Outliers of Total Shoulder Arthroplasty in the Bundled Payment Era.

Background: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCIA) Model that covers 90-day care episodes after select orthopedic procedures including anatomic or reverse ball-and-socket total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA/rTSA). This study investigated whether patients undergoing TSA/rTSA for non-degenerative processes incur higher costs than patients undergoing arthroplasty for degenerative processes.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of all patients at a single academic medical center enrolled in the BPCIA model for TSA/rTSA from October 1, 2018, through December 31, 2022.

Novel Clinical Practice Assessments: Informational Statements by the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society.

Musculoskeletal oncology involves rare diseases. As a result, there is a paucity of literature to guide practitioners. Studies are often clinical experience, retrospective reviews, noncomparative studies, and involve small numbers of patients.

De Novo Natural Language Processing Algorithm Accurately Identifies Myxofibrosarcoma From Pathology Reports.

Background: Available codes in the ICD-10 do not accurately reflect soft tissue sarcoma diagnoses, and this can result in an underrepresentation of soft tissue sarcoma in databases. The National VA Database provides a unique opportunity for soft tissue sarcoma investigation because of the availability of all clinical results and pathology reports. In the setting of soft tissue sarcoma, natural language processing (NLP) has the potential to be applied to clinical documents such as pathology reports to identify soft tissue sarcoma independent of ICD codes, allowing sarcoma researchers to build more comprehensive databases capable of answering a myriad of research questions.

External Beam Radiation Therapy for Palliation of Symptomatic Bone Metastases: An ASTRO Clinical Practice Guideline.

Purpose: This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations for palliative external beam radiation therapy (RT) in symptomatic bone metastases.

Methods: The ASTRO convened a task force to address 5 key questions regarding palliative RT in symptomatic bone metastases. Based on a systematic review by the Agency for Health Research and Quality, recommendations using predefined consensus-building methodology were established; evidence quality and recommendation strength were also assessed.

Does the Use of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy and Postoperative Drains Impact the Development of Surgical Site Infections?: A PARITY Trial Secondary Analysis.

Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) represent a major complication following oncologic reconstructions. Our objectives were (1) to assess whether the use of postoperative drains and/or negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) were associated with SSIs following lower-extremity oncologic reconstruction and (2) to identify factors associated with the duration of postoperative drains and with the duration of NPWT.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the Prophylactic Antibiotic Regimens in Tumor Surgery (PARITY) trial, a multi-institution randomized controlled trial of lower-extremity oncologic reconstructions.

Pediatric and Adult Patients Have Similar Functional Improvement After Endoprosthetic Reconstruction of Lower-Extremity Tumors.

Background: Although the treatment of lower-extremity bone tumors is similar between adult and pediatric patients, differences in outcomes are unknown. Outcomes for lower-extremity oncologic reconstruction have been challenging to study because of the low incidence and heterogeneity in disease and patient characteristics. The PARITY (Prophylactic Antibiotic Regimens in Tumor Surgery) trial is the largest prospective data set assembled to date for patients with lower-extremity bone tumors and presents an opportunity to investigate differences in outcomes between these groups.

Is the Addition of Anaerobic Coverage to Perioperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis During Soft Tissue Sarcoma Resection Associated With a Reduction in the Proportion of Wound Complications?

Background: Wound complications are common after resection of soft tissue sarcomas, with published infection rates ranging from 10% to 35%. Multiple studies have reported on the atypical flora comprising these infections, which are often polymicrobial and contain anaerobic bacteria, and recent studies have noted the high prevalence of anaerobic bacterial infections after soft tissue sarcoma resection [ 26, 35 ]. Based on this, our institution changed clinical practice to include an antibiotic with anaerobic coverage in addition to the standard first-generation cephalosporin for prophylaxis during soft tissue sarcoma resections.

Utility of the Current Procedural Terminology Codes for Prophylactic Stabilization for Defining Metastatic Femur Disease.

Introduction: Cohorts from the electronic health record are often defined by the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. The error prevalence of CPT codes for patients receiving surgical treatment of metastatic disease of the femur has not been investigated, and the predictive value of coding ontologies to identify patients with metastatic disease of the femur has not been adequately discussed.

Methods: All surgical cases at a single academic tertiary institution from 2010 through 2015 involving prophylactic stabilization of the femur or fixation of a pathologic fracture of the femur were identified using the CPT and International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes.

