A systematic video analysis of 69 injury cases in World Cup alpine skiing.

We have limited insight into how injuries occur in professional ski racing. The aim of this study was to describe the injury situations in World Cup alpine skiing. Injuries reported through the International Ski Federation Injury Surveillance System for three consecutive World Cup seasons (2006-2009) were obtained on video. In total, 69 injuries and 124 runs of matched controls were analysed by five experts to evaluate the skiing situation, skier behavior, as well as piste-related factors. A chi-square test (95% CI, P ≤ 0.05) was used to examine whether there was a difference between course sections regarding where the injury situation occurred. The skier was most frequently turning (n = 55) or landing from a jump (n = 13) at the time of injury. Most of the injuries to the head and upper body (96%) resulted from crashes, while the majority of knee injuries (83%) occurred while the skier was still skiing. Gate contact contributed to 30% of the injuries, while 9% occurred at contact with safety nets/material. Almost half of the injuries (46%) occurred in the final fourth of the course. A particular concern was the high contribution of inappropriate gate contact and the high-energy impacts to the body when crashing.

Injuries among World Cup ski and snowboard athletes.

There is little information available on injuries to World Cup skiers and snowboarders. The aim of this study was to describe and compare the injury risk to World Cup athletes in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, Nordic combined and cross country skiing. We performed retrospective interviews with the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup athletes from selected nations during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 winter seasons and recorded all acute injuries occurring during the seasons. We interviewed 2121 athletes and recorded 705 injuries. There were 520 (72%) time-loss injuries and 196 (28%) severe injuries (absence >28 days). In freestyle skiing, alpine skiing and snowboarding, there were 27.6, 29.8 and 37.8 time-loss and 14.4, 11.3 and 13.8 severe injuries per 100 athletes per season, respectively. In Nordic combined, ski jumping and cross country skiing, there were 15.8, 13.6 and 6.3 time-loss and 3.3, 5.6 and 0.7 severe injuries per 100 athletes per season, respectively. In conclusion about 1/3 of the World Cup alpine, freestyle and snowboard athletes sustain a time-loss injury each season, while the risk is low in the Nordic disciplines. A particular concern was the high proportion of severe injuries observed among alpine, freestyle and snowboard athletes, which is in contrast to most other sports.

The Scandinavian Propaten(®) trial - 1-year patency of PTFE vascular prostheses with heparin-bonded luminal surfaces compared to ordinary pure PTFE vascular prostheses - a randomised clinical controlled multi-centre trial.

OBJECTIVE: To compare 1-year potencies' of heparin-bonded PTFE [(Hb-PTFE) (Propaten(®))] grafts with those of ordinary polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE) grafts in a blinded, randomised, clinically controlled, multi-centre study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eleven Scandinavian centres enrolled 569 patients with chronic functional or critical lower limb ischaemia who were scheduled to undergo femoro-femoral bypass or femoro-poplitaeal bypass. The patients were randomised 1:1 stratified by centre. Patency was assessed by duplex ultrasound scanning. A total of 546 patients (96%) completed the study with adequate follow-up. RESULTS: Perioperative bleeding was, on average, 370 ml with PTFE grafts and 399 ml with Heparin-bonded PTFE grafts (p = 0.32). Overall, primary patency after 1 year was 86.4% for Hb-PTFE grafts and 79.9% for PTFE grafts (OR = 0.627, 95% CI: 0.398; 0.989, p = 0.043). Secondary patency was 88% in Hb-PTFE grafts and 81% in PTFE grafts (OR = 0.569 (0.353; 0.917, p = 0.020)). Subgroup analyses revealed that significant reduction in risk (50%) was observed when Hb-PTFE was used for femoro-poplitaeal bypass (OR = 0.515 (0.281; 0.944, p = 0.030)), and a significant reduction in risk (50%) was observed with Hb-PTFE in cases with critical ischaemia (OR = 0.490 (0.249; 0.962, p = 0.036)). CONCLUSION: The Hb-PTFE graft significantly reduced the overall risk of primary graft failure by 37%. Risk reduction was 50% in femoro-poplitaeal bypass cases and in cases with critical ischaemia.

Recording injuries among World Cup skiers and snowboarders: a methodological study.

