Physicians' accuracy and interrator reliability for the diagnosis of unstable meniscal tears in patients having osteoarthritis of the knee

OBJECTIVE

To determine clinicians' accuracy and reliability for the clinical diagnosis of unstable meniscus tears in patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee.

DESIGN

A prospective cohort study.

SETTING

A single tertiary care centre.

PATIENTS

One hundred and fifty-two patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee refractory to conservative medical treatment were selected for prospective evaluation of arthroscopic debridement.

INTERVENTION

Arthroscopic debridement of the knee, including meniscal tear and chondral flap resection, without abrasion arthroplasty.

OUTCOME MEASURES

A standardized assessment protocol was administered to each patient by 2 independent observers. Arthroscopic determination of unstable meniscal tears was recorded by 1 observer who reviewed a video recording and was blinded to preoperative data. Those variables that had the highest interobserver agreement and the strongest association with meniscal tear by univariate methods were entered into logistic regression to model the best prediction of resectable tears.

RESULTS

There were 92 meniscal tears (77 medial, 15 lateral). Interobserver agreement between clinical fellows and treating surgeons was poor to fair (kappa < 0.4) for all clinical variables except radiographic measures, which were good. Fellows and surgeons predicted unstable meniscal tear preoperatively with equivalent accuracy of 60%. Logistic regression modelling revealed that a history of swelling and a ballottable effusion were negative predictors. A positive McMurray test was the only positive predictor of unstable meniscal tear. "Mechanical" symptoms were not reliable predictors in this prospective study. The model was 69% accurate for all patients and 76% for those with advanced medial compartment osteoarthritis defined by a joint space height of 2 mm or less.

CONCLUSIONS

This study underscored the difficulty in using clinical variables to predict unstable medial meniscal tears in patients with pre-existing osteoarthritis of the knee. The lack of interobserver agreement must be overcome to ensure that the findings can be generalized to other physician observers.

Systemic fat and thrombus embolization in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty with regional heparinization

A double-blind, randomized, controlled study was undertaken to determine if a technique of intraoperative anticoagulation would decrease the incidence or severity of venous embolization after tourniquet release during total knee arthroplasty. Sixty-six patients were randomized to receive either the heparin or placebo treatment. Transesophageal echocardiography was performed before and after tourniquet release to detect embolic material in the right atrium. Transient opacification of the right atrium was observed in all patients within the first 30 seconds after tourniquet release. Regional limb heparinization is not effective in reducing the intensity of right atrium opacification because much of the echogenic material was composed of fat rather than thrombus.

3-Foot standing AP versus 45 degrees PA radiograph for osteoarthritis of the knee

OBJECTIVE

Flexion and erect standing radiographs were evaluated in the current study to compare their sensitivity in detecting articular cartilage wear.

DESIGN

Prospective cohort study.

SETTING

A tertiary care hospital outpatient orthopedic clinic.

PATIENTS

All patients with osteoarthritis of the knee ages 40 to 75 scheduled for arthroscopic debridement between March 1995 and November 1997 were considered for the current study.

INTERVENTION

Radiographs were obtained 1 week preoperatively in both the 3-foot standing anteroposterior (AP) and a 45 degrees posteroanterior (PA) flexion weight-bearing projection. Joint space height was measured with a ruler in millimeters at the narrowest point of each compartment. All radiographs were assessed by two independent observers who were blinded to the arthroscopic findings and clinical symptoms of the subjects.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Prediction accuracy of each radiograph for severe Grade IV articular cartilage wear in tibio-femoral compartments.

RESULTS

One hundred fifty-two patients with a mean (+/- SD) age of 60.5+/-8.5 years were enrolled in the study. Fifty-one percent were female. Twelve patients were categorized as having severe lateral compartment articular chondropathy (Grade IV) at the time of arthroscopy. The lateral joint space height averaged 1.0+/-1.7 mm SD on the 45 degrees PA radiograph compared with 2.7+/-1.1 mm SD on the 3-foot standing AP view. Using a cutoff of 2 mm or less, the 45 degrees PA view was much more sensitive (83% versus 42%) at correctly detecting the most severe chondropathy. Forty-one patients were classified with severe Grade IV medial compartment chondropathy at arthroscopy. There was little difference in the average joint space height measured by the 45 degrees PA view (1.4+/-1.4 mm SD) or the 3-foot standing AP view (1.9+/-1.6 mm SD). A number of cutoff measures were evaluated, but no significant advantage could be found for either view in evaluating the medial compartment severity.

