Which implant is better for beginners to learn to treat geriatric intertrochanteric femur fractures: A randomised controlled trial of surgeons, metalwork, and patients.

BACKGROUND: We wondered whether the third-generation gamma nail-3 (GN-3) was better for junior surgeons to learn to treat geriatric intertrochanteric femur fractures than proximal femoral nail antirotation-II (PFNA-II). METHODS: This is a prospective randomised study of 350 patients who underwent GN-3 fixation and PFNA-II carried out by junior orthopaedic trauma surgeons from January 2011 February 2017. We compared nail positioning, complication rates, operative and fluoroscopy time, blood transfused, time to mobilisation, hospital stay, fracture union, mismatch, mortality and postoperative outcomes. The minimum follow-up was 12 months (mean, 27.2 months; range, 12-42 months). RESULTS: The recovery rate of the GN-3 group was higher than that of the PFNA-II group significantly. Compared with the PFNA-II group, the GN-3 group was superior in fracture gap, while operative time, fluoroscopy time, blood transfused, time to mobilisation, hospital stay, Harris Hip Score, reoperation, mortality and so on had no significant difference between two groups. There were five cases with cutout through the femoral neck in the GN-3 group, whereas in the PFNA-II group, we only had two cases with significant difference. The area of match in the GN-3 group conformed to that of the femur of Asian population better than that in the PFNA-II group. CONCLUSIONS: PFNA-II and GN-3 internal fixation are both effective methods for junior orthopaedic trauma surgeons to treat femoral intertrochanteric fracture. But our study reveals better results of the GN-3 group over the PFNA-II group on recovery rate. There is a high rate of cutout in patients treated with the GN-3, especially for those with bone defect or serious osteoporosis. THE TRANSLATIONAL POTENTIAL OF THIS ARTICLE: The results of this work have the potential to improve the cognition of geriatric intertrochanteric femur fractures for junior surgeons, supplying the theoretical basis for the selection and comparison of Intramedullary nail. Such a guidance will allow better healing, fewer complications, and ultimately improved outcomes.

Endoscopic surgery: talent or training?

PURPOSE: There are two groups of undergraduate students involved in endoscopic surgery with different degrees of experience: average and more experience. This study proves whether the subjective impression of the laparoscopic trainer is verifiable and which factors influence extreme talent. METHODS: 21 medical students of the eighth term of the University of Witten-Herdecke participated in the study. On their first course day, students got instructed in suturing and knot technique. They were then required to tie a maximum of five knots within 2 h. After a week, students repeated this procedure. Time used for tying knots was stopped. RESULTS: Regarding the time students used for their first knots, great differences were provable (7-8 min, average 23 min). However, an adaption of the knotting time was noticed at the end of the first course day. This was confirmed during the second course day. Neither acquired factors (music, sport, etc.) nor individual factors (visual acuity, handedness, etc.) had any impact on the time used for knotting. Merely, one advantage was seen with the first knots with the factors of playing the guitar and having a more than 10-h surgical previous experience. Knotting times leveled off at 95% to less than 10 min, though. DISCUSSION: Neither normally talented nor extremely talented junior surgeons could be noticed, and so could not the co-factors providing an advantage or disadvantage for surgery, respectively. All prospective surgeons can learn defined tasks (knots) by short interval training, and thus show similarly good results after a few repetitions.

Surgeons’ Experience In Breast Conserving Surgery: Does It Influence Surgical Margin?

A surgeon’s experience plays an important role in breast conserving surgery (BCS). The common conception is that, the more junior is the operating surgeon, the surgical margin will be wider or closer to the tumour edge. Thus the aim of this study is to look into the adequacy of surgical margin performed by different level of surgeons’ experience in patients whom underwent wide local excision (WLE) and hook-wire localization (HWL) in our surgical unit. The surgical experience of the operating surgeon and their surgical margins will be analyzed. This is a retrospective study from January 2000 to December 2012. Eighty-eight patients with early breast cancer underwent WLE and HWL by 3 different groups of surgeons (breast surgeons, junior surgeons and surgical registrars) were included. The surgical margins were analyzed for involved-margin, closed-margin or excessed-margin.The incidence of involved-margin, closed-margin and excessed-margin is the lowest among breast surgeons compared to other groups. However, the results were not statistically significant. The incidence of involved surgical margin is significantly higher within junior surgeons for HWL compared to the breast surgeons. The incidence of involved, closed or excessed surgical margin were lowest when performed by breast surgeon but not significantly different between the three groups. However, for HWL the breast surgeons significantly better compared to the other groups.