No long-term injury surveillance programs exist for competitive skiing or snowboarding. The objective of this study was, therefore, to compare different methods to record injuries among World Cup athletes in alpine, freestyle, and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping and Nordic combined. Information regarding injuries sustained during the 2006-2007 winter season was recorded through three separate and independent systems: prospective injury reports by technical delegates (TD) from the International Ski Federation, prospective medical team registration by selected teams, and retrospective athlete interviews at the end of the season. A total of 100 unique injuries to 602 World Cup athletes were identified from any of the three recording methods. Of these, 91% were registered through the athlete interviews, 47% by the medical team registration and 27% by the TD reports. Only 20 injuries (20%) were captured by all three methods. A total of 64 time-loss injuries were registered. The interviews captured 60 (94%), the medical team registration 39 (61%), and the TD reports 23 (36%) time-loss injuries, while 18 (28%) were registered by all three systems. Retrospective interviews with athletes/coaches regarding injuries during the last 6 months gave the most complete picture of injuries to World Cup skiers and snowboarders.

Injury surveillance in male professional football; is medical staff reporting complete and accurate?

Since the 2000 season, an injury surveillance system has been established to monitor injury risk and injury patterns in the Norwegian professional football league. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of routine injury registration performed by medical staff in professional football. The team medical staff completed injury registration forms on a monthly basis throughout the 2007 season (January-October). Players were interviewed at the end of the season (October/November) about all injuries that occurred from July through September. Thirteen of fourteen teams, 296 of 310 A-squad players were interviewed. An injury was recorded when a player was unable to take fully part in football training or match the day after injury. A total of 174 injuries were registered, 123 acute injuries and 51 overuse injuries. Of these, 141 were reported by medical staff and 122 by players. Eighty-nine injuries (51%) were registered using both methods, 52 (30%) by medical staff only and 33 (19%) by player interviews only. Prospective injury surveillance by team medical staff in Norwegian male professional football underestimates the incidence of time-loss injuries by at least one-fifth.

Injuries among male and female World Cup alpine skiers.

BACKGROUND: Limited knowledge exists on injuries among professional alpine skiers. OBJECTIVE: To describe the risk of injury and the injury pattern among competitive World Cup alpine skiers during the competitive season. METHODS: Retrospective interviews were performed with all World Cup athletes from 10 nations at the end of the 2006-7 and 2007-8 winter seasons, and all acute injuries occurring during the 4.5-month competitive season were recorded. If the athlete was not present, their coaches or medical personnel were interviewed. RESULTS: A total of 191 acute injuries were recorded among 521 World Cup alpine skiers. As many as 86 injuries (45%) occurred during World Cup/World Ski Championship competitions, corresponding to an injury rate of 9.8 injuries per 1000 runs (95% CI 7.8 to 11.9). The injury rate was found to increase with increasing speed (slalom 4.9 injuries per 1000 runs, 95% CI 2.5 to 7.4--giant slalom 9.2, 5.1 to 13.3--super-G 11.0, 5.2 to 16.8--downhill 17.2, 11.6 to 22.7). The most frequently injured body part was the knee, with 68 injuries (36%), and 37 of these were severe. The overall injury rate was higher in males than in females, but not for knee injuries. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of injury among World Cup athletes in alpine skiing is even higher than previously reported. The knee is the most commonly injured body part and with many severe injuries. Injury rate increased with a higher speed and was higher among males than in females.

Fluoropolymer-coated dacron versus PTFE grafts for femorofemoral crossover bypass: randomised trial.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether patency of a thin walled 8 mm fluoropassivated Dacron graft was similar to that of a standard 8mm PTFE graft for femorofemoral crossover bypass surgery. DESIGN: A randomised multicentre clinical trial comparing two vascular grafts with participation of 10 departments of vascular surgery in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 198 patients were randomised to PTFE (n=107) or fluoropolymer-coated Dacron grafts (n=91), 63% underwent surgery for claudication, 27% for ischaemic rest pain and 10% for tissue loss. The median follow-up time was 24 months (IQR 19-26 months). RESULTS: The primary patency rate of the two grafts was similar (log rank test: p=0.35). The primary patency rates (95% CI) for coated Dacron and PTFE grafts were 92% (86-98) and 94% (89-99) at 12 months and 87% (74-95) and 93% (87-99) at 24 months, respectively. CONCLUSION: In patients with unilateral iliac artery disease not amenable to angioplasty, the femoral-femoral bypass is durable and effective. No difference in patency was found between the two graft materials (fluoropolymer coated Dacron and PTFE).

