Weight Gain and Nutritional Improvement After Magnetically Controlled Growing Rod Surgery in Early-Onset Scoliosis: A Single Centre Analysis of 68 Patients.

BACKGROUND: Early-onset scoliosis (EOS) is frequently associated with complex spine and chest wall deformities that may lead to severe cardiopulmonary impairment and malnutrition. The aim of this study is to evaluate the change in the nutritional status of EOS patients after treatment with magnetically controlled growing rod instrumentation (MCGR) in a single center. METHODS: We prospectively collected data of patients treated with MCGR for EOS in a single center. Exclusion criteria were <2 years' follow-up and incomplete weight-for-age Z-scores (WAZ) data. Preoperative and postoperative WAZ, radiographic parameters, including major coronal curve, kyphosis angle, space available for lung ratios, thoracic height, and unplanned returns to the operating room (UPROR), were analyzed. SD and 95% Confidence intervals (CI) are presented with means. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients (37 males/31 females) were included. The mean age at surgery was 8.2 years (SD 2.8, range 1.8-14.2), and the mean follow-up time was 3.8 years (SD 1.0, range 2.1-6.8). The study population was categorized by the primary diagnosis as follows: 23 neuromuscular, 18 idiopathic, 15 congenital, and 12 syndromic patients. The major coronal curve improved between the preoperative and latest visits by 40% ( P <0.005, SD 27, CI 33-47), while the space available for lung ratios improved by 8% ( P <0.005, SD 13, CI 5-12). Thoracic height increased by 25% ( P <0.005, SD 13, CI 22-28), and kyphosis angle decreased by 25% ( P <0.005, SD 26, CI 9-39). Eighteen patients (27%) required a total of 53 UPRORs. WAZ improved significantly between the preoperative and the latest follow-up ( P =0.005). Regression analysis showed WAZ improvements were most significant in the underweight patients and the Idiopathic or Syndromic EOS patients. UPROR was not associated with deterioration in WAZ. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of EOS patients with MCGR resulted in an improvement in nutritional status, as evidenced by the significant increase in WAZ. Underweight, Idiopathic and Syndromic EOS patients, and those who required UPROR all had significant improvement in their WAZ with MCGR treatment. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Study-Level II.

Vitamin D levels in Irish children with fractures: A prospective case-control study with 5 year follow-up.

INTRODUCTION: Twenty-five-hydroxy-vitamin D3 (25-OH-vit D) is a prohormone that is essential for normal calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism. Understanding its role is an important component of the proper care of the pediatric orthopaedic patient. The aim of this study was to determine whether children in Ireland with fractures have increased prevalence of 25-OH-Vit D deficiency compared with age matched controls and to ascertain the relationship between a low 25-OH-vit D level and the incidence of fractures in Irish children. We hypothesised that children presenting to our centre following a fracture would have significantly lower 25-OH-vit D. METHODS: A prospective case-control study at a large urban tertiary referral academic hospital located in Dublin, Ireland was completed over a 14 month period from June 2014 to August 2015. A total of 116 subjects, distributed as cases (n = 58) and controls (n = 58) were included in this study. Whole blood (10 ml) was taken in two serum bottles from each patient. Serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 levels were measured. An age matched control group was generated from other children attending the hospital, who also had vitamin D levels measured for different clinical reasons. We followed up both the fracture and control group for the next 5 years to assess the repeat fracture rate. RESULTS: Fifty-eight patients with a fracture requiring operative intervention, were included in the study. Statistical analysis was performed comparing to 58 age and sex-matched controls. The mean vitamin D level for the fracture group was 63.2 nmol/L (SD = 27.3), which was higher than the mean of the controls (62.5 nmol/L) (SD = 21.3) (p = 0.86), but this difference was found not to be statistically significant in unadjusted analysis. There was no statistically significant difference in the number of patients classified with low serum Vitamin D levels (<50 nmolL), with the fracture group consisting of 22 (37.9%) patients, and the control group of 17 patients (29.3%) (p = 0.33) with a level below 50 nmol/L. At five-year follow-up, 11 of the 58 patients (18.9%) in the fracture group went on to have a further fracture compared with eight patients (13.7%) from the control group. Out of these 11 from the fracture group five (45.45%) had been found to have a low serum 25-OH-Vit D level five years previously. Out of the eight controls that presented with a fracture within the five-year period, 3 (37.5%) had had a low vitamin D level at the origin of this study. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that children presenting to our institution with low energy fractures have a prevalence of 38% 25-hydroxy-vitamin D deficiency. This study included children from age 1 to 16 primarily Caucasian encompassing all fracture types resulting from accidental trauma. Our findings suggest that in an Irish pediatric population vitamin D status may impact fracture risk with more than one-third being deficient in this review.

