Journal of Children's Orthopaedics

BACKGROUND: Traction is used at our hospital before open reduction in infants with developmental dysplasia of the hip. Theoretically, it reduces soft-tissue tension, allowing an easier surgical reduction and therefore lower surgical complications. Owing to extended hospital stays, potential complications, and lack of evidence, the use of traction has decreased. This study aims to quantify whether traction is safe and whether it has any demonstrable effect. METHODS: The perioperative course of 80 patients undergoing preoperative traction and hip open reduction were reviewed...

PURPOSE: Hybrid techniques using thoracic sublaminar bands have proved their efficacy in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis posterior fusion, but clinical axial correction sometimes remained disappointing. One solution found was "the frame technique" and the second alternative was the replacement of the convex sublaminar bands by periapical uniplanar screws. The goal of this study was to compare clinical and radiological outcomes of both techniques in a consecutive cohort of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients...

BACKGROUND: Congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia is a limb deformity, which can be distressing for the affected patients and the pediatric orthopedic surgeons involved. We hypothesized that the modified McFarland procedure would avoid fractures and even have a corrective effect on the affected tibia in congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia patients. Toward this end, we evaluated the midterm results of treating congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia patients of Crawford Type I and II with allograft bypass combined with long-term bracing...

PURPOSE: Literature regarding total hip arthroplasty for pediatric hip diseases is scarce. This review aims to portray the various orthopedic conditions of childhood that can lead to significant impairment of the hip joint and, ultimately, to total hip arthroplasty in adolescence and adulthood. METHODS: In total, 61 out of 3666 articles were selected according to (1) the diagnosis of one of the 12 pediatric hip pathologies (Legg-Perthes-Calvé disease, developmental dysplasia of the hip, slipped capital femoral epiphysis, neuromuscular hip dysplasia, post-traumatic avascular necrosis of the proximal femur, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, achondroplasia, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, mucopolysaccharidosis, mucolipidosis, hip infections, and tumors) that required total hip arthroplasty; (2) minimum follow-up of 16 months; (3) assessed outcome with a clinical or radiologic score; (4) Methodological Items for Non-Randomized Studies quality score of 9 or higher...

PURPOSE: This study aims to report the epidemiology of patellar sleeve injuries, describe diagnostic findings and treatment, and assess functional outcomes following different treatments. METHODS: A medical database was queried from 1990 to 2016 to identify patients ≤18 years presenting to a single pediatric institution with a patellar sleeve injury. Patients with significant comorbidities or previously operatively treated for ipsilateral knee injuries were excluded...

PURPOSE: Greulich and Pyle is the most used system to estimate skeletal maturity but has significant drawbacks, prompting the development of newer skeletal maturity systems, such as the modified Fels skeletal maturity systems based on knee radiographs. To create a new skeletal maturity system, an outcome variable, termed a "skeletal maturity standard," must be selected for calibration of the system. Peak height velocity and 90% of final height are both considered reasonable skeletal maturity standards for skeletal maturity system development...

Substantial advances in the treatment of early onset scoliosis (EOS) over the past two to three decades have resulted in significant improvements in health-related quality of life of affected children. In addition to classifications that address the marked heterogeneity of this patient population, increasing understanding of the natural history of the disease, and new implants and treatment techniques have resulted in innovations unlike any other area of pediatric orthopedics. The growing understanding of the interaction between spinal and thoracic growth, as well as dependent lung maturation, has had a lasting impact on the treatment strategy of this potentially life-threatening disease...

PURPOSE: Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease often leads to greater trochanteric overgrowth, which negatively affects the biomechanics of the hip joint. This study aimed to evaluate the physiologic growth of the greater trochanter and the effectiveness of greater trochanteric epiphysiodesis radiographically. METHODS: Retrospectively, 46 children (33 male, average age at greater trochanteric epiphysiodesis 8 ± 1.3 years) with unilateral Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease undergoing greater trochanteric epiphysiodesis with screws and curettage of the epiphysis were included...

BACKGROUND: Ewing sarcoma remains the second most prevalent primary aggressive bone tumor in teens and young adults. The aim of our study was to develop and validate a web-based nomogram to predict the overall survival for Ewing sarcoma in children. METHODS: A total of 698 patients, with 640 cases from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (the training set) and 58 cases (the external validation set), were included in this study. Cox analyses were carried out to determine the independent prognostic indicators, which were further included to establish a web-based nomogram...

