Interruption of long-term warfarin is not necessary in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty.

INTRODUCTION: The management of anticoagulation in patients undergoing arthroplasty remains a challenge. Guidelines for perioperative management of long-term warfarin recommend discontinuation of warfarin preoperatively in low risk patients. We hypothesised that patients who had their warfarin continued during the perioperative period would have shorter hospital stay and no significant increase risk of surgical complications compared to patients who had their warfarin interrupted. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of 20 consecutive patients receiving long-term warfarin who underwent total hip replacement without stopping warfarin. As a control group, we collected same data from 20 age and gender matched patients also on long term warfarin but their warfarin was stopped prior to surgery and restarted postoperatively. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in age, BMI or comorbidities between the 2 groups. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in postoperative INR (P < 0.0001) levels. The mean drop in Hb postoperatively was 25.95 g/L in the warfarin group and 35.7 g/L in the control group, which was statistically significant (P = 0.0066). Hospital stay was statistically significant with shorted stay observed in the warfarin group (P = 0.0447). The odds ratio for developing a postoperative complication was 1.5882 which was not statistically significant (P = 0.6346). CONCLUSION: Our results support the hypothesis that it is safe to continue warfarin in patients on long term anticoagulation undergoing total hip replacement. Continuation of warfarin was associated with significantly shorter hospital stay and less INR fluctuations. There was no significant increase in the risk of complications or blood transfusion.

Effect of the systemic inflammatory response, as provoked by elective orthopaedic surgery, on HbA1c.

Background In acutely ill patients with new onset hyperglycaemia, plasma glucose cannot reliably distinguish between stress hyperglycaemia and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus. We, therefore, investigated the diagnostic reliability of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in acute illness by prospectively evaluating the effect of the systemic inflammatory response, as provoked by elective orthopaedic surgery, on HbA1c. Methods HbA1c and serum C-reactive protein concentrations were compared before and two days after elective knee or hip surgery in 30 patients without diabetes. C-reactive protein was used to assess the systemic inflammatory response. Results The mean (standard deviation) serum C-reactive protein increased following surgery (4.8 [7.5] vs. 179.7 [61.9] mg/L; P<0.0001). HbA1c was similar before and after surgery (39.2 [5.4] vs. 38.1 [5.1] mmol/moL, respectively; P = 0.4363). Conclusions HbA1c is unaffected within two days of a systemic inflammatory response as provoked by elective orthopaedic surgery. This suggests that HbA1c may be able to differentiate newly presenting type 2 diabetes mellitus from stress hyperglycaemia in acutely ill patients with new onset hyperglycaemia.

Adherence to Hospital Antibiotic Policy for Treatment of Escherichia coli ESBL in Urine.

INTRODUCTION: Escherichia coli are the most common uropathogen worldwide accounting for 80% of the Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs). Nosocomial infections caused by Multi-drug resistant Gram negative bacteria expressing Extended Spectrum ß Lactamase enzyme, pose a serious therapeutic challenge to clinicians due to limited therapeutic options. Stringent adherence to Hospital Antibiotic Policy in treating Urinary Escherichia coli ESBLs is a borne necessity. AIM: A clinical audit was undertaken in the form of a cross-sectional study to evaluate the compliance on appropriate antibiotic prescription and strict adherence to Hospital Antibiotic Policy for therapeutic management of the patients infected with urinary Escherichia coli ESBL producers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional medical audit on adherence to treatment of Escherichia coli ESBL producers from in-patients diagnosed to have urinary tract infections for a duration of 7 months was conducted as a prospective study. Clinical data, culture and sensitivity reports of the patient diagnosed with urinary Escherichia coli ESBLs were compared with the treatment chart to ensure strict adherence to hospital antibiotic policy for appropriate therapy by physicians. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 20 software. RESULTS: The incidence of uncomplicated cystitis, pyelonephritis and complicated pyelonephritis cases were 65.24% (107 out of 164), 20.7% (34 out of 164) and 14.02% (23 out of 164) respectively. Resistance to individual fluoroquinolones like norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin were found to be 60%, 59% and 47.5% respectively. As per hospital antibiotic policy, fluoroquinolones were prescribed in only 23% of the patients for the treatment of urinary Escherichia coli ESBLs. CONCLUSION: Irrational utilization of antibiotics and non-adherence to antibiotic policy could have been the significant risk factors for drug resistance. Optimized antibiotic use, Microbiology laboratory support and periodic antibiotic audit led by effective infection control team would hasten the development of drug resistance.

Complications resulting from tracker pin-sites in computer navigated knee replacement surgery.