What Are the Effects of Posterior Corrective Surgery, With or Without Thoracoplasty, on Pulmonary Function in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. OBJECTIVES: This study's objective is to provide a critical review of the current literature regarding the changes in pulmonary function (PF) in Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients who have undergone posterior spinal fusion and instrumentation (PSF), with and without thoracoplasty (TP). METHODS: A comprehensive search was performed using the following databases: EMBASE, PubMed, EBSCOhost (CINAHL and Medline) and OpenGrey. Our focus was on studies that compared pre-and postoperative percent-predicted values of forced vital capacity (%FVC) or forced expiratory volume in 1 second (%FEV1) in AIS patients who had undergone PSF, with and without TP, with a minimum 2-year follow-up. The risk of bias for included studies was assessed using the ROBINS-I ("Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies - of Interventions") tool. Mean change scores were depicted using forest plots. RESULTS: Fifteen studies met our inclusion criteria. The results of our analysis suggest that PSF with TP caused a significant deterioration of %FVC in individuals with moderate AIS, with no significant effect on %FEV1. It also showed a minor improvement of FEV1% in individuals with moderate AIS after PSF only, but no significant change in %FVC. CONCLUSIONS: PSF with TP caused a significant deterioration of % FVC while PSF alone caused a minor improvement of FEV1% in individuals with moderate AIS with a minimum 2-year follow-up.

Fatigue and damage of porcine pars interarticularis during asymmetric loading.

If the articular facets of the vertebra grow in an asymmetric manner, the developed bone geometry causes an asymmetry of loading. When the loading environment is altered by way of increased activity, the likelihood of acquiring a stress fracture may be increased. The combination of geometric asymmetry and increased activity is hypothesised to be the precursor to the stress fracture under investigation in this study, spondylolysis. This vertebral defect is an acquired fracture with 7% prevalence in the paediatric population. This value increases to 21% among athletes who participate in hyperextension sports. Tests were carried out on porcine lumbar vertebrae, on which the effect of facet angle asymmetry was simulated by offsetting the load laterally by 7mm from the mid-point. Strain in the vertebral laminae was recorded using six 3-element stacked rosette strain gauges placed bilaterally. Specimens were loaded cyclically at a rate of 2Hz. Fatigue cycles; strain, creep, secant modulus and hysteresis were measured. The principal conclusions of this paper are that differences in facet angle lead to an asymmetry of loading in the facet joints; this in turn leads to an initial increase in strain on the side with the more coronally orientated facet. The strain amplitude, which is the driving force for crack propagation, is greater on this side at all times up to fracture, the significance of this can be observed in the increased steady state creep rate (p = 0.036) and the increase in yielding and toughening mechanisms taking place, quantified by the force-displacement hysteresis (p = 0.026).

Levels of Evidence in the Treatment of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis: A Systematic Review.

