Washington University School Of Medicine In St Louis

Professional baseball players have a difficult time returning to play after biceps tenodesis for treatment of superior labral anterior-posterior tears, according to recently presented data.

Health care has seen an explosion of information that is approaching the order of yottabytes (1,024 gigabytes). Although randomized controlled trials are the only true way to establish causation, the use of observational big data can be less expensive, can evaluate the heterogeneity of treatment effect and can give feedback about ongoing processes. Other specialties (cardiology, transplant surgery, etc.) have established robust registries to record and evaluate patients’ outcomes, but orthopedic surgery has mostly lagged, save for some arthroplasty registries (Michigan Arthroplasty Registry Collaborative Quality Initiative, AJRR), which have shown promising results. Most health databases queried today (Medicare, National Inpatient Sample, etc.) use administrative data, which are not specific to orthopedic surgery, and thus lack laterality, implant type and specific orthopedic diagnostic/classification. To make robust conclusions and recommendations which the public demands, we, as a specialty, need to take ownership of not only the data, but also its evaluation. There has been good initial work by Saleh and Shaha looking at existing big data through an orthopedic lens. In “big data” articles by Shaha and colleagues and Anoushiravani and colleagues, the benefits and challenges of using these data were highlighted, as well as the potential to improve both health care quality and value through the development of national orthopedic registries. To accomplish this, we must collaborate not only with those outside of our field, such as in economics, social sciences and other medical specialties, but also collaborate across traditional institutional lines to develop resources and relationships if we are to be successful in this important enterprise going forward.

Professional baseball pitchers who required a revision ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction and those who did not had no statistically significant differences in the length of time to return to sport, according to results.

Approximately 99% of infants who are born with very low birth weight receive antibiotics within the first 2 days of life, contributing to antibiotic resistance and the destruction of helpful bacteria in the gut microbiome, according to a presentation at the NIH’s workshop, “The Human Microbiome: Emerging Themes at the Horizon of the 21st Century.”

The last few years have seen a growing force of infectious disease challenges that together pose an unprecedented range of threats to health here in the United States and in countries around the world where Americans travel and conduct business. While outbreaks of Ebola, Zika, SARS and MERS have spread from their places of origin with devastating impacts, rising rates of resistance to antimicrobial drugs threaten the gains of modern medicine at home and globally. New and re-emerging diseases with pandemic potential continue to surface, and diseases that include tuberculosis, once considered all but conquered, have evolved faster than the medicines to control them, to pose new dangers.

SAN DIEGO — When its use is considered in addition to the traditional test results for periprosthetic joint infection, the alpha-defensin test improved the ability to predict positive cultures both when the traditional tests were equivocal or when they were all aligned toward one diagnosis, according to Gregory S. Kazarian, BA.

SAN DIEGO — Evidence supports metal-on-metal surface replacement as an alternative to hip replacement for young, active men, according to a presenter.

In this issue, Cardiology Today interviews Mary Norine Walsh, MD, FACC, about her new role of president of the American College of Cardiology and the professional path that led to leadership in HF.

LAHAINA, Hawaii —  Robert L. Barrack, MD, discussed the cons of patellar resurfacing.

LAHAINA, Hawaii —  At Orthopedics Today Hawaii 2017, Robert L. Barrack, MD, said socioeconomic factors may affect patient perception of total joint arthroplasty (TJA) and complication and readmission rates.