Subintimal angioplasty in the treatment of patients with intermittent claudication: long term results.

OBJECTIVES: Reporting the long-term results of subintimal angioplasty (SA) in patients with intermittent claudication (IC). DESIGN: A prospective study. PATIENTS: One hundred and sixteen SA procedures were performed in 104 patients, from February 1997 to January 2000. METHODS: This is a prospective study of patients treated for IC with infrainguinal SA. Primary assisted patency rates were calculated, also on intention to treat basis. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression tests were used to assess whether patency was correlated with co-morbidities, run-off or occlusion length. RESULTS: There was no early mortality. Technical success was achieved in 101 cases (87%). Primary assisted patency rates on intention to treat basis (116 cases) at 6, 12, 36 and 60 months were 69, 62, 57 and 54%, respectively. For successfully recanalized patients (101 cases) these respective numbers are 79, 70, 66 and 64%. Length of occlusion, age and male gender were independent risk factors for reocclusion. CONCLUSIONS: The satisfactory results obtained in the present study are probably due to two main factors. First, the three participating radiologist are highly skilled and experienced. Secondly, a conscientious surveillance was adhered to, so that restenoses could be diagnosed and treated early. SA is a relevant alternative to bypass surgery in patients with disabling IC due to long femoro-popliteal occlusions. It is far less traumatic than conventional vascular reconstructions, complications are few and not serious. Very importantly, SA never interfered with later successful vascular surgery. Therefore, we have adopted SA as the primary treatment for patients with IC when medical treatment alone has not been satisfactory.

Do routinely registered preoperative data provide prognostic information on the short-term outcome of distal bypass surgery?

One hundred and thirty and patients were operated on with unilateral distal bypass procedures for critical ischemia. Fifty-one patients (39%) ended up with graft occlusion or required major amputation within six months after reconstruction. Two-year graft patency was 38%. These rather disappointing results may be partly ascribed to inadequate preoperative selection of patients. Logistic regression model was used to assess whether the independent variables age, gender, diabetes mellitus, smoking, ankle-brachial pressure index (ABI), type of graft, coronary heart disease (CHD), previous vascular operation and site of distal anastomosis were associated with the outcome amputation and graft occlusion six months after reconstruction. CHD, type of graft, ABI and the location of distal anastomosis were significantly associated with outcome. The odds for amputation or occlusion was 2.4 times higher in the CHD group, 4 times higher if the anastomosis was located to the peroneal artery and 2.6 times higher for synthetic grafts. The logistic regression model was statistical significant (p = 0.03). However, the model did not aid sufficiently in the prediction of outcome, since one third was erroneously classified as success or failure. Cox's proportional hazard regression was employed to estimate the influence of the independent variables on graft patency. Favorable patency was found for those with distal anastomosis located to the tibial arteries, the non-CHD group and for higher ABI values. There was a trend towards significance for better patency in the autogenous vein group (p = 0.06). Although combinations of risk factors usable for preoperative prediction of the likelihood of graft failure, appropriate selection models of patients suitable for distal bypass operation have to be improved, to minimize the number of failed procedures.

[Femoropopliteal bypass in arteriosclerosis]. / Femoropopliteal bypass ved arteriosklerose.

Since Kunlin's report on femoropopliteal bypass operations, this procedure, with homologous vein or various prosthesis has been the principal treatment for serious arteriosclerosis in this anatomical area. During the years 1979-88 we performed 235 femoropopliteal bypasses. Reversed autologous vein was used in 60% and the distal anastomosis placed below the knee in 75%. Perioperative, 30 days mortality was 2.1%. 93% of the operations were successful. The overall five year patency rate was 50.6%, but with significantly better results with the distal anastomosis above the knee. There was no significant difference, however, between reversed homologous vein and human umbilical vein grafts in the below knee position. At present, the indications for femoropopliteal bypass are critical ischemia and seriously incapacitating claudication.

[Autologous vein vs. human umbilical vein for femoropopliteal bypass]. / Autolog vene kontra human umbilikalvene for femoropopliteal bypass.

