Have the media influenced the use of hip resurfacing arthroplasty? A review of UK print media

Optimizing Acetabular Component Bone Ingrowth: The Wedge-Fit Bone Preparation Method

We investigate the efficacy of a modified acetabular bone-preparation technique in reducing the incidence of two clinical problems identified in hip resurfacing arthroplasty. The first issue is failure due to lack of bone ingrowth into the acetabular component. The second is a newly recognized phenomenon of early cup shift. We hypothesize that these issues might be resolved by using a "wedge-fit method", in which the component wedges into the peripheral acetabular bone rather than bottoming out and potentially toggling on the apex of the cup. Prior to November 2011, all acetabula were reamed 1 mm under and prepared with a press-fit of the porous coated acetabular component. After November 2011, we adjusted reaming by bone density. In "soft bone" (T-score <-1.0), we underreamed acetabula by 1 mm less than the outer diameter of the cup, as was previously done in all cases. For T-scores greater than -1.0, we reamed line-to-line. Additionally, we began performing an "apex relief" starting June 2012 in all cases by removing 2 mm of apex bone with a small reamer after using the largest reamer. Failure of acetabular ingrowth occurred in 0.5% of cases before the wedge-fit method and <0.1% after. Rate of cup shift was reduced from 1.1% to 0.4%. The rate of unexplained pain between 2 and 4 years postoperatively also declined significantly from 2.6% to 1.3%. Our evidence suggests that wedge-fit acetabular preparation improves initial implant stability, leading to fewer cases of early cup shift, unexplained pain, and acetabular ingrowth failure.

No such thing as bad publicity? A quantitative content analysis of print media representations of primary care out-of-hours services

OBJECTIVE

To explore how out-of-hours primary healthcare services (OOHS) are represented in UK national newspapers, focusing on content and tone of reporting and the use of personal narratives to frame stories.

DESIGN

A retrospective cross-sectional quantitative content analysis of articles published in 2005, 2010 and 2015.

DATA SOURCES

Nexis database used to search 10 UK national newspapers covering quality, middle-market and tabloid publications.

INCLUSION/EXCLUSION CRITERIA

All articles containing the terms 'out-of-hours' (≥3 mentions per article) or ('NHS 24' OR 'NHS 111' OR 'NHS Direct') AND 'out-of-hours' (≥1 mention per article) were included. Letters, duplicate news items, opinion pieces and articles without a substantial portion of the story (>50% of an article's word count, as judged by researchers) concerning OOHS were excluded.

RESULTS

332 newspaper articles were identified: 113 in 2005 (34.1%), 140 in 2010 (42.2%) and 79 in 2015 (23.8%). Of these, 195 (58.7%) were in quality newspapers, 99 (29.8%) in middle-market and 38 (11.3%) in tabloids. The most commonly reported themes were OOHS organisation, personal narratives and telephone triage. Stories about service-level crises and personal tragedy, including unsafe doctors and missed or delayed identification of rare conditions, predominated. The majority of articles (252, 75.9%) were negative in tone. This was observed for all included newspapers and by publication genre; middle-market newspapers had the highest percentage of negative articles (Pearson χ²=35.72, p<0.001). Articles presented little supporting contextual information, such as call rates per annum, or advice on how to access OOHS.

CONCLUSION

In this first reported analysis of UK national newspaper coverage of OOHS, media representation is generally negative in tone, with frequent reports of 'negative exemplars' of OOHS crises and fatal individual patient cases with little or no contextualisation. We present recommendations for the future reporting of OOHS, which could apply to the reporting of healthcare services more generally.

Comparison of revision risks and complication rates between total HIP replacement and HIP resurfacing within the similar age group

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently it is not clear whether age is a factor affecting revisions in total hip replacement (THR) and hip resurfacing (HR). This study aimed to investigate which of THR or HR has a higher risk in terms of revision and complication within similar age groups.

METHODS

A systemic review was performed for published literature research databases and local data and compared the two procedures under the condition that both groups of patients were age matched. Meta-analysis techniques were used to analyse revision and complication rates. Twenty-seven literature studies were included along with local audit data. In total, 2520 HR procedures were compared with age-matched 2526 of THR procedures.

MAIN FINDINGS

It was found that revision risk of HR is significantly higher than THR (risk ratio 1.65, 95% CI 1.28-2.31, p < 0.0001), highlighting that HR has a slightly higher chance of reoperation when compared to THR within the similar age group population. In terms of complications, HR was found to have an advantage over THR (risk ratio 0.84, 95% CI 0.73-0.96, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

THR had a lower revision risk but a slightly higher complication risk than HR under the condition that the two surgical procedures were applied to similar age groups of patients. In other words, age has not played an important role in revision and complication. Survivorship cannot be measured as follow-up periods were different in the studies used.

Motivation, justification, normalization: talk strategies used by Canadian medical tourists regarding their choices to go abroad for hip and knee surgeries

Contributing to health geography scholarship on the topic, the objective of this paper is to reveal Canadian medical tourists' perspectives regarding their choices to seek knee replacement or hip replacement or resurfacing (KRHRR) at medical tourism facilities abroad rather than domestically. We address this objective by examining the 'talk strategies' used by these patients in discussing their choices and the ways in which such talk is co-constructed by others. Fourteen interviews were conducted with Canadians aged 42-77 who had gone abroad for KRHRR. Three types of talk strategies emerged through thematic analysis of their narratives: motivation, justification, and normalization talk. Motivation talk referenced participants' desires to maintain or resume physical activity, employment, and participation in daily life. Justification talk emerged when participants described how limitations in the domestic system drove them abroad. Finally, being a medical tourist was talked about as being normal on several bases. Among other findings, the use of these three talk strategies in patients' narratives surrounding medical tourism for KRHRR offers new insight into the language-health-place interconnection. Specifically, they reveal the complex ways in which medical tourists use talk strategies to assert the soundness of their choice to shift the site of their own medical care on a global scale while also anticipating, if not even guarding against, criticism of what ultimately is their own patient mobility. These talk strategies provide valuable insight into why international patients are opting to engage in the spatially explicit practice of medical tourism and who and what are informing their choices.