Willingness of patients with sarcoma to participate in cancer surveillance research: a cross-sectional patient survey.

Objectives: To determine the proportion of patients with extremity sarcoma who would be willing to participate in a clinical trial in which they would be randomised to one of four different postoperative sarcoma surveillance regimens. Additionally, we assessed patients' perspectives on the burden of cancer care, factors that influence comfort with randomisation and the importance of cancer research.

Design: Prospective, cross-sectional patient survey.

Compressive osseointegration for endoprosthetic reconstruction.

This review summarizes the biomechanical concepts, clinical outcomes and limitations of compressive osseointegration fixation for endoprosthetic reconstruction. Compressive osseointe - gration establishes stable fixation and integration through a novel mechanism; a Belleville washer system within the spindle applies 400-800 PSI force at the boneimplant interface. Compressive osseointegration can be used whenever standard endoprosthetic reconstruction is indicated.

Mirels Scores in Patients Undergoing Prophylactic Stabilization for Femoral Metastatic Bone Disease in the Veterans Administration Healthcare System.

Introduction: A retrospective review was performed for patients in the Veterans Administration Healthcare System who underwent prophylactic stabilization of the femur for metastatic disease. The goal was to evaluate indications for prophylactic stabilization through Mirels criteria.

Methods: All veterans who underwent inpatient prophylactic femoral stabilization between October 2010 and September 2015 were identified.

Is There an Association Between Prophylactic Femur Stabilization and Survival in Patients with Metastatic Bone Disease?

Background: The femur is the most common site of metastasis in the appendicular skeleton, and metastatic bone disease negatively influences quality of life. Orthopaedic surgeons are often faced with deciding whether to prophylactically stabilize an impending fracture, and it is unclear if prophylactic fixation increases the likelihood of survival.

Questions/purposes: Is prophylactic femur stabilization in patients with metastatic disease associated with different overall survival than fixation of a complete pathologic fracture?

Methods: We performed a retrospective, comparative study using the national Veterans Administration database.

Radiographic parameter-driven decision tree reliably predicts aseptic mechanical failure of compressive osseointegration fixation.

Background and purpose - Compressive osseointegration fixation is an alternative to intramedullary fixation for endoprosthetic reconstruction. Mechanical failure of compressive osseointegration presents differently on radiographs than stemmed implants, therefore we aimed to develop a reliable radiographic method to determine stable integration.Patients and methods - 8 reviewers evaluated 11 radiographic parameters from 29 patients twice, 2 months apart.

Probabilistic modeling of personalized drug combinations from integrated chemical screen and molecular data in sarcoma.

Background: Cancer patients with advanced disease routinely exhaust available clinical regimens and lack actionable genomic medicine results, leaving a large patient population without effective treatments options when their disease inevitably progresses. To address the unmet clinical need for evidence-based therapy assignment when standard clinical approaches have failed, we have developed a probabilistic computational modeling approach which integrates molecular sequencing data with functional assay data to develop patient-specific combination cancer treatments.

Methods: Tissue taken from a murine model of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma was used to perform single agent drug screening and DNA/RNA sequencing experiments; results integrated via our computational modeling approach identified a synergistic personalized two-drug combination.

Epirubicin and Ifosfamide with Preoperative Radiation for High-Risk Soft Tissue Sarcomas.

Background: The optimal treatment of high-risk soft tissue sarcomas (STS) of the extremities remains controversial. We report follow-up from a phase II study of dose-intense chemotherapy with preoperative hypofractionated radiation in this population supplemented with subsequent data from an extensive institutional experience using this regimen.

Methods: Patients with localized, intermediate- or high-grade STS of the extremity or body wall measuring > 5 cm were treated with epirubicin 30 mg/m/day and ifosfamide 2.

Phase I trial of preoperative chemoradiation plus sorafenib for high-risk extremity soft tissue sarcomas with dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI correlates.

Purpose: We conducted a phase I trial of the addition of sorafenib to a chemoradiotherapy regimen in patients with high-risk (intermediate/high grade, >5 cm) extremity soft tissue sarcoma undergoing limb salvage surgery. We conducted a correlative study of quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) to assess response to treatment.

Experimental Design: Patients were treated at increasing dose levels of sorafenib (200 mg daily, 400 mg daily, 400 mg twice daily) initiated 14 days before three preoperative and three postoperative cycles of epirubicin/ifosfamide.