Surgery

Knee Arthroscopy Comparable With Conservative Management in Patients With Degenerative Knee Disease – Full Text

May 30, 2017 BMJ Open TAKE-HOME MESSAGE The authors of this systematic review compared outcomes following arthroscopic surgery and conservative management in patients with degenerative knee disease. When compared with conservative management, knee arthroscopy resulted in a very small reduction in pain and improvement in function for up to 3 months, but this was not […]

Sham Knee Surgery as Good as the Real Thing

No difference in outcomes for patients with degenerative meniscal tears and no OA by Judy George, Contributing Writer, MedPage TodayMay 28, 2017 After 2 years of follow-up, arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) was no better than sham surgery for patients with degenerative medial meniscal tears and no evidence of knee osteoarthritis, reported Finnish researchers in Annals of the Rheumatic […]

Several factors may predict rotator cuff retear after arthroscopic repair

Kim IB, et al. Arthroscopy. 2016;doi:10.1016/j.arthro.2016.03.012. April 12, 2017 Duration of symptoms before surgery of full-thickness rotator cuff tears, tear size and tendon involvement may be used to preoperatively predict retear after arthroscopic repair using the suture bridge technique, according to results of this prognostic case series. Researchers identified 282 patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator […]

Arthroscopic surgery for degenerative knee arthritis and meniscal tears: a clinical practice guideline

BMJ 2017; 357 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j1982 (Published 10 May 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;357:j1982 What you need to know We make a strong recommendation against the use of arthroscopy in nearly all patients with degenerative knee disease, based on linked systematic reviews; further research is unlikely to alter this recommendation This recommendation applies to patients […]

BACK SURGERY:  Two Articles About A Professional Basketball Coach

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has been dealing with off-and-on painful symptoms since he underwent back surgery in July 2015, and he is urging anyone with back issues to avoid making the same mistake he made. Read story 1 here, and story 2 here.

The impact of intraoperative microbreaks with exercises on surgeons: A multi-center cohort study

Applied Ergonomics Volume 60, April 2017, Pages 334-341 Applied Ergonomics lM.S.Hallbeck Highlights • Surgeons report high prevalence of neck, shoulder and back pain and discomfort. • Intraoperative microbreaks/stretches did not significantly increase surgical duration. • Microbreaks improved self-reported physical performance and mental focus. • Body part discomfort improved (significantly for shoulders) with microbreaks. • 87% […]

Knee Surgery Does Not Improve Life Quality for Many Patients

Medscape.com Pam Harrison March 29, 2017 Total knee replacement provides minimal quality-of-life benefit for patients with less severe disability at baseline, according to new research. Thus, the treatment, as currently practiced in the United States, is not cost-effective. “Improvements in quality of life with total knee replacement were on average smaller than previously shown,” Bart […]

Knee Patients Spending Millions on Wasted Treatments, Study Finds

NBC NEWS MAR 14 2017, 4:38 PM ET by MAGGIE FOX Wasted treatments for knee pain have racked up millions of dollars in medical bills, researchers reported Tuesday. Patients who had knee replacements went through treatments such as injections that did not help, that are not recommended, and that accounted for a third of their […]

Study cites risk factors for conversion to TKA following knee arthroscopy

Boyd JA, et al. Orthopedics. 2016;doi:10.3928/01477447-20160719-01. March 7, 2017 Results from this study demonstrated women, patients 70 years and older, obese patients, those with diabetes, depression disorders and rheumatoid arthritis had a higher chance of conversion to total knee arthroplasty 2 years following a knee arthroscopy. Researchers identified 68,090 patients older than 50 years who […]

The Side Effects of Orthopedic Knee Surgery: Doubling Down at the Great Orthopedic Surgery Casino

What are the side effects of orthopedic surgery? One of the more disturbing things we see in interventional orthopedics is patients who have undergone multiple aggressive types of orthopedic surgery. The behavior is a bit like a gambler at a casino. If you don’t hit it big the first time, keep doubling down until you […]

Medical Mystery: Why Is Back Surgery So Popular in Casper, Wyo.?

