U and H-type sacral fractures are under diagnosed injuries resulting from significant axial loading that are often associated with neurological deficits. No studies to date have compared two common methods of surgical fixation, iliosacral screw fixation (ISF) and lumbopelvic fixation (LPF).Patients with sacral fractures from 2009-2015 at one level 1 trauma center were identified by current procedural terminology (CPT) code and imaging reviewed for U/H type sacral fractures.Four hundred and fifty-three sacral fractures were identified during the study period, of which sixteen patients met inclusion criteria for the study. Six patients had the presence of a documented neurological injury at the time of presentation, 9 patients had concurrent spine fractures and 10 patients had concurrent pelvic fractures. Eight patients underwent ISF and 8 patients underwent LPF. There was no significant difference between the two groups in regards to age, intensive care unit (ICU) requirement, length of stay, or estimated blood loss. There was a significant increase in surgical time in the LPF group (P=0.002). In addition, there was a significant difference between those patients that underwent ISF that were discharged to a rehab facility compared to those treated with LPF (P=0.04).Patients with U/H type sacral fractures can be treated with ISF or LPF without an expected increase in hospital length of stay (LOS) or need for ICU. Treatment with LPF may increase operative time however; the patient is more likely to be discharged to home instead of a rehab facility.
Category: Sports Introduction/Purpose: Lateral ankle ligament injuries are common conditions accounting for 25% of musculoskeletal injuries. Prior reports have found increased risk of failed lateral ankle reconstruction in those with a subtle cavus deformity, and therefore, correcting the deformity is often advocated. However, other studies have been unable to identify subtle cavus deformity as a clear risk factor for recurrent injury. The purpose of this study was to 1) compare PROMIS physical function (PF), pain interference (PI), and depression scores in patients with subtle cavus deformities to those without deformity who underwent lateral ankle ligament reconstruction, 2) compare PROMIS scores in allograft and modified Brostrom-Gould (BG) reconstructions in those with subtle cavus, and 3) to evaluate for any post-operative complications in those with subtle cavus. Methods: PROMIS CAT scores were prospectively obtained from patients evaluated in a specialty foot and ankle clinic between February 2015 and December 2017. Using CPT codes, 145 patients who underwent lateral ankle ligament reconstruction were identified. Exclusion criteria consisted of less than three-month follow-up, incomplete PROMIS scores, or multiple surgeries unrelated to the reconstruction during the follow-up period. A total of 78 patients were included in the study. Pre- and post-operative PROMIS PF, PI, and depression were collected. Patients were then divided into two groups: subtle cavus foot (n=23) and non-cavus foot (n=55). A foot was considered cavus based on physical exam and previously published radiographic parameters. The cavus group was further subdivided into allograft reconstruction and BG reconstruction. Post-operative complications were also recorded. Student t-tests were used to evaluate for differences in PF, PI, and depression t-scores in cavus vs. non-cavus groups as well as allograft vs. BG. Results: The average follow-up was 28.59+/-13.27 weeks in the cavus and 29.77+/-16.15 weeks in the non-cavus group (p=0.76). There were no differences in pre-operative PF, PI, or depression t-scores between the two groups (p>0.05). The cavus group had significantly better post-operative PF compared to the non-cavus group (49.24+/-8.14 vs. 43.17+/-6.64, p=0.001). PI was also better in the cavus group (51.12+/-8.33) compared to the non-cavus group (55.09+/-9.45), however not statistically significant (p=0.08). There were no differences in post-operative depression (p=0.58). When subdividing the cavus group, allograft reconstruction (49.49+/-7.48) had better post-operative PI t-scores compared to BG (57.17+/-8.16, p=0.04). In the cavus group, there were no instances of recurrent instability; one patient required a repeat ankle arthroscopy for debridement. One patient in the non-cavus group developed recurrent instability. Conclusion: Patients with subtle cavus deformity undergoing lateral ankle ligament reconstruction had significantly higher post-operative PROMIS PF t-scores compared to those without deformity and a trend towards improved pain post-operatively. When subdividing the subtle cavus group, allograft reconstruction demonstrated better PI scores post-operatively, and thus may be a more favorable technique in patients who have a subtle cavus deformity. Though longer follow-up is needed, our study suggests that patients with subtle cavus deformities may not require a more complex reconstruction with osteotomies to correct their deformity in order to achieve clinically meaningful improved outcomes.
Category: Other Introduction/Purpose: The ability to accurately quantify a patient’s pain pre-operatively is advantageous in the preparation of post-operative expectations and pain management. The Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) is a popular method to identify patient pain level. Other patient reported outcomes are being collected, such as the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) and has been suggested to be more accurate in measuring pain as well as physical function. The aim of this study was to 1) determine whether NPRS or PROMIS Pain Interference (PI) demonstrates a stronger association with physical function as determined by PROMIS Physical Function (PF) and 2) to determine which method better predicts post-surgical pain in a population of elective surgical foot and ankle patients. Methods: Prospective PROMIS PF, PI and NPRS (0-10) data was obtained for common foot and ankle elective surgical procedures (CPT codes 27698, 27870, 28285, 28289, 28300, 28705, 28730, 28750) from a multi-surgeon foot and ankle clinic between February 2015 until November 2017. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between NPRS (0-10) and PROMIS domains (PI, PF) pre and post-operatively. Correlations were considered high (> 0.7), high moderate (0.6-0.69), moderate (0.4-0.6) or weak (<0.4). Results: A total of 502 patients found to have complete data sets and > 6 month follow up were evaluated (74% women, mean age 54+/- SD, mean follow-up 14.4 months, range 6-34 months). Pearson correlation evaluation of NPRS and PI revealed a moderate correlation in the pre- and postoperative setting. There was a high moderate negative correlation between PI and PF t-scores pre and postoperatively suggesting more pain and less function. However, the negative correlation between NPRS and PF pre- and postoperatively was weak indicating a poor relationship between NPRS pain assessment and function. There was a moderate correlation between pre- and postoperative scores in all domains of PROMIS while the correlation between pre- and postoperative NPRS scores was weak. Conclusion: In a population of elective surgical foot and ankle patients, the use of both NPRS and PROMIS can be utilized to assess pain level, however the PROMIS PI domain demonstrated a stronger relationship with PROMIS PF than NPRS. Furthermore, only the PROMIS domains demonstrated at least a moderate correlation between pre- and post-operative scores. PROMIS PI provides superior assessment of pre- and post-operative physical function and prediction of post-operative pain. PROMIS PI can be used to gauge a patient’s pre-operative level of pain and function and aid the surgeon in guiding post-operative patient expectations and pain management.
