High Incidence of Intraoperative Fractures With a Specific Cemented Stem Following Intracapsular Displaced Hip Fracture

BACKGROUND

To reduce costs of orthopedic implants, the government decided to standardize implants used across different specialties in a group of hospitals located in the same geographic area. The usual cemented stem used in the context of intracapsular displaced geriatric hip fractures was replaced by another stem. Abnormal intraoperative calcar and trochanteric fractures were noted. The purpose of this study is to determine the incidence of intraoperative periprosthetic fractures following an intracapsular displaced hip fracture treated with this specific cemented stem compared to the previous implant.

METHODS

This is a retrospective cohort study comparing an historic cohort of hip fractures treated with the OmniFit EON (Stryker, Kalamazoo, MI) cemented stem with a new cohort of patients who received the Corail (DePuy Synthes, Warsaw, IN) cemented stem. Four orthopedic surgeons reviewed operative reports and postoperative radiographs.

RESULTS

The treatment group included 348 patients who received the Corail stem. The control group included 77 patients. The 2 groups had similar baseline characteristics (P > .05) except for the presence of dementia. Incidence of intraoperative calcar or greater trochanteric fracture was 15.5% for the Corail group and 2.7% for the control group (P < .05). No patient-related factors or surgeon-related factors were related to a higher number of fractures in the treatment group (P > .05).

CONCLUSION

The Corail cemented stem presents an abnormal number of iatrogenic intraoperative fractures following displaced femoral neck fracture in our geriatric population. No external factor seems to explain this high number of fractures. Implant design should be questioned.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

III.

Early Improvement in Pain and Functional Outcome but Not Quality of Life After Surgery for Metastatic Long Bone Disease

BACKGROUND

Bone metastases represent the most frequent cause of cancer-related pain, affecting health-related quality of life and creating a substantial burden on the healthcare system. Although most bony metastatic lesions can be managed nonoperatively, surgical management can help patients reduce severe pain, avoid impending fracture, and stabilize pathologic fractures. Studies have demonstrated functional improvement postoperatively as early as 6 weeks, but little data exist on the temporal progress of these improvements or on the changes in quality of life over time as a result of surgical intervention.

QUESTIONS/PURPOSES

(1) Do patients' functional outcomes, pain, and quality of life improve after surgery for long bone metastases? (2) What is the temporal progress of these changes to 1 year after surgery or death? (3) What is the overall and 30-day rate of complications after surgery for long bone metastases? (4) What are the oncologic outcomes including overall survival and local disease recurrence for this patient population?

METHODS

A multicenter, prospective study from three orthopaedic oncology centers in Quebec, Canada, was conducted between 2008 and 2016 to examine the improvement in function and quality of life after surgery for patients with long bone metastases. During this time, 184 patients out of a total of 210 patients evaluated during this period were enrolled; of those, 141 (77%) had complete followup at a minimum of 2 weeks (mean, 23 weeks; range, 2-52 weeks) or until death, whereas another 35 (19%) were lost to followup but were not known to have died before the minimum followup interval was achieved. Pathologic fracture was present in 34% (48 of 141) of patients. The median Mirel's score for those who underwent prophylactic surgery was 10 (interquartile range, 10-11). Surgical procedures included intramedullary nailing (55), endoprosthetic replacement (49), plate osteosynthesis (31), extended intralesional curettage (four), and allograft reconstruction (two). Seventy-seven percent (108 of 141) of patients received radiotherapy. The Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS), Toronto Extremity Salvage Score (TESS), Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) form, and Quality Of Life During Serious Illness (QOLLTI-P) form were administered pre- and postoperatively at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. Analysis of variance followed by post hoc analysis was conducted to test for significance between pre- and postoperative scores. The Kaplan-Meier estimate was used to calculate overall survivorship and local recurrence-free survival. A p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

