Publications by authors named "Michael J. Alaia"

With an estimated incidence of 0.02% to 0.2%, multiligamentous knee injuries are rare, often devastating injuries that can occur with concomitant vascular or neurologic involvement.

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Osteotomies around the knee have a variety of indications, including pain reduction, functional improvement, knee joint stabilization, and articular cartilage preservation. Thorough preoperative planning is essential, including a determination of the precise location of any deformity (proximal tibia, distal femur, or both). High tibial osteotomies and distal femoral osteotomies can be performed in isolation, or jointly in the form of a double-level osteotomy, for correction of coronal and/or sagittal deformity of the knee.

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Purpose: To describe the medial-sided pathoanatomy and ligament injuries in acute MLKIs with medial-sided involvement andlook forassociated injury patterns based upon location of ligamentous injury.

Methods: Patients who underwent treatment for MLKI at two level-1 trauma centers were identified between January 2001 and May 2023. Only cases involvingcomplete disruption of the superficial medial collateral ligament (sMCL) were included.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to compare the clinical outcomes and return to sport (RTS) for two fixation techniques (unicortical and bicortical button) used in tenodesis of the long head of the biceps tendon (LHBT).
  • A total of 64 patients were evaluated over an average follow-up period of 3.5 years, using pain scores and activity surveys to assess outcomes.
  • Results indicated no significant differences in pain levels, clinical scores, or RTS rates between the two fixation methods, suggesting similar effectiveness.
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Purpose: To systematically review the literature regarding machine learning in leg length discrepancy (LLD) and to provide insight into the most relevant manuscripts on this topic in order to highlight the importance and future clinical implications of machine learning in the diagnosis and treatment of LLD.

Methods: A systematic electronic search was conducted using PubMed, OVID/Medline and Cochrane libraries in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Two observers independently screened the abstracts and titles of potential articles.

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  • The study investigates the increasing cases of Schenck knee dislocation type I injuries in the context of multiligament knee injuries, aiming to understand variations in classification within the existing literature.
  • A systematic review included 50 studies with a total of 3460 reported KD I injuries, highlighting a low prevalence of tibiofemoral KD confirmation at just 0.3%.
  • Findings suggest that unicruciate KD injuries have a significantly lower risk of associated vascular and neurologic injuries compared to bicruciate injuries, indicating important differences in injury management.
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Background: Intra-articular (IA) injections of plateletrich plasma (PRP) have been increasingly used in the nonoperative treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA) but have considerable heterogeneity in both formulation and clinical results. Alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2M) is a large plasma protein found in PRP that inhibits cartilage-degrading enzymes and could be an efficacious OA treatment independently. The purpose of this study was to compare the short-term clinical efficacy of IA injection of A2M-rich PRP concentrate to conventionally prepared PRP and corticosteroids in the management of symptomatic knee OA.

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  • An isolated medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction (MPFLR) is effective for preventing patellar instability, but there's increasing interest in combining it with a tibial tubercle osteotomy (TTO) for patients with elevated tibial tubercle-trochlear groove distance.
  • A retrospective study matched patients who had MPFLR with TTO to those with isolated MPFLR, assessing factors like recurrent instability, pain scores, and patient satisfaction over an average of 49 months.
  • Results showed no significant differences in pain, satisfaction, or revision surgeries between the two groups, indicating that adding TTO to MPFLR can lead to low complication rates and favorable patient outcomes.
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  • This study looked at how bone marrow swelling appears in MRIs of people with a Segond fracture compared to those with just an ACL tear.
  • Researchers examined knee MRIs from 522 patients aged 18-40 to check for differences in swelling.
  • They found that patients with a Segond fracture had more swelling in different parts of the knee than those with only an ACL tear.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the association between sagittal tibial tuberosity-trochlear groove (sTT-TG) distance and patellofemoral chondral lesion size in patients undergoing cartilage restoration procedures.

Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis of patients who underwent an osteochondral allograft transplantation or matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation in the patellofemoral compartment, from 2010 to 2020, were included if they had patellofemoral high-grade lesions, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and minimum 2-year follow-up. The preoperative sTT-TG distance was measured independently on axial T2-weighted MRI sequences by two authors, each at least two weeks apart.

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Background: Open subpectoral biceps tenodesis (OSBT) with cortical button fixation has been shown to deliver acceptable results in the short and intermediate term for long head of the biceps (LHB) pathology with the benefit of smaller bone tunnel diameter and a reduced risk of postoperative humeral shaft fracture. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether OSBT with cortical button fixation results in significant improvements in patient reported outcomes (PROs) from pre-operative to long-term final follow-up.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients who underwent OSBT with cortical button fixation at a single institution between the years of 2012 and 2014 was conducted and PROs were collected in the intermediate (> 2 years follow-up) and long term (> 9 years follow-up).

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Purpose: To evaluate long-term outcomes of patients treated with posterior medial meniscal root tear (PMMRT) repair through assessment of functional outcome scores and to identify patient surgical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics associated with improved outcomes.

