Bulletin of the Hospital for Joint Diseases

BACKGROUND: Symptomatic idiopathic ulnar nerve instability (IUNI) in the elbow is an uncommon condition characterized by symptoms of ulnar neuritis resulting from frictional injury to the ulnar nerve from repetitive subluxation out of the cubital tunnel. This study reports the 1-year clinical outcomes after treatment of IUNI with anterior transposition of the ulnar nerve. METHODS: This is a retrospective case study of five patients. Ulnar nerve instability was diagnosed clinically based on the presence of ulnar neuritis symptoms in combination with a positive "ulnar nerve push past" test...

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between the intra-articular inflammatory response and any associated systemic inflammatory response following knee injury requiring operative management. Patients undergoing primary knee arthroscopy provided synovial fluid, blood, and urine samples immediately prior to surgery. Samples were analyzed using a multiplex magnetic bead immunoassay for the concentrations of cytokines and growth factors that have been shown to be associated with post-injury inflammation...

BACKGROUND: Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) has become a common tool to achieve interbody fusion in lumbar spine surgery while avoiding the time, expense, and morbidity associated with an anterior approach. Nonexpandable (NE) devices have excellent fusion results but are limited to implant size by spinal anatomy; conversely, expandable implants have been associated with increased intraoperative subsidence. Dual-plane expandable (DPE) devices are theorized to have reduced subsidence risk, but DPE cages have not been directly compared to NE and single plane expandable (SPE) implants in vivo...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare regimens of eccentric exercise and dry-needling, with and without an ultrasound-guided leukocyte-poor platelet-rich plasma (LP-PRP) injection, in patients with patellar tendinopathy. METHODS: Patients with symptomatic patellar tendinopathy based on physical examination and magnetic resonance imaging and who had failed at least 6 weeks of nonoperative treatment were enrolled and randomized at two centers to receive ultrasound-guided dry-needling (DN) alone or in addition to an injection of LP-PRP coupled with standardized eccentric strengthening exercises...

BACKGROUND: The periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) was developed to treat acetabular dysplasia and avoid the progression of osteoarthritis. Prior research has correlated demographic and radiographic variables with postoperative patient outcomes but with limited focus on patient expectations and correlation with satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to determine whether any such associations exist with the PAO. METHODS: An anonymous, de-identified satisfaction survey was applied to patients undergoing a PAO between April 2017 and April 2019...

Although an increase in ulnar variance with power grip is well documented in the medical literature, there is a paucity of information concerning its mechanism. This concept was examined in five healthy individuals using computed tomography of their wrists and elbows. Images were obtained of both joints in the resting position and with maximum power grip. Ulnar variance at the wrist increased an average of 0.64 mm (range: 0.3 to 1.2 mm). While the ulnohumeral joint remained unchanged, the radiocapitellar distance shortened an average of 0...

BACKGROUND: Intra-articular (IA) injections of plateletrich plasma (PRP) have been increasingly used in the nonoperative treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA) but have considerable heterogeneity in both formulation and clinical results. Alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2M) is a large plasma protein found in PRP that inhibits cartilage-degrading enzymes and could be an efficacious OA treatment independently. The purpose of this study was to compare the short-term clinical efficacy of IA injection of A2M-rich PRP concentrate to conventionally prepared PRP and corticosteroids in the management of symptomatic knee OA...

BACKGROUND: Our goal was to develop and validate the Severe Lower-Extremity Trauma decision aid (SLETRA) to help patients make treatment decisions aligned with their values regarding amputation versus reconstruction. METHODS: We recruited 62 adults (41 women) from a foot and ankle practice at a US academic hospital from June to August 2020. We excluded patients who could not read in English and who lacked internet service access. Patients completed an 8-question knowledge test regarding the risks, benefits, and outcomes of treatment options before and after reviewing SLETRA...

BACKGROUND: An isolated medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction (MPFLR) has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment option in the prevention of patellar instability, but there is growing support for performing a tibial tubercle osteotomy (TTO) in patients with an elevated tibial tubercle-trochlear groove distance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of adding a TTO to MPFLR on patient reported outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients who underwent MPFLR with or without TTO with a minimum of 12-month follow-up was performed...

PURPOSE: Health care institutions are searching for system-wide approaches to reduce costs while maintaining quality and improving patient outcomes. Hospital length of stay (LOS) and readmission rate (RR) are variables that significantly impact health care costs. This investigation aimed to determine if there was a difference in the LOS and the RR for pediatric orthopedic patients admitted overnight or during the weekend. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed 243 admissions for pediatric orthopedic surgery cases between September 2016 and August 2018 at a single-specialty orthopedic hospital...