MSTS and BPI pain scores improved at 2 weeks when compared with preoperative scores (MSTS: 39% ± 24% pre- versus 62% ± 19% postoperative, mean difference [MD] 23, 95% confidence interval [CI], 16-32, p < 0.001; BPI: 52% ± 21% pre- versus 30% ± 21% postoperative, MD 22, 95% CI, 16-32, p < 0.001). Continuous and incremental improvement in TESS, MSTS, and BPI scores was observed temporally at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year; for example, the TESS score improved from 44% ± 24% to 73% ± 21% (MD 29, p < 0.001, 95% CI, 19-38) at 6 months. We did not detect a difference in quality of life as measured by the QOLLTI-P score (6 ± 1 pre- versus 7 ± 4 postoperative, MD 1, 95% CI, -0.4 to 3, p = 0.2). The overall and 30-day rates of systemic complications were 35% (49 of 141) and 14% (20 of 141), respectively. The Kaplan-Meier estimates for overall survival were 70% (95% CI, 62.4-78) at 6 months and 41% (95% CI, 33-49) at 1 year. Local recurrence-free survival was 17 weeks (95% CI, 11-24).

CONCLUSIONS

Surgical management of metastatic long bone disease substantially improves patients' functional outcome and pain as early as 2 weeks postoperatively and should be considered for impending or pathologic fracture in patients whose survival is expected to be longer than 2 weeks provided that there are no immediate contraindications. Quality of life in this patient population did not improve, which may be a function of patient selection, concomitant chemoradiotherapy regimens, disease progression, or terminal illness, and this merits further investigation.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level II, therapeutic study.

Complete deltoid resection in early childhood without muscle transfer results in normal shoulder function at long-term follow-up: a case report

BACKGROUND

Musculoskeletal tumors involving the deltoid muscle and necessitating its complete resection are rare. The function after complete deltoid resection is reported to be limited, and several authors consider muscle transfer to improve shoulder motion. However, it still remains unclear whether such transfer adds function. To the best of our knowledge, all reports on complete deltoid resection refer to adult patients, and it is unknown what function results after deltoid resection in childhood. The remaining muscles may have the potential to compensate for the loss of deltoid function.

CASE PRESENTATION

Here we report the case of a 5-year-old white boy with complete (isolated) deltoid muscle resection in infancy for a large aggressive soft tissue tumor. No reconstructive procedure or muscle transfer was performed at the time of index surgery. Pathology revealed an angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma. His postoperative course was uneventful. At 11 years of follow-up, he remained disease-free and had excellent shoulder function, including normal range of motion.

CONCLUSIONS

This report implies that major muscles such as the deltoid can be resected in a child without compromising long-term function. Therefore, a muscle transfer at index surgery is probably not necessary.

Tibial Growth Disturbance Following Distal Femoral Resection and Expandable Endoprosthetic Reconstruction

BACKGROUND

In growing children, an expandable endoprosthesis is commonly used after distal femoral resection to compensate for loss of the distal femoral physis. Our hypothesis was that such prostheses can affect proximal tibial growth, which would contribute to an overall leg-length discrepancy and cause angular deformity.

METHODS

Twenty-three skeletally immature patients underwent the placement of a distal femoral expandable endoprosthesis between 1994 and 2012. Tibial length, femoral length, and mechanical axis were measured radiographically to determine the growth rate.

RESULTS

No patient had radiographic evidence of injury to the proximal tibial physis at the time of surgery other than insertion of the tibial stem. Fifteen (65%) of the patients experienced less proximal tibial growth in the operative compared with the contralateral limb. In ten (43%) of the patients, the discrepancy progressively worsened, whereas in five (22%) of the patients, the discrepancy stabilized. Seven patients did not develop tibial length discrepancy, and one patient had overgrowth of the tibia. For the ten patients with progressive shortening, the proximal tibial physis grew an average of 4.0 mm less per year in the operative limb. Five (22%) of the patients had ≥ 20 mm of tibial length discrepancy at last follow-up. Three of these patients underwent contralateral tibial epiphysiodesis. Three patients required corrective surgery for angular deformity.

CONCLUSIONS

The tibial growth plate may not resume normal growth after implantation of a distal femoral prosthesis. Physeal bar resection, prosthesis revision, and contralateral tibial epiphysiodesis may be needed to address tibial growth abnormalities.