PURPOSE: Congenital femoral deficiency is characterized by limb length discrepancy and genu valgum. Lengthening of the femur along its anatomic axis increases valgus alignment by medial knee translation. Pairing limb lengthening with simultaneous medial distal femoral hemiepiphysiodesis can simultaneously correct two limb deformities. METHODS: All skeletally immature patients with congenital femoral deficiency who underwent antegrade femoral lengthening and concomitant guided growth over a 4-year period were reviewed...

PURPOSE: This study aims to develop an accessible stepwise management algorithm for pediatric presentations of occipital condyle fractures (OCFs) based on a systematic review of the published literature regarding diagnostic evaluation, treatment, and outcomes. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was conducted on PubMed to locate English language studies reporting on the management of pediatric OCFs. Data extraction of clinical presentation, management strategies, imaging, and treatment outcome was performed...

OBJECTIVES: Slipped capital femoral epiphyses (SCFE) is a common pediatric hip disease with the risk of osteoarthritis and impingement deformities, and 3D models could be useful for patient-specific analysis. Therefore, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) bone segmentation and feasibility of 3D printing and of 3D ROM simulation using MRI-based 3D models were investigated. METHODS: A retrospective study involving 22 symptomatic patients (22 hips) with SCFE was performed...

PURPOSE: Fibular hemimelia has denoted a spectrum of postaxial longitudinal deficiency with fibular aplasia/hypoplasia; the term "terminal hemimelia" is reserved for patients with postaxial longitudinal deficiency having a normal fibula. We aimed to delineate the characteristics of terminal hemimelia. METHODS: In total, 30 patients with postaxial longitudinal deficiency who had a normal or hypoplastic fibula and visited our institution between 1992 and 2022 were reviewed...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the safety of growth-friendly instrumentation for early-onset scoliosis (EOS) in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1 who received disease-modifying treatment (DMT) and analyze short-term efficacy. METHODS: Retrospective search was conducted between 2017 and 2023. Patients with genetically confirmed SMA type 1 who were surgically treated for spinal deformity and receiving DMTs (nusinersen, risdiplam, or onasemnogene abeparvovec) were included...

PURPOSE: Foot deformities are prevalent in children with cerebral palsy, but there is limited research on the progression of foot posture during growth. Our study aimed to evaluate the change in dynamic foot posture in children with cerebral palsy. METHODS: Children with cerebral palsy, aged 17-40 months, were recruited to participate in this Institutional Review Board-approved prospective longitudinal study by having serial foot posture evaluations. The coronal plane index and foot segmental impulses were measured with dynamic pedobarography...

PURPOSE: To evaluate differences in knee kinematic outcomes of patellar-lowering surgery, specifically patellar tendon advancement or patellar tendon shortening, compared with no-patellar-lowering surgery in multilevel surgery for children with cerebral palsy and crouch gait. METHODS: Four databases were searched to retrieve studies published from inception until 2023. Three reviewers independently screened for studies with observational or randomized control designs, comparing two groups of patients with cerebral palsy and crouch gait who underwent multilevel surgery (with patellar-lowering surgery versus no-patellar-lowering surgery), where various gait analysis outcomes were reported (CRD42023450692)...

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcome measures have become crucial in the clinical evaluation of patients. Appropriate selection, in a young population, of the instrument is vital to providing evidence-based patient-centered healthcare. This systematic review applies the COnsensus-based Standards for selection of health Measurement INstruments methodology to provide a critically appraised overview of patient-reported outcome measures targeted at pediatric orthopedic patients with lower limb impairment...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare worldwide since December 2019. We aimed to identify the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on outpatient clinic and surgical volumes and peri-operative complications for pediatric spinal deformities patients. METHODS: In this multi-center retrospective study, outpatient visits (in-person and virtual care) and pediatric spine surgeries volumes in four high-volume pediatric spine centers were compared between March and December 2019 and the same period in 2020...

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to search existing literature on nerve reconstruction surgery in patients with obstetric brachial plexus palsy to determine whether treatment with supraclavicular exploration and nerve grafting produced better elbow flexion outcomes compared to intercostal nerve transfer. METHODS: This study was a systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis for Individual Patient Data guidelines...

OBJECTIVE: This review provides guidance and ideas for researchers through a comprehensive and comparative analysis of the present state, trends, and hotspots in the pediatric fracture literature over the past 6 years. METHODS: We used Citespace 6.1.R6 software to explore the country/region distribution, institutions, journals, keyword analysis, and co-cited references of the literature from Web of Science core database. RESULTS: There are 6472 pieces of pediatric fracture-related literature, including 2962 from 2017 to 2019 and 3510 from 2020 to 2022...