Introduction

Open tibial shaft fractures are high-risk injuries for developing acute infection. Prior research has focused on injury characteristics and treatment options associated with acute inpatient infection in these injuries without primary analysis of host factors. The purpose of this study was to determine the patient comorbidities associated with increased risk of acute infection after open tibial shaft fractures during initial hospitalization.

Methods

A total of 147,535 open tibial shaft fractures in the National Trauma Data Bank from 2007 to 2015 were identified that underwent débridement and stabilization. Infection was defined as a superficial surgical site infection or deep infection that required subsequent treatment. The International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision codes were used to determine patient comorbidities. Comparative statistical analyses including odds ratios (ORs) for patient groups who did develop infection and those who did not were conducted for each comorbidity.

Results

The rate of acute inpatient infection was 0.27% with 396 patients developing infection during hospital management of an open tibial shaft fracture. Alcohol use (OR, 2.26, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.73-2.96, P < 0.0001), bleeding disorders (OR, 4.50, 95% CI, 3.13-6.48, P < 0.0001), congestive heart failure (OR, 3.25, 95% CI, 1.97-5.38, P < 0.0001), diabetes (OR, 1.73, 95% CI, 1.29-2.32, P = 0.0002), psychiatric illness (OR, 2.17, 95% CI, 1.30-3.63, P < 0.0001), hypertension (OR, 1.56, 95% CI, 1.23-1.95, P < 0.0001), obesity (OR, 3.05, 95% CI, 2.33-3.99, P < 0.0001), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR, 2.09, 95% CI, 1.51-2.91, P < 0.0001) were all associated with increased infection rates. Smoking (OR, 0.957, 95% CI, 0.728-1.26, P = 0.722) and drug use (OR, 1.11, 95% CI, 0.579-2.11, P = 0.7607) were not associated with any difference in infection rates.

Discussion

Patients with open tibial shaft fractures who have congestive heart failure, bleeding disorders, or obesity are three to 4.5 times more likely to develop an acute inpatient infection than patients without those comorbidities during their initial hospitalization. Patients with diabetes, psychiatric illness, hypertension, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to develop subsequent infection compared with patients without those comorbidities. Patients with these comorbidities should be counseled about the increased risks. Furthermore, risk models for the infectious complications after open tibial shaft fractures can be developed to account for this more at-risk patient population to serve as modifiers when evaluating surgeon/hospital performance.

Conclusion

Patient comorbidities are associated with increased risk of acute inpatient infection of open tibial shaft fractures during hospitalization.

Objective

The aims of this study were to analyze a large national trauma database to determine the incidence of, risk factors for, and outcomes after a fasciotomy of the lower leg or forearm after fracture.

Methods

Data from the National Trauma Data Bank for the years 2004-2016 were analyzed, and we identified 301,351 patients with forearm fractures and 369,237 patients with tibial fractures. Risk factors, length of stay (LOS), and mortality were assessed to determine associations with an injury that required a fasciotomy.

Results

A total of 1.22% of the forearm fractures and 3.79% of the tibial fractures had a fasciotomy. Patients with a fasciotomy were more likely to have invasive procedures (P < 0.0001); have injuries resulting from machinery, motor vehicle collisions, and firearms (P < 0.0001); and smoke, use drugs, and/or alcohol (P < 0.05) compared with patients who did not undergo fasciotomies. Fasciotomy procedures were associated with longer LOS and higher mortality rate (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

The incidence of a fasciotomy is less than 5% in tibia or forearm fractures. Patients who underwent fasciotomy have higher energy injuries, increased alcohol or drug use, higher rates of surgical interventions, and increased LOS. Furthermore, having a fasciotomy is associated with increased mortality rate. When counseling patients and evaluating surgeon/hospital performance, fasciotomies can serve as an indicator and modifier for a more complex trauma pathology.

Level of evidence

Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Background

Averaging length of stay (LOS) ignores patient complexity and is a poor metric for quality control in geriatric hip fracture programs. We developed a predictive model of LOS that compares patient complexity to the logistic effects of our institution's hip fracture care pathway.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was performed on patients enrolled into a hip fracture co-management pathway at an academic level I trauma center from 2014 to 2015. Patient complexity was approximated using the Charlson Comorbidity Index and ASA score. A predictive model of LOS was developed from patient-specific and system-specific variables using a multivariate linear regression analysis; it was tested against a sample of patients from 2016.

Results

LOS averaged 5.95 days. Avoidance of delirium and reduced time to surgery were found to be notable predictors of reduced LOS. The Charlson Comorbidity Index was not a strong predictor of LOS, but the ASA score was. Our predictive LOS model worked well for 63% of patients from the 2016 group; for those it did not work well for, 80% had postoperative complications.

Discussion

Predictive LOS modeling accounting for patient complexity was effective for identifying (1) reasons for outliers to the expected LOS and (2) effective measures to target for improving our hip fracture program.