The New Health Care By AUSTIN FRAKT and JONATHAN SKINNER FEB. 13, 2017 You might think that once drugs, devices and medical procedures are shown to be effective, they quickly become available. You might also think that those shown not to work as well as alternatives are immediately discarded. Reasonable assumptions both, but you’d be […]

Short-Term Clinical Effects of Dry Needling Combined With Physical Therapy in Patients With Chronic Postsurgical Pain Following Total Knee Arthroplasty: Case Series

Authors: Rodrigo Núñez-Cortés, PT Published: Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 2017 Volume:0 Issue:0 Pages:1–24 DOI: 10.2519/jospt.2017.7089 Study Design Case series. Background The purpose of this case series is to describe a combined program of dry needling (DN) and therapeutic exercise in a small group of patients with persistent pain post total knee arthroplasty. […]

Increased risk for knee replacement surgery after arthroscopic surgery for degenerative meniscal tears: a multi-center longitudinal observational study using data from the osteoarthritis initiative.

Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2017 Jan;25(1):23-29. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2016.09.013. Epub 2016 Oct 3. Rongen JJ, Rovers MM, van Tienen TG, Buma P, Hannink G. Abstract OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to assess whether patients with knee osteoarthritis and whom undergo arthroscopic meniscectomy have an increased risk for future knee replacement surgery. DESIGN: Data used were obtained from the […]

Morbid Obesity and Lumbar Fusion in Patients Older Than 65 Years: Complications, Readmissions, Costs, and Length of Stay

Spine: 15 January 2017 – Volume 42 – Issue 2 – p 122–127 doi: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000001692 Epidemiology Puvanesarajah, Varun MD; Werner, Brian C. MD; Cancienne, Jourdan M. MD; Jain, Amit MD; Pehlivan, Hakan MD; Shimer, Adam L. MD; Singla, Anuj MD; Shen, Francis MD; Hassanzadeh, Hamid MD Study Design. Retrospective database review. Objective. The aim of […]

Total Knee Arthroplasty After Knee Arthroscopy in Patients Older Than 50 Years

Jason A. Boyd, MD; Ian M. Gradisar, MD   Orthopedics November/December 2016 – Volume 39 · Issue 6: e1041-e1044 Posted November 29, 2016 DOI: 10.3928/01477447-20160719-01 Abstract Several orthopedic registries have described the incidence of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in patients who have undergone knee arthroscopy. Patient risk factors may play a role in the conversion […]

Research shows physical activity does not improve after hip replacement

Date: October 23, 2016 Source: University of East Anglia Summary: Surprisingly, new research shows that patients’ physical activity does not increase following hip replacement surgery. New research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) shows that, surprisingly, patients’ physical activity does not increase following hip replacement surgery. Total hip replacement is one of the most […]

Structural pathology is not related to patient-reported pain and function in patients undergoing meniscal surgery – Full Text Article

What are the findings? Meniscal pathology features such as tear type, tear size and tear location identified at arthroscopy were not associated with preoperative self-reported knee pain and function in patients undergoing arthroscopic meniscal surgery. Other structural knee joint pathologies found at surgery, such as cartilage damage, were not associated with preoperative self-reported knee pain […]

Fat Thickness as a Risk Factor for Infection in Lumbar Spine Surgery

John J. Lee, MD Orthopedics Posted August 30, 2016 DOI: 10.3928/01477447-20160819-05 Abstract Body mass index does not account for body mass distribution. This study tested the hypothesis that subcutaneous fat thickness is a better indicator than body mass index of the risk of surgical site infection in lumbar spine procedures performed through a midline posterior […]

Electrotherapy and acupuncture linked with decreased, delayed opioid use after TKA

Tedesco D, et al. JAMA Surg. 2017;doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2017.2872. August 16, 2017 Investigators found electrotherapy and acupuncture after total knee arthroplasty correlated with a decrease in and later use of opioids. Researchers performed a systematic review and found 5,509 studies of nonpharmacological interventions for postoperative pain following total knee arthroplasty. Of these studies, 39 randomized controlled trials […]

Pediatric patients had worse functional outcomes following revision ACL reconstruction

More systematic ways to evaluate revision surgery are warranted to treat adolescents with revision ACL reconstruction. Orthopedics Today, August 2016 Pediatric patients who underwent revision ACL reconstruction experienced suboptimal outcomes, according to recently presented data. “We found revision [ACL] surgery in children and adolescents was associated with suboptimal patient outcomes, high graft retear rates, high […]