Publications by authors named "J Michael Wattenbarger"

Background: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common type of scoliosis, affecting 1-4% of adolescents. The Scoliosis Research Society-22R (SRS-22R), a health-related quality-of-life instrument for AIS, has allowed orthopedists to measure subjective patient outcomes before and after corrective surgery beyond objective radiographic measurements. However, research has revealed that there is no significant correlation between the correction rate in major radiographic parameters and improvements in patient-reported outcomes (PROs), making it difficult to incorporate PROs into personalized surgical planning.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Although physeal fractures and physeal bars can result in significant clinical consequences to growth and development of the injured physis, little orthopaedic research has focused upon this topic. Our objective was to extend a previously developed rat model to examine the immunohistochemical features following surgical application of techniques disrupting the physis.

Methods: Physes were surgically disrupted using fracture (control), epiphyseal scrape (ES), or epiphyseal drill (ED).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Physeal fractures and resultant physeal bars can pose significant problems in skeletal development for the injured growing child. Although now well-recognized, only a small body of experimental literature covering this problem is available. The goal of this study was to help further develop an understanding of the different regions of the physis and the way in which each region responds to injury/fracture.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study describes the histologic features of periosteum interposed into a physeal fracture of the rat proximal tibia. Periosteum was introduced into a physeal fracture in two groups of animals: those with an intact physis after fracture, and those with the medial half of the physis surgically ablated. Specimens of the proximal tibia underwent histologic analysis at 2, 4, 6, 10, and 21 days after fracture to determine the histologic features of interposed periosteum in a physeal fracture.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF