The Role of a Seven-Day Physiotherapy Service in Reducing Length of Stay and Improving Cost-Effectiveness in Arthroplasty Surgery.

Background Length of hospital stay post hip and knee arthroplasty is influenced by several factors, including gender, home circumstances and underlying diagnosis. Due to increasing demand for hip and knee arthroplasty, elective units, operating within already stressed healthcare systems, must identify methods of increasing efficiency and capacity. We sought to establish whether the lack of a seven-day inpatient physiotherapy service resulted in an increased hospital length of stay post primary hip and knee arthroplasty.

The effectiveness of radiotherapy in the treatment of head and neck mucosal melanoma: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Mucosal melanoma (MM) is a rare condition with a poor prognosis. Surgery is the corner stone of treatment, however, radiotherapy has been commonly employed as a treatment strategy and recent studies suggesting that survival outcomes may be improving are emerging.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis comparing risk ratios of radiotherapy and surgery and radiotherapy (SRT) with surgery for 5-year overall survival, local recurrence and distant metastasis in head and neck mucosal melanoma (HNMM).

Splenectomy for isolated splenic metastasis from primary lung adenocarcinoma.

A 73-year-old woman was referred to a tertiary centre with isolated splenic metastasis from previous pT1aNo stage 1a lung adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent a right lower lobe lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection 2 years ago for invasive adenocarcinoma with no adjuvant therapy. An incidental finding of new splenic cyst was noted on surveillance imaging, which was fluorodeoxyglucose positive on positron emission tomography, and confirmed on cytology to be metastatic lung adenocarcinoma.

The Annual Trip to the Ice-rink: A Seasonal Cause of Wrist Trauma in Irish Hospitals.

Fractures of the distal radius are a common orthopaedic presentation in Irish emergency departments. As a nation, Irish people tend to ice-skate seasonally with a peak of interest seen during the Winter months in temporary ice-rinks. This case series describes winter ice-skating as a significant cause of wrist fractures in the younger patient, including five cases of distal radius fractures, four of which ultimately required internal fixation, under general anaesthesia, over a single weekend in the month of December.

The Effectiveness of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Versus Conventional Dressing in the Treatment of Open Fractures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) versus conventional dressings (CD) in the management of open fractures.

Data Sources: A systematic search of English articles in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library through April 2019 comparing NPWT versus CD in the management of open fractures.

Study Selection: Inclusion criteria were articles in English language, comparing NPWT with CD in skeletally mature individuals who had sustained an open fracture at any anatomical site, reporting on rates of deep infection, flap frequency, flap failure, nonunion, amputation, length of hospital, or intensive care unit stay.

Two-hole versus four-hole plate dynamic hip screw: a systematic review of current evidence.

Background: The dynamic hip screw (DHS) is a common device used in the fixation of hip fractures. Traditionally, this involves the use of a four-hole side plate. Reducing the length of the side plate would theoretically reduce the amount of surgical exposure required, decrease surgery duration, and decrease perioperative morbidity and mortality.

Assessing the Time to Ward Transfer in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department with an Acute Hip Fracture: A Closed-loop Audit.

Introduction The British Orthopaedic Association and British Geriatric Association Blue Book guidelines for patients presenting acutely with a hip fracture stipulate that the patient should be admitted to an acute orthopedic ward within four hours of presentation to the emergency department (ED).  Materials and methods A retrospective review of all patients who presented to the ED with a hip fracture diagnosed on plain film X-Ray over an eight-week period by a single auditor. Time of arrival, time to X-ray, time of blood draw, time to orthopedic referral, time to orthopedic review, and time to arrival at the orthopedic ward were documented.