Below knee femoropopliteal bypass was performed with reversed saphenous vein in 81 cases and with modified human umbilical vein in 74. The two groups were comparable as regards indications, coexisting disease and distal run-off. The cumulated patency rates were almost identical in the two groups, but early mortality and wound complications were higher in the saphenous vein group. Aneurysm formation in the umbilical veins was not a problem in this series. It is concluded that human umbilical vein is a very satisfactory bypass alternative when the saphenous vein is not available. In selected cases it may also be justifiable to use it in order to keep operation time and trauma at a minimum.

[Aneurysm of the leg]. / Aneurismer i underekstremitetene.

During the years 1967-87, 19 patients, all men, have been operated on for 26 aneurysms in the femoropopliteal area. Bi-lateral aneurysms were seen in 10 patients and 14 patients had aneurysms at several levels. 14 aneurysms were operated on as vascular emergencies. There was no perioperative mortality. Six grafts implanted for repair of popliteal aneurysms occluded. Two patients had a major amputation because of complications following acute surgical intervention. As a general rule periferal aneurysms should be treated operatively because they represent a threat to the limb by embolism, thrombosis and rupture.

[Peroperative autotransfusion in aortic surgery]. / Peroperativ autotransfusjon ved aortakirurgi.

Intraoperative autotransfusion of blood by means of a Solcotrans retransfusion bag was used during abdominal aortic surgery in a series of 25 patients. The need for transfusion of blood products, erythrocytes and plasma, decreased from 8.5 units to 4.5, as compared with 26 patients operated during the same period the preceding year (p less than 0.01). Hemoglobin was not lower at any point per- or postoperatively when autotransfusion was used. In contrast to one out of 26 patients operated without autotransfusion (p less than 0.05), seven of 25 patients whose operations involved autotransfusion did not need any donor transfusions. Exposure to potentially contagious donor products may be further decreased by using polygeline (Haemmaccel), and in some cases heat-treated albumin, in stead of plasma. While the mean number of donor transfusions remained relatively high with autotransfusion, the median number of erythrocyte donor transfusions was 0 units preoperatively and one unit postoperatively. An average of 684 ml of blood was retransfused. This corresponds to less than two units of blood. The main decrease in the number of transfusions was due to more careful surgical technique, the use of impregnated vascular grafts, and a changed attitude towards transfusions.

Prophylactic regimens in colorectal surgery. Comparison between metronidazole used alone or in combination with either ampicillin or doxycycline.

Sixteen hospitals are participating in this study, that started in October 1982 and will be concluded when 456 patients have been admitted. The study includes patients eligible for elective colorectal surgery. Inclusion criteria, surgical techniques, definition of recognizable infection, sampling of specimens for bacteriological investigations, bacteriologic techniques, and evaluation criteria were standardized. Patients were divided into 2 main groups. Patients in Group 1 received either a single intravenous dose of 1500 mg metronidazole or this dose was combined with a single, intravenous dose of 6 g ampicillin. Patients in group 2 received either a single intravenous dose of 1500 mg metronidazole or this dose combined with a single intravenous dose of 400 mg doxycycline. Dosage regimens were allocated randomly. The current results concern 136 patients. Postoperative infections were seen in 6.7% of the patients receiving metronidazole alone, and 2.9% of the patients receiving metronidazole + ampicillin (Group 1). In Group 2, postoperative infection occurred in 17.1% of the patients receiving metronidazole alone, and in 2.7% of those receiving metronidazole + doxycycline.

Penetration of metronidazole to tissues.

One dose of 500 mg metronidazole (M) was given to 21 patients before appendectomy and the concentrations of the parent compound and the major metabolite hydroxymetronidazole (OH-M), assayed in serum and tissue homogenates of appendix and subcutaneous tissues by high pressure liquid chromatography. Based on determinations in one specimen per patient during the initial 1.25-4 h after end of the 50 min infusion, the levels of M in relation to serum were 60.8% (+/- S.D. 19.8) for the appendix and 29.0% +/- 8.7 for subcutaneous tissue. The corresponding values for OH-M were 103.9 +/- 28.2 and 57.0% +/- 16.8. The slope of the log-linear regression curves of M corresponded to elimination half-life (T 1/2) values of 5.2 h in serum, 2.7 h in appendix and 2.6 h in subcutis tissue, but the differences were not statistically significant. The values of OH-M were similar for serum and appendix. OH-M had T 1/2 of 7.9 and 6.1 h for serum and subcutaneous tissue and 21.3 h in the appendix, but the values were not significantly different.