The primary aim of this study was to analyze the current level of evidence available on the surgical management of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE). Secondary aims were to correlate the level of evidence with the impact factor of the journal to evaluate the level of evidence over time, and to evaluate the geographic distribution of the studies. Therapeutic studies published in English between January 1991 and August 2014 that reported on SCFE were identified via electronic search was performed using the databases PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library. The search terms used included: Slipped capital femoral epiphyses OR SCFE OR Slipped upper femoral epiphyses OR SUFE AND Management OR Treatment. Correlation between the level of evidence and the impact factor of the journal were analyzed together with linear regression models to reveal any significant trends over time. A total of 1516 studies were found, of which 321 were included in the final analysis. The most frequent study type was the case series (51.1%) followed by case reports (22.4%) and expert opinion (14.0%). Randomized control trial accounted for only 0.6%. The Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics (American) had the most studies (22.6%) and the highest number of level 2 (n=1) and level 3 (n=15) type evidence. There was no progression of level of evidence over time. There was no correlation between level of evidence and impact factor of journal. The majority of therapeutic studies on SCFE are of low level of evidence. High-level RCTs are difficult to perform in pediatric orthopedic surgery, however the management of SCFE would benefit from well-designed, multicenter, clinical RCTs to advance evidence-based practice.

The efficacy of an extended scope physiotherapy clinic in paediatric orthopaedics.

BACKGROUND: The demand for paediatric orthopaedic care is growing, and providing the service required is an increasingly challenging task. Physiotherapist-led triage clinics are utilised in adult orthopaedics to enable the provision of care to patients who may not require a surgical consult. The Physiotherapy Orthopaedic Triage Clinic (POTC) was established in Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin in response to increasing demands on the paediatric orthopaedic service. The clinic is run by physiotherapists working in an advanced practice role (APP), and is the first paediatric clinic of its type and scale in the Republic of Ireland. PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of the service over the 3-year period from January 2011 to December 2013. METHODS: A review of the prospectively gathered database was performed in order to establish the demographic profile of patients, investigate clinic outcomes, and evaluate the reduction in patient waiting times. RESULTS: 2650 patients were managed by the clinic over the 3-year period. A total of 77 % of patients were managed without consultant intervention. Fifty-three percent of patients were diagnosed as having a normal presentation. The mean waiting time reduced from 101.9 weeks pre-2010 to 15.4 weeks in 2013 for those patients managed by the POTC. CONCLUSION: Since its inception, the clinic has significantly reduced waiting times for routine elective paediatric orthopaedic patients while managing the majority of patients independent of surgical opinion. This study shows that the APP can deliver high-quality care in the paediatric orthopaedic setting, benefitting both patients and service.

Discectomy-related information on the internet: does the quality follow the surge?

STUDY DESIGN: A quality-control Internet-based study using recognized quality-scoring systems. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of information available on the Internet. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Quality of health information on the Internet is of much concern and the emphasis for appraisal of Internet Web sites is needed. This study is to determine if it has improved with the surge in Internet usage. METHODS: The 3 most commonly used search engines were identified and a search for "Discectomy" was performed on each. Two reviewers categorized the Web sites according to their types and the quality of each was assessed using recognized scoring systems including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark, DISCERN score, and discectomy-specific content score. The quality of the information was also assessed according to the presence and absence of the Health on the Net code. RESULTS: Fifty-three Web sites were identified, and analyzed. Commercial Web sites were predominant, 24 of them were identified, 7 were governmental, 6 were produced by physicians, none were produced by allied health professionals, 3 were academic, 4 were public health information Web sites, 4 were attached to social media and discussion groups, 3 were related to media, and 2 were unspecified. Internet sites with a Health on the Net code demonstrated significantly higher quality than those without the code (P < 0.0001). Public health information Web sites attained the highest overall DISCERN and discectomy-specific scores followed by Web sites of the government and nonprofit organizations. CONCLUSION: The overall quality of information regarding discectomy remains poor and variable despite an exponential increase in the number of users and Web sites, with a slight trend toward improvement, only 20% to 30% are of good quality, compared with that 10 years ago (<10%). Presence of Health on the Net code is a very reliable marker for health information quality.