Ortho News

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Double Drive Medical Screwdriver to Speed Up Screw Placements

The Kobalt Double Drive ratcheting screwdriver turned out to be popular with Christmas time gift shoppers last year. The device allows its user to crank the attached tool in a single direction even when the handle is turned both clockwise and counterclockwise.

Now the same technology is about to be introduced to the medical market via Double Drive Medical, a company founded to translate the mechanics of the screwdriver to the medical world. MedGadget

Sunday, March 25, 2012

First sterile iPad sleeve for operating room now available, exclusive hands-on review

EchoMedical has partnered with Protek Medical devices to bring to market a disposable sterile iPad sleeve for use in the operating room. iMedicalApps

Gait analysis accuracy: Android app comparable to standard accelerometer methodology

Smartphones are becoming more ubiquitous and many have a built in tri-axial accelerometer, a sensor that measures change in speed in multiple directions. These smartphone accelerometers can be used to assess gait patterns, or walking patterns, an important evaluation in many neurologic or musculoskeletal disorders. However, the reliability and validity of using smartphones to assess gait patterns is not yet fully established evaluated. In Japan, a team of registered physical therapists and other physicians performed a study to do just that. iMedicalapps

Navy (not Medical) Related: Materials inspired by Mother Nature: A 1-pound boat that could float 1,000 pounds

Combining the secrets that enable water striders to walk on water and give wood its lightness and great strength has yielded an amazing new material so buoyant that, in everyday terms, a boat made from 1 pound of the substance could carry five kitchen refrigerators, about 1,000 pounds. PhysOrg.com

Skull resconstruction immediately following traumatic brain injury worsens brain damage

Immediate skull reconstruction following trauma that penetrates or creates an indentation in the skull can aggravate brain damage inflicted by the initial injury, a study by a University of South Florida research team reports. Using a rat model for moderate and severe traumatic brain injury, the researchers also showed that a delay of just two days in the surgical repair of skull defects resulted in significantly less brain swelling and damage.

The study was published March 16, 2012 in the online journal PloS ONE. University of South Florida

Runner's high motivated the evolution of exercise

In the last century something unexpected happened: humans became sedentary. We traded in our active lifestyles for a more immobile existence. But these were not the conditions under which we evolved. David Raichlen from the University of Arizona, USA, explains that our hunter-gatherer predecessors were long-distance endurance athletes. 'Aerobic activity has played a role in the evolution of lots of different systems in the human body, which may explain why aerobic exercise seems to be so good for us', says Raichlen. However, he points out that testing the hypothesis that we evolved for high-endurance performance is problematic, because most other mammalian endurance athletes are quadrupedal. 'So we got interested in the brain as a way to look at whether evolution generated exercise behaviours in humans through motivation pathways', says Raichlen. Eurekalert!

New MRI Technique Visualizes Phosphorus, Opens Potential for Hard Tissue Imaging

The image here shows the interior

spongy bone of a rabbit femoral head,

or the "ball" of the rabbit's hip bone.

Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) relies on aligning the magnetization of hydrogen atoms in a study sample, which makes it an excellent tool for visualizing water-rich materials like soft tissues and organs.

Yet MRI is not fundamentally limited to focusing on hydrogen atoms, and scientists at Yale have developed a new approach that allows them to visualize phosphorus, opening a way to look into hard tissues like bone. The imaging technology may take some time finding use in clinical practice though, because the process creates too much heat for live tissue to survive. We’re speculating that perhaps it may instead serve as a safer option over therapeutic radiation. MedGadget

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Two apps you knee(d) to stay hip.

Knee Pro III app will help orthopedic surgeons with patient education

Knee Pro III contains a detailed anatomical overview of the knee region and areas slightly superior and inferior. The attention to detail is excellent and there is a huge number of pins marking anatomical structures which provide a comprehensive overview of the knee joint. iMedicalApps

Hip Pro III another impressive specialist NOVA anatomy app from 3D4Medical

Hip Pro III is primarily focused on the anatomy of the hip region and includes the superior portion of the upper leg. The anatomical detail is excellent and the 3D models really do look impressive with the inclusion of small details like subcutaneous fat adding to the overall positive impression. iMedicalApps

Possible Use for Joint Injections? AxoTrack Needle Guidance Ultrasound Probe Unveiled

Basically, AxoTrack allows traditional ultrasound imaging to be coupled with a virtual needle that points the way for the real needle during all kinds of ultrasound-guided procedures, especially central line placements. The company says that “when tested in vitro, an AxoTrack-equipped ultrasound probe resulted in successful vascular access on the first stick and first pass 99.3% of the time versus just 37.1% of the time when compared to the standard freehand method for ultrasound-guided central venous access.” MedGadget

New study shows vast geographic variation in hip fracture risk

An extensive study of country-specific risk of hip fracture and 10-year probability of a major fragility fracture has revealed a remarkably large geographic variation in fracture risk. Even accounting for possible errors or limitations in the source data, there was an astonishing 10-fold variation in hip fracture risk and fracture probability between countries.

