RESUMO
Background: The early months of the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic in New York City led to a rapid transition of non-essential in-person health care, including outpatient arthroplasty visits, to a telemedicine context. Questions/Purposes: Based on our initial experiences with telemedicine in an outpatient arthroplasty setting, we sought to determine early lessons learned that may be applicable to other providers adopting or expanding telemedicine services. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed by surveying all patients undergoing telemedicine visits with 8 arthroplasty surgeons at 1 orthopedic specialty hospital in New York City from April 8 to May 19, 2020. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic data, satisfaction with the telemedicine visit, and positive and negative takeaways. Results: In all, 164 patients completed the survey. The most common reasons for the telemedicine visit were short-term (less than 6 months), postoperative appointment (n = 88; 54%), and new patient consultation (n = 32; 20%). A total of 84 patients (51%) noted a reduction in expenses versus standard outpatient care. Several positive themes emerged from patient feedback, including less anxiety and stress related to traveling (n = 82; 50%), feeling more at ease in a familiar environment (n = 54; 33%), and the ability to assess postoperative home environment (n = 13; 8%). However, patients also expressed concerns about the difficulty addressing symptoms in the absence of an in-person examination (n = 28; 17%), a decreased sense of interpersonal connection with the physician (n = 20; 12%), and technical difficulties (n = 14; 9%). Conclusions: Patients were satisfied with their telemedicine experience during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, we identified several areas amenable to improvement. Further study is warranted.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Metaphyseal cones provide durable fixation in revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, there is a paucity of data on the outcomes of a new porous cone design. As such, the goal of this study was to analyze the early survivorship in patients undergoing revision TKA with this cone. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 163 revision TKAs with a newly designed porous tibial cone from 2016 to 2018. Mean age was 67 years, and mean body mass index was 33 kg/m2. Minimum follow-up duration was 2 years. Most patients were revised for aseptic loosening (46%), 2-stage periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) reimplantation (28%), or instability (15%). Most were varus-valgus constrained (65%) or hinged (32%) constructs. The majority had hybrid tibial stem fixation (74%). A multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to identify risk factors for reoperation. RESULTS: Survivorship free from re-revision for aseptic loosening, any nonmodular revision, and any reoperation was 100%, 96%, and 86% at 2 years, respectively. No patients were revised for aseptic loosening. Six (4%) tibial cones were removed for PJI, one of which was loose. There were 23 reoperations (14%), most commonly for PJI (10%). Multivariate analysis identified PJI reimplantation (hazard ratios [HR] = 4.2, P = .002), males (HR = 2.9, P = .02), and hinged constructs (HR = 2.7, P = .02) as significant risk factors for reoperation. CONCLUSIONS: In a complex revision TKA cohort with a new highly porous tibial cone, in which most patients received hybrid stem fixation and nonlinked and linked constraint, there was 100% survival free from re-revision for aseptic loosening at 2 years. Longer term follow-up is required.
