 weeks of follow-up had similar patient-reported outcomes and risk of complications compared with patients who underwent usual care, according to published results.

A 15-year-old boy with no significant past medical history arrives to clinic for evaluation of left knee pain and swelling after sustaining a non-contact injury 2 days earlier while playing baseball. The patient states he was running from third base to home and felt a sudden sharp pain and a pop in his left knee when his foot struck the plate. He reports that his knee became significantly swollen the night of the injury. He has been able to bear weight for the last 2 days. When asked to localize his pain, he points to the anteromedial and anterolateral aspects of the left knee. The pain has subsided in the last day; however, he still has some discomfort and rates his pain as a two out of 10. The patient describes having a subjective feeling of instability. He denies a history of other injuries or surgeries to the left knee. Review of systems was negative aside from that stated above.

DENVER — At the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting, Joshua Parry, MD, spoke about a protocol at the Denver Health Medical Center that includes pelvic packing for pelvic fractures. He said use of pelvic packing has significantly decreased mortality.

DENVER — At the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting, Lisa K. Cannada, MD, spoke about occupational hazards in medicine, specifically radiation exposure and hazards. She said orthopedic surgeons need to know the ways to protect themselves to decrease radiation exposure.

DENVER — At the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting, Richard Yoon, MD, spoke about fixation and revision strategies for periprosthetic fractures. He said elderly patients need to be mobilized early to reduce mortality risks.

Regardless of the surgery type, the risk of postoperative pulmonary embolism was elevated at more than 6 weeks postoperatively, according to published results.

According to a presentation at the Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Society Annual Meeting, balanced cable transport with circular fixation with intramedullary nailing may be a reliable and safe treatment for tibial bone loss correlated with severe open fractures, infected nonunions and osteomyelitis.

DENVER — At the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting, Edward Rooney, MD, spoke about a midterm follow-up study on stable Weber B-type ankle fractures. He said investigators found stable ankle fractures, which normally are treated operatively, may be treated nonoperatively with promising results.

Technical innovations led to excellent results in orthopaedic surgery. Quality management efforts like registers, patient-reported outcome measure, and certifications, like EndoCert, brought us, in many cases, to even higher success rates. Emerging evidence is, however, making it clear that more attention has to be drawn to non-technical factors, such as prevention and perioperative optimization, including lifestyle changes. Perioperative smoking cessation is maybe the most influencing factor for further improvement in orthopaedic operations.

EFORT Open Reviews is the new open access journal from EFORT and Bone & Joint Publishing. All articles are free to read online with no subscription required.