'A systematic review of hip fracture incidence and probability of fracture worldwide', authored by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Working Group on Epidemiology and Quality of Life, has today been published in the journal Osteoporosis International. The aim of the study was to update the available information base on the global heterogeneity in the risk of hip fracture. Age-standardised hip fracture rates from 63 countries were compiled. Additionally, the study documents variations in major fracture probability as determined from 45 FRAX models from 40 countries. Eurekalert!

The publication is freely accessible on the Springer website at http://www.springerlink.com/content/r27872850q9t772l/

BUSM study demonstrates tomosynthesis effective in diagnosing knee

A recent study done by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) shows that tomosynthesis may be more beneficial in diagnosing knee osteoarthritis than X-ray imaging. In the study, which is published online in the journal Radiology, tomosynthesis detected more osteophytes (abnormal bony spurs) and subchondral cysts (small collection of fluid within the bone) in the knee joint than conventional X-ray imaging. Boston University

Thromboembolic events are uncommon following ankle fracture surgery

Thromboembolic events – such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), blood clots developing in the extremities; or pulmonary embolism (PE), a complication that causes a blood clot to move to the lungs – can occur following musculoskeletal injury and related surgery, and are potentially life threatening. In "The Incidence of Thromboembolic Events in Surgically Treated Ankle Fracture," a study appearing in the March 21, 2012 issue of the JBJS, researchers sought to determine the frequency of, and potential risk factors for, thromboembolic events following surgical treatment of an ankle fracture. Eurekalert!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Clinical Orthopedic Exam (CORE) app is a great resource for internists and specialists alike

For those of you who didn’t catch Dr. Felasfa Wodajo’s previous review, the Clinical Orthopedic Exam (CORE) app is a multimedia source of over 250 different musculoskeletal physical exam maneuvers. It is indexed by body area in picture and text format, is comprehensive and very well referenced. It’s certainly not your average app.

Each physical exam test is well described and contains a YouTube video link that demonstrates the proper way to perform the test. Of note, the app also includes a synopsis of the statistical validity of the particular test as well as links to scientific references that describe the test. iMedicalApps

Scott Summit: Beautiful artificial limbs

Prosthetics can’t replicate the look and feel of lost limbs but they can carry a lot of personality. At TEDxCambridge, Scott Summit shows 3D-printed, individually designed prosthetic legs that are unabashedly artificial and completely personal -- from macho to fabulous.

Scott Summit uses his 20 years of experience as an industrial designer to make artificial limbs that help people take personal control of these intimate objects. TED Talks

Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Orthopedic Surgery: a comparative effectiveness review from AHRQ 13 March 2012

Objectives: This is an evidence report prepared by the University of Connecticut/Hartford Hospital Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) examining the comparative efficacy and safety of prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism in major orthopedic surgery (total hip replacement [THR], total knee replacement [TKR], and hip fracture surgery [HFS]) and other nonmajor orthopedic surgeries (knee arthroscopy, injuries distal to the hip requiring surgery, and elective spine surgery).

Data Sources: Medline, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Scopus from 1980 to May 2011 with no language restrictions. (PDF)

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Hip fracture surgery type impacts future fracture risk

Patients with a primary proximal femoral fracture who undergo closed reduction and percutaneous pinning have a significantly increased risk of subsequent contralateral hip fracture compared with those who undergo arthroplasty, according to a study published in the March 7 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. MedicalXpress

European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology: ESSR Ultrasound Group Protocols

ESSR Ultrasound Group Protocols:

Shoulder

Elbow

Wrist

Hip

Knee

Ankle

John Theurer Cancer Center Surgeon Co-Authors the Only Guide on Orthopedic Oncology Tumor Surgery

James C. Wittig, M.D., Chief Orthopedic Oncology and Co-Chief, Skin and Sarcoma at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, one of the nation’s top 50 best hospitals for cancer, joined leading experts to co-author the only step by step guide of all operative procedures in orthopedic oncology titled “Operative Techniques in Orthopaedic Surgical Oncology.” John Theurer Cancer Center

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