Methods: This was a single-centre, retrospective study evaluating patients who had undergone a PMMR repair using a transtibial suture pullout technique with two locking cinch sutures. This was performed as a follow-up to previously published 2-year and 5-year outcome studies, using the same cohort.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes of patients with patellofemoral osteoar-thritis (PFOA) treated non-operatively with those treated operatively with an unloading anteromedialization tibial tubercle osteotomy (TTO).

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed to identify patients with isolated PFOA who were either managed non-operatively or surgically with a TTO and who had a minimum follow-up of 2 years. Patients were surveyed with the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score for Joint Replacement (KOOS-JR), Anterior Knee Pain scale (Kujala), and Tegner Activity scale.

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Tibial-sided posterior cruciate ligament avulsion fractures are challenging injuries that often occur concomitantly in the setting of multiligament knee and other soft-tissue injuries. There is no consensus on the optimal surgical approach or timing of treatment for these injuries. This Technical Note describes the fixation of a displaced posterior cruciate ligament avulsion fracture with concomitant grade 3 medial collateral ligament injuries and bucket-handle lateral meniscus tears using open and arthroscopic techniques.

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In recent years, there has been a shift in healthcare away from the fee-for-service model to a value-based care model. Concomitantly, there have been changes in inflation-adjusted surgeon reimbursements for arthroscopic meniscectomies. Nationally, albeit at different rates, there has been a decrease in partial meniscectomy utilization.

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Article Synopsis
  • * It involved a retrospective analysis of matched patients treated between 2019 and 2021, assessing various outcomes like pain levels, return to activities, and complications, using statistical tests to compare results.
  • * Findings showed no significant differences in pain, function, or recurrent instability rates between MQTFLR and MPFLR patients, though the authors advise caution due to the small participant size.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence and anatomic distribution of meniscus injury in patients who have sustained acute ACL injuries with and without concomitant Segond fracture. We hypothesized that patients who have sustained a torn ACL with a concomitant Segond fracture would have a higher incidence of lateral meniscal injuries than patients with an isolated ACL injury.

Methods: Patients who underwent ACL reconstruction from 2012 to 2022 were retrospectively reviewed.

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Osteochondral lesions (OCL) of the knee are a common pathology that can be challenging to address. Due to the innate characteristics of articular cartilage, OCLs generally do not heal in adults and often progress to involve the subchondral bone, ultimately resulting in the development of osteoarthritis. The goal of articular cartilage repair is to provide a long-lasting repair that replicates the biological and mechanical properties of articular cartilage, but there is no widely adopted technique that results in true pre-injury state hyaline cartilage.

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This review highlights the expanding use of knee-based osteotomies in the treatment of knee joint malalignment and joint preservation. Planning and outcomes of traditional high tibial osteotomies and distal femoral osteotomies are discussed in addition to some of the challenges encountered with these procedures. Lastly, the role of patient-specific instrumentation and three-dimensional guided templating in performing osteotomies is discussed with respect to procedures that involve biplanar corrections and those performed in combination with other joint preservation procedures.

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Recurrent patellar instability can significantly impact patients' quality of life and function. A large amount of research on patellar instability has been conducted in the past two decades, and a number of traditionally held principles of treatment have been challenged. This review addresses three current concepts and controversies in the treatment of patellar instability, specifically what factors lead to an increased tibial tubercle-trochlear groove distance and how to address them, when to add a tibial tubercle osteotomy to a medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction, and which medial patellar stabilizers should be reconstructed.

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Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries are a rare form of knee injury often seen in the setting of high energy polytraumas; however, these injuries can occur in isolation as well. Often, the posterolateral corner (PLC) is involved, which imparts further posterior translational and rotational instability to these injuries. While non-operative management is certainly a reliable option for low grade isolated PCL tears, high grade injuries with concomitant PLC involvement, additional intra-articular pathologies requiring operative management, multiligamentous injuries, or patients who have failed non-operative management require PCL repair or reconstruction.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study evaluated the statistical fragility of outcomes from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on marrow stimulation for knee cartilage defects, using metrics like the fragility index (FI) and fragility quotient (FQ).
  • The analysis of 21 RCTs revealed that most outcomes (32 statistically significant and 123 nonsignificant) had low FI values, indicating a tendency for results to change with minor variations in data, especially in studies with stem cell augmentations.
  • The researchers concluded that the findings are statistically fragile and recommend that future studies report p-values alongside FI and FQ values for better understanding of results in cartilage restoration trials.
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Background: Previous research has found that the incidence of neurovascular injury is greatest among multiligamentous knee injuries (MLKIs) with documented knee dislocation (KD). However, it is unknown whether there is a comparative difference in functional recovery based on evidence of a true dislocation.

Purpose: To determine whether the knee dislocation-3 (KD3) injury pattern of MLKI with documented tibiofemoral dislocation represents a more severe injury than KD3 MLKI without documented dislocation, as manifested by poorer clinical outcomes at long-term follow-up.

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Background: Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted to assess the use of tranexamic acid (TXA) in the setting of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR). However, these studies have shown mixed results, with some showing improved intraoperative visualization, subsequent operative times, and pain levels, and others finding no difference.

Purpose: To perform a systematic review of the RCTs in the literature to evaluate the use of TXA on ARCR.

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