The American Orthopaedic Association clinical trials curriculum

The darker side of randomized trials: recruitment challenges

Randomized trials are thought to provide optimal evidence if carried out correctly. Their application to important questions is the best guide to clinical decision-making. However, these trials are expensive to complete and have a variety of challenges in design and application. This article will review some of the factors that affect our ability to recruit patients into randomized controlled trials for conditions that may be treated surgically by different methods or for conditions for which both nonsurgical and surgical treatments exist.

Changing practice patterns: the impact of a randomized clinical trial on surgeons preference for treatment of type 3 supracondylar humerus fractures

BACKGROUND

A recent prospective randomized clinical trial (RCT) for comparison of medial and lateral entry pins with lateral entry pins for treatment of Gartland type 3 supracondylar humerus fractures (SCHF) was published, validating the national trend toward treatment of this injury with only lateral entry pins. But have surgeons actually changed their practice as a result of these recent data? The purpose of this study was to compare pin configuration, loss of reduction and rate of nerve injuries before and after the RCT.

METHODS

This was a retrospective review of patients with Gartland type 3 SCHF who were treated before the RCT (April 2000 to April 2003: 141 patients) and after the trial (April 2006 to April 2009: 126 patients). Eight surgeons were included. Patient demographic data, pin configuration, neurovascular status, and radiographic results were compared. Comparisons between the pretrial cohort and the posttrial cohort as a group as well as for each individual surgeon were performed. Comparisons included the choice of pin configuration, incidence of loss of radiographic reduction, iatrogenic nerve injuries, return to the operating room, and infection before and after the clinical trial.

RESULTS

There was a statistically different pin configuration in the pretrial group compared with the posttrial group (P<0.0001) with the posttrial group having a much higher percentage of bicolumnar lateral entry only pins. Five out of 8 surgeons individually had a statistically significant change in their practice pattern for pin configuration. There was no difference from pretrial to posttrial in loss of radiographic reduction, infection rate, iatrogenic nerve injuries, or return to the operating room.

CONCLUSIONS

Data showing change in surgeon practice have been relatively sparse. In this group of surgeons who participated in an RCT, there was a statistically significant change in pin configuration for treatment of Gartland type 3 SCHF after the results of the RCT were known. The change in clinical practice did not have an effect on outcomes.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level III.

What opportunities are available for resident involvement in national orthopedic and subspecialty societies?

As physician involvement in health policy grows, there will be an increasing need for future leaders in orthopedics. Interested orthopedic residents may be unaware of opportunities for leadership involvement in professional and subspecialty organizations. This article investigates whether national and subspecialty organizations offer membership to residents, allow residents to participate in committees, and provide opportunities for scholarly activity and mentorship. The authors surveyed 20 national orthopedic professional and subspecialty societies to evaluate the availability and cost of resident membership, meeting attendance and participation, research funding, committee membership, and mentorship opportunities. Each society's Web site was reviewed, and societies were contacted by phone if further inquiry was needed. Of the 20 orthopedic societies surveyed, 11 allowed resident membership. Five of 20 societies allowed residents to serve on committees, with a total of 14 total positions for residents. Four organizations provided formalized mentorship programs to residents. Although opportunities for resident involvement in subspecialty and professional societies are available in the majority of groups surveyed, the Orthopaedic Trauma Association and American Society for Surgery of the Hand provided the most comprehensive collection of opportunities. Residents should also pursue involvement in other organizations that may be more readily accessible, such as local, state, and regional orthopedic and medical societies. Increased resident participation in these organizations may help in increasing the 14 nationally available committee positions for orthopedic residents. Our orthopedic profession and societies should encourage motivated residents to pursue involvement and leadership at the national level.

Randomized clinical trials in orthopaedic surgery: strategies to improve quantity and quality

Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) generally provide the highest quality and least biased evidence for treatment effectiveness. Relatively few high-quality RCTs have been published in the orthopaedic literature. Barriers to increasing the quantity of trials include the orthopaedic culture, patient preferences, and the availability of treatment outside trials. Challenges to conducting better quality trials include sample size, random allocation, and blinding. Undertaking more high-quality trials can improve the evidence available for determining treatment effectiveness, resulting in better patient care.

An evidence-based approach to spine surgery

Health care reform will emphasize evidence-based medicine to provide the highest quality care. Recent literature has emerged in spinal surgery that has profoundly increased the evidence base for several spinal procedures. There is now good evidence from randomized controlled trials that surgical treatment of symptomatic lumbar disc herniation, decompression for spinal stenosis, and decompression and fusion for degenerative spondylolisthesis all offer significant clinical benefit in the face of serious back and radicular pain when compared with nonsurgical care. Studies of nonsurgical and surgical treatments for chronic low back pain are inconclusive, limited by study design/methodology. Continuing to increase study quality in the field of spine surgery is more important now than ever before. Optimizing diagnostic specificity, surgical indications, and measuring outcomes with validated instruments should help the spine care community acquire essential data to provide the highest quality evidence-based care, while simultaneously eliminating procedures that lack evidence of efficacy or value.