Age dependent decline in skeletal muscle function leads to impaired metabolic flexibility in elderly individuals. Physical activity and testosterone treatment have proven efficient strategies for delaying this condition. However, a common molecular pathway has not been identified. Muscle specific miRNAs (myomiRs) regulates metabolic pathways in skeletal muscle and are regulated by physical activity and have response elements for testosterone in their promoter region. We therefore hypothesized that myomiRs would be regulated in skeletal muscle during aging. We further investigated any potential gender-dependent regulation of these miRNAs. We found that the myomiRs miR-1, miR-133a and miR-133b were increased in skeletal muscle of elderly compared to younger men. In addition, miR-133a/133b expression was markedly higher in women compared to men. Elimination of circulating testosterone in men was associated with lower levels of miR-133a and miR-133b. A positive regulatory effect of testosterone on miR-133a/133b expression was confirmed in castrated male mice and in a model of primary human myocytes. Yet, an improvement of fitness level in the testosterone depleted men resulted in a down-regulation of miR133a/b. In conclusion, alterations in fitness level and circulating testosterone seem to represent two independent regulatory events where testosterone is a specific regulator of miR-133a/b expression.
they develop more severe atherosclerosis than control mice. Whether AMPK activation by other means prevents the development of the metabolic syndrome in the IL-6 or adiponectin KO mice remains to be determined. Keywords: AMPK, adipon e ctin, Interleukin-6, metabolic syndrome, T2DS
Category: Other Introduction/Purpose: Spring ligament tear is often noted in advanced stages of the adult acquired flatfoot deformity (AAFD). Previous anatomic studies demonstrated that the spring and deltoid ligaments are not separate structure, but form a confluent ligament in which the tibiocalcaneonavicular ligament (TCNL) comprises the largest component. A biomechanical study which utilized stage IIB AAFD model demonstrated inferior result of the anatomic spring ligament reconstruction compared to the tibionavicular ligament reconstruction. Therefore, the TCNL reconstruction has been proposed for effective restoration of the ankle and talonavicular joints stability in AAFD with a large spring ligament tear. We aimed to investigate if spring ligament tear of greater than 1.5 cm decreases the ankle and talonavicular joint reaction forces (JRF), and if they could be restored by the TCNL reconstruction. Methods: Ten fresh-frozen human cadaveric lower legs were obtained and disarticulated at the knee joint. Steinmann pins were percutaneously placed across the distal tibia, center of the talus and navicular while preserving adjacent soft tissues. A distraction force was applied across the ankle and talonavicular joints to determine the baseline force displacement curve to generate a best- fit polynomial equation to determine normal JRF. A spring ligament injury model was created by releasing the medial capsuloligamentous complex of the talonavicular joint and extending the resection 1.5 cm proximally. The TCNL reconstruction was performed with a forked semitendinosus allograft. The folded portion of the graft was fixed to the medial malleolar inter- colliculus. One limb of the separated part of the allograft was fixed to the navicular tuberosity and the other limb was fixed to the calcaneus below the sustentaculum tali. The resultant JRFs across the tibiotalar and talonavicular joints were measured after each step. Results: The mean baseline JRFs of the ankle and talonavicular joints were 8.36 N +/- 1.8 N and 3.01 N +/- 0.9 N, respectively. The spring ligament tear resulted in 29% decrease in tibiotalar JRF (5.97 N +/- 1.1 N, p< 0.05) and 13% decrease in talonavicular JRF (2.63 N +/- 0.8 N, p>0.05). Although the tibionavicular ligament reconstruction partially restored JRFs of the tibiotalar (7.83 +/- 2.4 N, p> 0.05) and talonavicular joints (4.08 N +/- 1.8 N, p> 0.05), they were not statistically significant. Addition of the tibiocalcaneal ligament reconstruction resulted in significantly increased JRFs of the tibiotalar (9.17 +/- 3.93 N, p> 0.05) and talonavicular joints (4.35 +/- 2.04 N, p> 0.05) compared to the spring ligament injury model. Conclusion: This is the first biomechanical study to demonstrate that a large size (>1.5 cm) spring ligament tear results in decreased JRF of the ankle joint. The decreased ankle and talonavicular JRFs were effectively restored by the novel TCNL reconstruction. This technique utilizes a forked allograft with two limbs for the tibionavicular and tibiocalcaneal ligaments reconstructions. Advanced AAFD with a large size spring ligament tear may have medial ankle instability that should not be overlooked. The novel TCNL reconstruction should be considered to prevent progression of valgus deformity. The biomechanical and clinical efficacies of the TCNL reconstruction warrant further investigation.