Publications by authors named "Andy Kuo"

Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to analyze racial and ethnic disparities in the prescription of Netarsudil, a newer anti-glaucoma medication, among patients with primary open-angle glaucoma in the U.S.! -
  • Utilizing electronic health records from 92 million patients, the research revealed that White patients received more prescriptions of Netarsudil compared to Black and Hispanic patients, particularly in certain U.S. regions like the Midwest and South.! -
  • The findings highlighted significant differences in medication access based on race, emphasizing the need for further research to understand the root causes of these disparities and to promote equitable healthcare for all glaucoma patients.!
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To examine the prevalence of and factors associated with racial and ethnic reporting and trends in such reporting and to assess whether categories of race and ethnicity have been under- or over-represented in pediatric ophthalmology randomized control trials (RCTs) in the United States.

Methods: We systematically searched the literature on pediatric ophthalmology RCTs in high-impact factor ophthalmology journals published between 2000 and 2022. Logistic regression was used to assess parameters linked to race/ethnicity reporting; linear regression, to gauge the relationship between publication year and race/ethnicity reporting.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a marked decrease in elective surgical volume and orthopaedic device sales. The aim of this paper was to quantify this decrease and the related financial impact on the largest hip/knee arthroplasty companies by: (1) tracking individual hip/knee company valuations; (2) calculating aggregate changes in overall hip/knee arthroplasty market valuations; and (3) quantifying quarterly hip/knee revenues relative to prior years.

Materials And Methods: Financial data on the top five hip/knee arthroplasty companies by size between January 1, 2019, and October 1, 2020, was collected from a Wall Street financial database, S&P Capital IQ.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate factors associated with discharge to subacute care after surgery for degenerative cervical myelopathy.

Design: This is a retrospective chart review of adults who underwent cervical spine surgery for degenerative cervical myelopathy between 2014 and 2020 ( N = 135).

Results: Patients discharged to a subacute setting were older (68.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The unusual and sterically constrained amino acid, -1-azacubane-2-carboxylic acid, was incorporated into a range of bioactive chemical templates, including enalaprilat, perindoprilat, endomorphin-2 and isoniazid, and subjected to biological testing. The endomorphin-2 derivative displayed increased activity at the δ opioid receptor, but a loss in activity was observed in the other cases, although human normal cell line evaluation suggests limited cytotoxic effects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sweet's syndrome (acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis) is an uncommon inflammatory condition most often associated with painful skin lesions of the head, neck, and upper extremities. To the authors' knowledge, this case report is the only published record of the necrotizing clinical variant of Sweet's syndrome in the periorbital space. This case follows a 91-year-old female who presented with generalized cutaneous eruptions of tender erythematous plaques, including a necrotic plaque of the left upper eyelid, and pancytopenia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Vertebral hemangiomas are common and typically benign vascular lesions, with a prevalence of 10-12% in the general population and 2-3% in all spine tumors. A small subset of vertebral hemangiomas can be categorized as "aggressive" if they exhibit extraosseous expansion that compress the spinal cord, causing pain and various neurologic symptoms. This report details a case of aggressive thoracic hemangioma resulting in worsening pain and paraplegia to draw attention to this rare condition, including identification and treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The proximal humerus ossification system (PHOS), olecranon apophyseal ossification system (OAOS), and modified Fels wrist skeletal maturity system (mFWS) were recently developed or updated using a historical, mostly White, pediatric population. These upper extremity skeletal maturity systems have demonstrated skeletal age estimation performance superior or equivalent to Greulich and Pyle in historical patients. Their applicability to modern pediatric populations has not yet been evaluated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The opioid crisis has prompted researchers to find new opioid analgesics with fewer side effects than morphine.
  • A strategy involving multitargeted opioid ligands is being explored, focusing on dual-targeted μ-opioid and δ-opioid receptors that show better therapeutic potential.
  • Research suggests avoiding compounds like cebranopadol, which activates multiple opioid receptors, due to their poor effectiveness in both preclinical and clinical settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Strong opioid analgesics such as morphine alleviate moderate to severe acute nociceptive pain (e.g. post-surgical or post-trauma pain) as well as chronic cancer pain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The modified Fels knee and optimized Oxford hip skeletal maturity systems show strong reliability when compared to historical data, but may require adjustments for modern pediatric populations.
  • A study evaluated 360 knee and hip radiographs from diverse modern groups of children to compare their skeletal ages with historical data.
  • Findings indicated that modern white and black males and black females had advanced skeletal ages using the Fels SMS, while no significant differences were observed in the Oxford SMS, suggesting the need to calibrate these systems for contemporary children's development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: While diaphyseal clavicle fractures can be treated with plate fixation on either the superior or anteroinferior aspect of the clavicle, the optimal plate position remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine if anteroinferior vs. superior plating for clavicle fracture fixation leads to better patient outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Despite high rates of transfusion reported among hip fracture patients in the perioperative period, the relationship between perioperative transfusions and VTE has not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, we used a national database to evaluate how perioperative transfusions among patients undergoing surgical management of hip fractures impacted 1) deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 2) pulmonary embolism (PE) risk.