Level of evidence

III.

We present a case of a bisphosphonate-related femur fracture in an elderly woman, who failed treatment with both cephalomedullary nail and proximal femoral locking plate, leading to successful treatment with total hip arthroplasty. Hardware failure should be included in the differential of patients with previous internal fixation of bisphosphonate-related femur fracture that present with hip or groin pain. Arthroplasty can be an acceptable salvage option in an active elderly patient with a bisphosphonate-related femur fracture.

Purpose

Intertrochanteric (IT) hip fractures can be treated with sliding hip screws (SHS) or cephalomedullary nails (CMN) based on the stability of the fracture. This stability is affected by the initial impaction of the fracture which can be difficult to assess. The aim of this paper is to develop specific pre-operative computed tomography (CT) measurements of IT fractures which are predictive of post-operative shortening.

Methods

A retrospective review was performed of 141 patients with AO/OTA 31A1 or 31A2 fracture patterns, who had pre-operative radiographs and CT scans, and who were treated with a SHS or a CMN. Pre-operative and post-operative imaging of IT fractures were analyzed for those fractures that shortened ≥15 mm post-fixation.

Results

11 fractures shortened ≥15 mm with CMN being protective of shortening (6/36 SHS versus 5/105 CMN, p = 0.0268). A novel measurement made on the pre-operative CT scan called the cortical thin point (CTP) detected differences between patients with <15 mm and ≥15 mm of post-operative shortening for the SHS group (p = 0.0375). CTP was found to be a reliable predictor for post-operative shortening of ≥15 mm when a cutoff threshold of 9 mm was used in the SHS group (p = 0.0161).

Conclusions

Measuring the CTP is predictive of post-operative shortening after fixation of an IT fracture with a SHS. CMN fixation may be protective of shortening. Patients with a CTP of ≤9 mm are at risk for fracture site shortening of more than 15 mm when treated with a SHS.

This cohort study uses the Vizient Clinical Data Base to compare the postoperative in-hospital morbidity and mortality of surgical patients with COVID-19 infection with patients without COVID-19 infection.

Introduction

Over 300,000 patients in the United States sustain low-trauma fragility hip fractures annually. Multidisciplinary geriatric fracture programs (GFP) including early, multimodal pain management reduce morbidity and mortality. Our overall goal was to determine the effects of a GFP on the emergency department (ED) pain management of geriatric fragility hip fractures.

Methods

We performed a retrospective study including patients age ≥65 years with fragility hip fractures two years before and two years after the implementation of the GFP. Outcomes were time to (any) first analgesic, use of acetaminophen and fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) in the ED, and amount of opioid medication administered in the first 24 hours. We used permutation tests to evaluate differences in ED pain management following GFP implementation.

Results

We studied 131 patients in the pre-GFP period and 177 patients in the post-GFP period. In the post-GFP period, more patients received FICB (6% vs. 60%; difference 54%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 45-63%; p<0.001) and acetaminophen (10% vs. 51%; difference 41%, 95% CI 32-51%; p<0.001) in the ED. Patients in the post-GFP period also had a shorter time to first analgesic (103 vs. 93 minutes; p=0.04) and received fewer morphine equivalents in the first 24 hours (15mg vs. 10mg, p<0.001) than patients in the pre-GFP period.

Conclusion

Implementation of a GFP was associated with improved ED pain management for geriatric patients with fragility hip fractures. Future studies should evaluate the effects of these changes in pain management on longer-term outcomes.

To compare the efficacy of plain x-ray images and computed tomography (CT) to assess the morphology of the lateral wall (LW) component of intertrochanteric (IT) femur fractures and determine predictors of early fixation failure.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

Level-one trauma center.

Patients/participants

One hundred forty-two adult patients with IT fractures treated with either a sliding hip screw (SHS) or a cephalomedullary nail (CMN) who had both pre-op plain x-ray images and CT scans with at least 6 weeks of follow-up were reviewed.

Intervention

Preoperative CT scan and plain radiographs of the affected hip.

Main outcome measurements

Lateral wall assessment based on plain x-rays versus CT imaging in relation to implant failure.

Results

One hundred forty-two patients met inclusion criteria, 105 patients treated with a CMN, and 37 with a SHS. There was a poor correlation between the assessment of the LW on plain x-ray images and CT scans. Failures in the SHS group were significantly associated with all CT measurements (P < .05) but not with plain film LW assessment (P = .66). Fifteen patients had an early implant failure (6 CMN, 9 SHS). There were no statistically significant associations between any radiographic measurement (plain images and CT) and CMN failures.

Conclusions

Plain film images are not accurate for assessing lateral wall morphology/integrity and are not predictive of SHS implant failures. Our novel CT measurements were effective at detecting lateral wall patterns at risk for treatment failure with SHS implants.Level of Evidence: Level III.