CONCLUSIONS

The bilateral 45 degrees PA is superior for detecting lateral compartment wear but offers no advantage on the medial side. This view should be considered as the screening radiograph of choice in evaluating osteoarthritis of the knee.

Self-reported disability following distal radius fractures: the influence of hand dominance

The purpose of this study was to record the spectrum of self-reported disability following distal radius fractures and to gauge for differences in hand dominance in the use of subjective outcome data. Items were generated through patient interviews, literature review, and peer consultation. Fifty-three items were evaluated by a group of 55 patients recovering from a fracture of the distal radius, which established the prevalence, mean severity score, and overall severity score (or impact) of each item as it related to physical function and social/emotional impact. Hand dominance, age, and gender were also recorded. The results confirm that many patients who sustain distal radius fractures experience substantial impairment across a spectrum of quality of life domains. Because patients who sustain a dominant wrist injury are likely to report greater functional impairment across a wider range of activities, they also possess a greater potential for improvement. The practical implication is that outcome studies for the treatment of distal radius fractures should take hand dominance into account.

Acute abdominal emergencies in patients on long-term ambulatory peritoneal dialysis

OBJECTIVE

To review intercurrent abdominal emergencies in patients receiving long-term peritoneal dialysis on an ambulatory basis.

DESIGN

A chart review.

SETTING

Tertiary care referral centre.

PATIENTS

Seven patients receiving long-term peritoneal dialysis, who suffered an acute abdominal emergency during a 7-year study period.

INTERVENTIONS

Laparotomy with appropriate management depending on the findings. Antibiotic therapy and dialysate culture.

RESULTS

In all patients the acute abdominal process involved the colon: five patients had perforated diverticulitis and two had ischemic colitis. The death rate overall was 57%. Peritonitis in these patients was difficult to differentiate from the peritonitis that occurs commonly in patients on long-term peritoneal dialysis. As a result there was a delay in the initiation of therapy ranging from 2 to 27 days.

CONCLUSIONS

Coincidental abdominal emergency should be considered when patients receiving long-term peritoneal dialysis on an ambulatory basis present with peritonitis that does not respond to established antibiotic protocols and when culture results show evidence of multiple enteric organisms.

Cigarette smoking and peripheral arterial occlusive disease

BACKGROUND

The importance of cigarette smoking in the etiology of peripheral arterial occlusive disease is well known, but there have been few studies that have quantified this relationship.

METHODS

A case-control study design was used in which the case subjects were men with a history of claudication for at least 1 year and abnormal findings on noninvasive blood flow studies or on arteriography; control subjects were men attending the same hospital for conditions other than cancer, with no history of cancer or vascular disease and with a normal ankle-brachial index. Case and control subjects were interviewed by a trained nurse interviewer using a pilot-tested questionnaire. Current smoking status was confirmed by serum cotinine level estimation. Univariate odds ratios for smoking and other potential risk factors were calculated, and their significance was tested by comparison with the chi-squared distribution. Logistic regression analysis was used to adjust the effect of smoking for confounding variables, and the regression equation was used to estimate the proportion of disease attributable to smoking.

RESULTS

Of the patients approached, 94% of the eligible case subjects and 93% of the eligible control subjects agreed to participate. Recruitment ended with 102 cases of peripheral arterial occlusive disease and 99 controls. Most of the control subjects were attending clinics for other surgical specialties. Compared with men who had never smoked the relative risk was 7 for exsmokers and 16 for current smokers (p < 0.001). The relative risk increased directly with the lifetime number of cigarettes smoked, the chi-squared test for trend being highly significant (p < 0.001). Age, lipoprotein concentration, body mass index, and history of hypertension or heart disease were also significant risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS

After adjustment for confounding variables the estimate of the fraction of disease attributable to smoking was 76%.