In response to the national opioid crisis, there have been increasing efforts to decrease opioid usage in favor of nonopioid alternatives. We compared post-discharge opioid and nonopioid pain medication prescriptions in lumbar microdiscectomy (MLD) patients before and after implementation of an opioid-sparing pathway for outpatient spine surgery. Patients were grouped into pre-implementation (pre) and post-implementation (post) cohorts based on date of surgery relative to pathway implementation on September 1, 2018...

INTRODUCTION: Prosthetic dislocation after total hip arthroplasty (THA) is one of the most common causes of revision THA. Dual-mobility (DM) bearings were introduced to mitigate complications; however, there is minimal data on their performance in younger patients. This study compared results of patients who were under 55 years of age undergoing primary THA with DM or fixed-bearing (FB) implants. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients younger than 55 years who underwent primary THA with at least 2 years of follow-up between June 2011 and August 2019 was performed...

PURPOSE: Research surrounding the biomechanics and video analysis of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries at the professional level has emerged in recent years as a tool to screen athletes for potential biomechanical deficits. The purpose of this study was to analyze and discuss the most common mechanism, body position, and activity at the time of ACL injury among NBA players. METHODS: Anterior cruciate ligament injuries over 10 consecutive NBA seasons (2009-2010 to 2019-2020) were reviewed from publicly available sources...

INTRODUCTION: Dual mobility acetabular systems for total hip arthroplasty (THA) have been shown to have decreased dislocation rates and reduced revision rates, but there is controversy over the potential release of sufficient levels of metal ions into the blood to cause adverse local tissue reactions. However, there is a lack of long-term studies analyzing these levels of cobalt and chromium. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the levels these metal ions at a minimum 5-year follow-up after dual mobility implantation...

BACKGROUND: Resilience is a psychometric parameter defined as one's ability to recover or bounce back from stressful events and has been shown to correlate with better outcomes following multiple orthopedic procedures. The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between resiliency, as measured using the Brief Resiliency Scale (BRS) and various knee outcome scores, including the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Lysholm, Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE), and Return to Work, following isolated partial meniscectomy...

PURPOSE: Rheumatologists and orthopedic surgeons frequently collaborate on difficult decisions regarding perioperative management of immunosuppression in rheumatic disease patients, balancing risk of postoperative infection with risk of disease flares. Current evidence-based guidelines pertain specifically to arthroplasty, thus we sought to understand the trends and common practices regarding peri-arthroscopic use of immunosuppression. METHODS: Rheumatologists and sports medicine surgeons, from a variety of New York hospitals and serving a broad range of demographics, were surveyed on immunosuppressive medication management in rheumatic disease patients undergoing arthroscopic surgeries...

Diffuse-type giant cell tumor (Dt-GCT), formerly known as pigmented villonodular synovitis, is the more aggressive entity belonging to the spectrum of benign proliferative lesions of synovial origin that may affect the joints, bursae, and tendon sheaths. Diffuse-type giant cell tumor's importance stems from its local aggressiveness and sequelae if left untreated. This review briefly describes Dt-GCT's clinical features, its imaging and pathology findings, and provides an extensive discussion of its available treatments...

PURPOSE: The aim of this project was to survey members of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) regarding the use of tibialis anterior tendon transfer (TATT) in the management of recurrent clubfoot with dynamic supination and no deformity. We aimed to assess which techniques for TATT are most utilized by pediatric orthopedists. As there has been no general consensus in the literature regarding best methods, we hypothesized that treatment methods would vary widely among POSNA members...

BACKGROUND: Shoulder arthroscopy and related complications like deep tissue infections have increased in the last several decades. Practice patterns have shown significant consensus among arthroscopic surgeons supporting intraoperative pre-incision antibiotic usage and against postoperative antibiotic usage. While there is consensus in practice, the absence of robust guidelines for postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis after shoulder arthroscopy warrants further research. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of infection after shoulder arthroscopy in patients treated with or without postoperative prophylactic oral antibiotics...

Ankle arthritis is becoming more common and can be pain-ful and debilitating. As the disease progresses, degenera-tive cystic changes may be found in the distal fibula, distal tibia, and talus. After failure of non-operative modalities, arthrodesis is often considered the surgical intervention of choice, but this leaves the patient with reduced range of motion, altered gait, and can negatively impact adjacent joints of the foot. Total ankle arthroplasty has been found to be an effective surgical option for ankle arthritis but is contraindicated in patients with talar collapse...