What’s Behind MOC—and What’s Ahead for You

A roundtable discussion on the ins and outs of Maintenance of Certification Recently, AAOS Now editorial board member Frank B. Kelly, MD, held a roundtable discussion to dispel some common misconceptions about the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) Maintenance of Certification™ (MOC) process. Participants inclued Shepard R. Hurwitz, MD, ABOS executive director; James R. Kasser, MD, ABOS past president; David F.

Leukocyte Esterase Reagent Strips Help Diagnose PJI

Jennie McKee

Leukocyte esterase reagent (LER) strips, commonly used for diagnosing conditions such as urinary tract infections, peritonitis, and chorioamnionitis, may also be helpful in rapid diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI), according to a paper presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons that received the James A. Rand Award.

Toward Safer Spine Surgery

Terry Stanton

As surgical techniques for patients with scoliosis and other spinal deformities become more complex, the potential for complications looms ever larger, making a systematic approach to patient safety during and after surgery essential. Adverse events will occur in 70,000 children undergoing surgery per year, said Suken A.

Can Nerve Ablation Reduce Chronic Back Pain?

Terry Stanton

Stephen W. Becker, MD Courtesy of NASS Stephen W. Becker, MD, of the Institute of Musculoskeletal Analysis, Research, and Therapy, in Vienna, Austria, described the technique, in which a radiofrequency device is used to ablate the nerves within the vertebral bone that transmit pain signals produced at vertebral endplates adjacent to degenerated disks.

Knee Society Introduces New Knee Scoring System

Updated outcomes instrument now available For more than 20 years, The Knee Society’s Knee Scoring System (KSS) has served as a simple, objective way to measure a patient’s functional ability before and after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Although it has served patients and researchers well, “Contemporary TKA patients often have different expectations, demands, and functional requirements than those of previous generations,” said Giles R.

What’s Your Diagnosis?

The images for this month’s challenge were submitted by Andrew R. Hsu, MD, and Walter W. Virkus, MD, who provided the following information: A 16-year old African-American male high school football player was seen by his primary care provider 5 days after sustaining a contact injury to the anterior portion of his right shoulder during practice. The patient had pain and weakness with overhead activities and range of motion testing. He had no numbness, tingling, or any radiation of pain.

Second Look—Clinical News and Views

Treating frozen shoulder A study published online in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (CORR) examines the natural history of spontaneous idiopathic frozen shoulder and finds that many patients recover normal levels of function without treatment.

Should Vancomycin Be a Routine Perioperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis for TJR Patients?

Switch from cefazolin to vancomycin resulted in reduced overall infections In many hospitals, cefazolin is the antibiotic of choice as perioperative prophylaxis for patients undergoing total joint replacement procedures. At the 2011 annual meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS), however, Eric B.

Meetings and Course Listings

General Through MAR. 5 Wounded in Action Art Exhibition Evans Army Community Hospital and Soldier Family Care Center, Fort Carson, Colo. Website: www.woundedinactionart.org FEB. 4–7 Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) Annual Meeting Moscone West Convention Center, San Francisco Website: www.ors.org FEB. 7 Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society (RJOS) Annual Meeting San Francisco Website: www.rjos.org FEB. 7–11 AAOS Annual Meeting Moscone Center, San Francisco FEB.