Intra-osseous pin sites used in Computer Navigated knee Arthroplasty are known to cause complications including infection, neurovascular injury, thermal necrosis and peri-prosthetic fracture. Many studies have looked at ways of reducing these risks to improve results in computer-navigated surgery. We present our complication rates and techniques used to reduce complications in a retrospective study of 321 patients performed by a single surgeon in between 2009 and 2013. One patient was identified with a superficial pin site infection. No major complications were recorded during a mean follow up period of 31 months. Attention to detail in every aspect of pin insertion reduces the rates of both minor and major complications. In particular rates of peri-prosthetic fracture were shown to be lower when using a uni-cortical drilling technique compared with the use of bicortical drilling in other studies.

An unusual presentation of femoral neck fracture in a young patient.

Femoral neck fractures in young patients can have unusual presentation making diagnosis and subsequent management more difficult. Early detection is essential to avoid complications; however, it is only achievable with a high index of suspicion. We present an unusual case of a 39-year-old office worker who presented with a 5-month history of spontaneous onset of hip pain. She had multiple clinic visits prior to the diagnosis of neck of femur fracture. Fracture displacement and delayed diagnosis had resulted in a non-union by the time of presentation. She was subsequently managed with a fixation using a dynamic hip screw along with subtrochanteric osteotomy. No underlying cause for the initial fracture was identified despite thorough investigation. Learning points for early detection and operative management are discussed.

Vitamin D: a negative acute phase reactant.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the effect of the systemic inflammatory response (SIR), as provoked by elective orthopaedic surgery, on serum vitamin D [25-(OH)D]. METHODS: Serum 25-(OH)D, serum vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) and urinary VDBP were measured in 30 patients before and 48-hours after knee or hip arthroplasty. C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured to assess the SIR. RESULTS: The mean (SD) CRP increased following surgery [5.0 (5.5) vs 116.0 (81.2) mg/L; P<0.0001] as did urine VDBP/Creatinine ratio [8 (9) vs 20 (25) pg/mmol; p=0.0004]. Serum 25-(OH)D [56.2 (30.3) vs 46.0 (27.6) nmol/L; p = 0.0006] and serum VDBP [334 (43) vs 298 (37) mg/L]; P<0.0001] decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Serum 25-(OH)D is a negative acute phase reactant, which has implications for acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. Serum 25-(OH)D is an unreliable biomarker of vitamin D status after acute inflammatory insult. Hypovitaminosis D may be the consequence rather than cause of chronic inflammatory diseases.

The effect of the systemic inflammatory response, as provoked by elective orthopaedic surgery, on serum uric acid in patients without gout: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Acute gout is associated with a decrease in serum uric acid (SUA) that is considered to be in response to acute inflammation but it may be a feature of gout itself. We, therefore, aimed to investigate the effect of the acute systemic inflammatory response (SIR) on SUA concentrations in subjects without gout. METHODS: SUA and urinary excretion of uric acid (UA) (expressed as fractional excretion of UA; FEua%) were measured in 30 patients before and 48 h after elective knee or hip surgery. The SIR was assessed by measuring serum CRP and urine microalbumin excretion [expressed as the albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR)] before and after surgery in the same patients. RESULTS: The mean (s.d.) serum CRP increased following surgery [5.0 (5.5) vs 116.0 (81.2) mg/l; P < 0.0001) as did urine ACR [0.85 (1.03) vs 2.10 (2.60) mg/mmol; P = 0.004]. SUA decreased following surgery [312 (64) vs 282 (82) µmol/l; P = 0.0033] but FEua% was unchanged [6.4 (2.3) vs 7.3 (3.3)%; P = 0.1726]. CONCLUSION: The SIR is associated with a decrease in SUA concentrations in normouricaemic patients without gout. The decrease in SUA concentrations is not due to increased urinary excretion of UA. This study supports the notion that the decrease in SUA during acute gout is due to the associated SIR rather than gout per se.

An experimental study of pressure-volume dynamics of casting materials.

Casting materials are commonly used in a trauma and post-operative setting in orthopaedic practice. Swelling after trauma or surgery is universal, hence, the importance of understanding the pressure-volume dynamics of various materials commonly used for casting. This study attempts to define the pressure response of casts made from three commonly used materials to increasing volume, using a cylindrical model cast. Plaster of Paris (PoP), rigid fibreglass and semi-rigid non-fibreglass (Softcast) were chosen for comparison. Softcast had the best compliance and rate dependency characteristics, accommodating significantly more volume of fluid compared to plaster of Paris or Rigid fibreglass material. The latter two had similar compliance. All three materials demonstrated stress-relaxation which is of advantage in reducing peak pressures for a given volume change. This study shows that the casting materials behave in a viscoelastic manner, which allows them to accommodate more volume change than would otherwise be possible. The use of semi-rigid material may be safer than other materials as far as response to swelling (volume expansion) is concerned.