Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Workers Compensation claims have been previously associated with inferior clinical outcomes. However, variation in inpatient stays for orthopedic trauma injuries according to insurance type has not been previously examined. METHODS:We investigated the differences according to insurance for tibial shaft fractures in regard to length of stay and disposition. Using the New York SPARCS database, we identified 1,856 adult non-elderly patients with an isolated tibial shaft fracture who underwent surgery. Patients were stratified by insurance type, including private, Medicaid, Workers Compensation, and no-fault, which covers medical expenses related to automobile or pedestrian accidents. RESULTS:Compared to private insurance (mean: 2.7 days), length of stay was longer for no-fault (mean: 3.9 days; adjusted difference +33%, p < 0.001) and Medicaid (mean: 3.5 days; adjusted difference +22%, p < 0.001), but not significantly different for Workers Compensation (mean: 3.5 days; adjusted difference +4%, p = 0.474). Compared to private insurance (rate: 3.5%), disposition to a facility was significantly higher for no-fault (rate: 10.1%; adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 3.3, p < 0.001) and Medicaid (rate: 7.6%; OR = 2.2, p = 0.003), but was not significantly different for Workers Compensation (rate: 6.3%; OR = 1.8, p = 0.129). CONCLUSIONS:Patients with no-fault insurance, but not Workers Compensation, are subject to longer hospital stays and are more likely to be discharged to a facility following operative fixation of an isolated tibial shaft fracture. These findings suggest that financial, social, and legal factors influence medical care for patients involved in automobile accidents with no-fault insurance.

CASE/METHODS:An 65-year-old immunocompetent female developed a Leclercia adecarboxylata infection following the repair of closed olecranon fracture. L. adecarboxylata is associated with polymicrobial infections, infections in immunocompromised patients and penetrating or open wounds. Following speciation, intravenous ceftriaxone was started. Two weeks later, the patient presented with leukopenia and neutropenia. Per infectious disease recommendations, the patient was switched to intravenous ertapenem with resolution of both infection and neutropenia. The olecranon fracture went on to heal fully. CONCLUSIONS:This case describes a rare postoperative monomicrobial infection with L. adecarboxylata in an immunocompetent host following musculoskeletal trauma and identifies L. adecarboxylata as a potential emerging hospital-acquired pathogen following orthopedic surgery.

Currently, clinical determination of pathologic fracture risk in the hip is conducted using measures of defect size and shape in the stance loading condition. However, these measures often do not consider how changing lesion locations or how various loading conditions impact bone strength. The goal of this study was to determine the impact of defect location on bone strength parameters in both the sideways fall and stance-loading conditions. We recruited 20 female subjects aged 48-77 years for this study and performed MRI of the proximal femur. Using these images, we simulated 10-mm pathologic defects in greater trochanter, superior, middle, and inferior femoral head, superior, middle, and inferior femoral neck, and lateral, middle, and medial proximal diaphysis to determine the effect of defect location on change in bone strength by performing finite element analysis. We compared the effect of each osteolytic lesion on bone stiffness, strength, resilience, and toughness. For the sideways fall loading, defects in the inferior femoral head (12.21%) and in the greater trochanter (6.43%) resulted in the greatest overall reduction in bone strength. For the stance loading, defects in the mid femoral head (-7.91%) and superior femoral head (-7.82%) resulted in the greatest overall reduction in bone strength. Changes in stiffness, yield force, ultimate force, resilience, and toughness were not found to be significantly correlated between the sideways fall and stance-loading for the majority of defect locations, suggesting that calculations based on the stance-loading condition are not predictive of the change in bone strength experienced in the sideways fall condition. While stiffness was significantly related to yield force (R²â€¯> 0.82), overall force (R²â€¯> 0.59), and resilience (R²â€¯> 0.55), in both, the stance-loading and sideways fall conditions for most defect locations, stiffness was not significantly related to toughness. Therefore, structure-dependent measure such as stiffness may not fully explain the post-yield measures, which depend on material failure properties. The data showed that MRI-based models have the sensitivity to determine the effect of pathologic lesions on bone strength.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:The transition to bundled payment reimbursement for geriatric hip fractures has incentivized the identification of avoidable inefficiencies in the cost and quality of care. Although a "weekend effect" has been described with regard to hip fracture mortality, measures of efficiency according to the day of hip fracture admission are currently unclear. METHODS:We identified 62,303 patients aged 65 years or older with a primary diagnosis of femoral neck or intertrochanteric hip fracture in the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System between 2009 and 2014. Outcome measures included preoperative delay, postoperative length of stay (LOS), and cost of admission. RESULTS:Preoperative delay was longer for weekend admissions, but shorter for admissions on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Postoperative LOS was longer for admissions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Discharge rates varied considerably according to the day of admission, ranging from 12% to 43% by hospital day 4 and 53% to 72% by hospital day 6. No differences in cost according to day of admission were found once preoperative delay and postoperative LOS were accounted for. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS:Notable variation exists in hospitalizations for geriatric hip fracture depending on the day of admission. Our data suggest the presence of a weekend effect, in which changes in staffing of surgical, medical, and ancillary services lead to increased waiting times for surgery for new admissions and delays in discharge of early- and mid-week admissions. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE/METHODS:Level III, retrospective study.