Methods: The Targeted Hip Fracture Database of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) was queried for patients undergoing surgical management of hip fractures from 2016 to 2019.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Context: Tandem spinal stenosis (TSS) refers to a narrowing of the spinal canal in distinct, noncontiguous regions. TSS most commonly occurs in the cervical and lumbar regions. Decompressive surgery is indicated for those with cervical myelopathy or persistent symptoms from lumbar stenosis despite conservative management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Strong opioids like morphine are commonly used for severe pain but come with serious side effects, including nausea, sedation, and risk of addiction.
  • The ongoing opioid crisis has raised concerns, particularly over the use of these medications for chronic noncancer pain, leading to increased attention on finding safer alternatives.
  • Research is focused on developing new opioid analgesics from diverse natural sources, aiming to improve pain relief while minimizing the negative effects and addiction risks associated with traditional opioids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: A lack of racial and ethnic representation in clinical trials may limit the generalizability of the orthopaedic evidence base as it applies to patients in underrepresented minority populations and perpetuate existing disparities in use, complications, or functional outcomes. Although some commentators have implied the need for mandatory race or ethnicity reporting across all orthopaedic trials, the usefulness of race or ethnic reporting likely depends on the specific topic, prior evidence of disparities, and individualized study hypotheses.

Questions/purposes: In a systematic review, we asked: (1) What proportion of orthopaedic clinical trials report race or ethnicity data, and of studies that do, how many report data regarding social covariates or genomic testing? (2) What trends and associations exist for racial and ethnic reporting among these trials between 2000 and 2020? (3) What is the racial or ethnic representation of United States trial participants compared with that reported in the United States Census?

Methods: We performed a systematic review of randomized controlled trials with human participants published in three leading general-interest orthopaedic journals that focus on clinical research: The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume; Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research; and Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: We systematically reviewed the radiological outcomes of studies comparing robotic-assisted (RA-THA) and manual total hip arthroplasty (mTHA).

Methods: The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were queried from 1994-2021 for articles comparing radiographic outcomes between RA-THA and mTHA cohorts. A meta-analysis was conducted whenever sufficient data was present for common outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cisplatin, which is a chemotherapy drug listed on the World Health Organisation's List of Essential Medicines, commonly induces dose-limiting side effects including chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) that has a major negative impact on quality of life in cancer survivors. Although adjuvant drugs including anticonvulsants and antidepressants are used for the relief of CIPN, analgesia is often unsatisfactory. Herein, we used a rat model of CIPN (cisplatin) to assess the effect of a glycine transporter 2 (GlyT2) inhibitor, relative to pregabalin, duloxetine, indomethacin and vehicle.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic low back pain (LBP) has high prevalence in the adult population which is associated with enormous disability. Hence, our aim was to further characterise our LBP rat model by using immunohistological and immunohistochemical methods at an advanced stage (day 49) of the model. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were anaesthetised and their lumbar L4/L5 and L5/L6 intervertebral discs (IVDs) were punctured (0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the effectiveness of a GlyT2 inhibitor in relieving prostate cancer-induced bone pain (PCIBP) in a rat model, comparing it to pregabalin and duloxetine, two existing neuropathic pain treatments.
  • In the experiment, PCIBP was induced in rats, which then received various doses of the GlyT2 inhibitor, pregabalin, and duloxetine to evaluate their impact on pain assessments using mechanical sensitivity tests.
  • Results showed that while the GlyT2 inhibitor provided partial pain relief without side effects, pregabalin was more effective in completely alleviating pain, while duloxetine showed no significant pain relief at all.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic mechanical low back pain (cLBP) is a leading cause of disability and a major socio-economic burden internationally. The lifetime prevalence of non-specific LBP is approximately 84%, with the prevalence of cLBP at about 23%. Clinically available analgesic/adjuvant medications often provide inadequate pain relief in patients experiencing cLBP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Strong opioid analgesics are the mainstay of therapy for the relief of moderate to severe acute nociceptive pain that may occur post-operatively or following major trauma, as well as for the management of chronic cancer-related pain. Opioid-related adverse effects include nausea and vomiting, sedation, respiratory depression, constipation, tolerance, and addiction/abuse liability. Of these, respiratory depression is of the most concern to clinicians owing to the potential for fatal consequences.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF