Symposium Addresses Pain Management in the Opioid Epidemic

Terry Stanton

A rather doleful theme emerged from the 2014 AAOS Annual Meeting’s well-attended symposium, “Managing Surgical Pain in the Opioid Epidemic Era.” In discussing the role of orthopaedic surgeons in managing their patients’ pain, presenters echoed the pronouncement by Pogo creator Walt Kelly: “We have met the enemy and it is us.”

Study Examines Outcomes of Hamstring Autograft and Tibialis Posterior Allograft for ACL Reconstruction

Maureen Leahy

Study data presented at the AAOS Annual Meeting in New Orleans revealed that more than 80 percent of all grafts used in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in a young athletic population were intact and had maintained stability at 10-year follow-up. However, tibialis posterior allograft ACL reconstructions failed at a rate more than three times higher than hamstring autograft reconstructions.

Are Prevention Programs for ACL Injuries Cost Effective?

Jennie McKee

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in young athletes are associated with significant healthcare costs. According to research presented at the AAOS Annual Meeting, training programs aimed at improving neuromuscular control to reduce the incidence of ACL injuries are effective and low cost. “As youth participation in sports has increased in the last decade, serious sports-related injuries have become a more common problem,” said lead author Eric F. Swart, MD.

MoM Hip Implants Present Diagnostic Challenges

Terry Stanton

Tribocorrosion occurring as articular surface loss at metal-on-metal (MoM) junctions in hip implants has emerged as one of the most important clinical problems in orthopaedic surgery. The problem has also attracted considerable media attention focused on complications occurring over time.

PRP Effective for Acute Lateral Ankle Ligament Injuries

Maureen Leahy

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection into the lateral ankle ligaments for treatment of acute lateral ankle sprains significantly expedites athletes’ return to sport, according to data presented at the AAOS Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Study patients treated with PRP returned to sport an average of 11 days sooner, compared to patients treated with saline injection.

Infants with DDH Need Follow-up Radiographs

Peter Pollack

Given concerns about cost and pediatric radiation exposure, we questioned if long-term radiographic follow-up was beneficial for infants with developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) who have achieved normal clinical and sonographic exams,” said Eric J. Sarkissian, BS, during his presentation on “Hip Dysplasia Follow-up After Six Months: Why Order X-rays Later if Ultrasound has Normalized?” at the 2014 AAOS Annual Meeting.

Changes in Orthopaedic Residency and Fellowship Accreditation

John L. Marsh, MD; Pamela Derstine, PhD, MHPE; John Potts, MD

John L. Marsh, MD; Pamela Derstine, PhD, MHPE; and John Potts, MD Graduate Medical Education (GME) training programs are accredited through an oversight process that ensures that residencies and fellowships meet approved standards. This accrediting process is one of the most important recurring events in the eyes of orthopaedic program directors. But last July, the whole process changed.

Study: Back Surgery Offers Long-Term Societal Benefits

Increased earnings, fewer lost work days for surgical patients Each year, more than 10 million people in the United States experience back pain. More than 200,000 of these patients undergo surgery to alleviate pain due to a herniated disk—and most of these patients are still in the workforce when they undergo surgery. Previous studies have found that surgical treatment of lumbar disk herniation is cost effective.

Forum Examines Stem Cells in Orthopaedics

Mary Ann Porucznik

The ability of stem cells to divide and become more specialized cells—such as bone, blood, or muscle—makes them attractive agents in many areas of medicine. Additionally, the ability to harvest stem cells from an individual and reimplant them in the same individual, thus potentially reducing or eliminating the risk of infection, makes stem cell therapy appealing to both patients and physicians.