Over time, what was considered urgent or emergent in orthopaedic trauma has been revisited, and as awareness of factors associated with outcomes has increased, priorities have changed. There are multiple procedures performed urgently in the belief that early intervention allowed for better outcomes for the injury and the patient. Classic examples of conditions for which urgent intervention has been implemented include open fractures, femoral neck fractures in the young adult, talus fractures, and compartment syndrome. All of these conditions are considered nonurgent except for compartment syndrome, which requires urgent and timely intervention. Studies have demonstrated that these injuries need to be managed in a timely fashion but not necessarily in the middle of the night. Outcomes can be improved by measures such as early antibiotic administration for open fractures, closed reduction of talus fracture-dislocations, and anatomic reduction of femoral neck fractures. These measures are more important and useful than an emergent trip to the operating room by inexperienced surgeons with staff who may be unprepared. Orthopaedic surgeons should be familiar with open fractures and the timing of irrigation and débridement, the relative urgency of managing talus fractures, and the need for immediate reduction and fixation of femoral neck fractures. For each of these injuries, factors other than timing that affect outcomes will be described. Finally, the emergent nature of diagnosis and management of compartment syndrome must also be understood.

BACKGROUND:Patient satisfaction is publicly reported and used as a subjective measure of quality of care in alternative payment reimbursement models. In this study, we evaluated the association between patient satisfaction scores and objective measures of geriatric hip fracture care. Therefore, according to patient satisfaction score, we investigated the differences for geriatric hip fracture admissions in regard to 1. surgical delay during the index admission and 2. mortality within 1 year. METHODS:We identified 65,974 patients between the ages of 60 and 99 years with a primary diagnosis of femoral neck fracture in the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database from 2009 to 2014. We evaluated patient satisfaction using annual hospital HCAHPS scores reported on Hospital Compare. Mixed effects regression models controlled for hospital and year of surgery as random effects variables and categorical age, sex, race, insurance, categorical Deyo score, fracture location, and surgical procedure as fixed effects variables. RESULTS:For high compared to low patient satisfaction hospitals, there were shorter surgical delays (β: -60%, 95% CI: -66% to -52%, p < 0.001) and a lower risk of 1-year mortality (OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.78 to 0.93, p < 0.001). For middle compared to low patient satisfaction hospitals, there were shorter surgical delays (β: -37%, 95% CI: -46% to -26%, p < 0.001), but no significant difference in 1-year mortality (OR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.87 to 1.01; p = 0.091). CONCLUSIONS:Subjective quality, as measured by HCAHPS patient satisfaction scores, is associated with objective quality and clinical outcomes in geriatric hip fracture care. While these findings support the use of patient experience as a component of quality measurement, it remains unclear whether a superior patient experience in itself can increase the value of health care for patients in the form of superior clinical outcomes or if it will lead to increased strain on hospital resources and increase the cost of services, which would paradoxically decrease the value of care.

Synovial Chondromatosis (SC) is a rare, benign synovial growth most frequently involving the knee or hip joint. Common presenting symptoms include pain throughout the affected joint, reduced range of motion and a palpable mass. We present an unusual case of SC presenting with symptoms of chronic venous stasis ulcer. A 49-year-old patient presented with swelling, hyperpigmentation and ulcerations of his right lower extremity. Work-up including duplex and CT scan revealed a calcified mass in the hip joint, highly suspicious for Synovial Chondromatosis. A joint surgical approach from a Vascular and Orthopaedic surgeon successfully removed the growths and decompressed the surrounding vessels. The mass effect of the SC on overlying veins resulted in obstruction of venous return due and subsequent venous stasis ulcerations and symptoms of venous hypertension. We present this case due to the unique vascular sequelae related to the Synovial Chondromatosis in order to explore this as a new diagnosis to consider in patients who present with venous stasis ulceration and radiographic findings consistent with SC.

OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:To investigate how muscle and fasciocutaneous flaps influence the progression of bone healing in acute Gustilo IIIB tibia fractures. DESIGN/METHODS:Retrospective Chart Review. SETTING/METHODS:Urban Academic Level I Trauma Center. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS/METHODS:Between 2006 and 2016, 39 patients from a database of operatively treated long bone fractures met the inclusion criteria, which consisted of adults with acute Gustilo IIIB tibia shaft fracture requiring flap coverage and having at least 6 months of radiographic follow-up. INTERVENTION/METHODS:Soft tissue coverage for patients with Gustilo IIIB open tibia fractures was performed with either a muscle flap or fasciocutaneous flap. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS/METHODS:A radiographic union score for tibia (RUST) fractures, used to evaluate fracture healing, was assigned to patients' radiographs postoperatively, at 3, 6, and 12 months from the initial fracture date. Mean RUST scores at these time points were compared between those of patients with muscle flaps and fasciocutaneous flaps. Union was defined as a RUST score of 10 or higher. RESULTS:There was a significant difference (P = 0.026) in the mean RUST score at 6 months between the muscle group (8.54 ± 1.81) and the fasciocutaneous group (6.92 ± 2.46). There was no significant difference in the mean RUST score at 3 months (P = 0.056) and at 12 months (P = 0.947) between the 2 groups. There was also significance in the number of fractures reaching union, favoring muscle flaps, at 6 months (P = 0.020). CONCLUSIONS:Patients with acute Gustilo IIIB tibia fractures who received muscle flaps have significantly faster radiographic progression of bone healing in the first 6 months than do patients who received fasciocutaneous flaps. Furthermore, according to radiographic evaluation, more Gustilo IIIB tibia fractures receiving muscle flaps reach union by 6 months than those flapped with fasciocutaneous tissue. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE/METHODS:Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

This article aims to provide a systematic review of the limited literature and clinical knowledgebase available on the Hoffa fractures. It is inclusive of the normal anatomy, pathology, diagnosis, treatment options comprising of non-operative and operative protocols, and postoperative findings.