Using Cluster Analysis to Identify Patient Factors Linked to Differential Functional Gains After Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Background: The basis of poor outcomes following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is multifactorial. Previous research aimed at predicting outcome following TKA focuses largely on outcomes measured between two specific time points (pre-to post-TKA). Analysis of outcomes measured over multiple time points (trajectory) may expose relationships between patients' characteristics and longitudinal outcome patterns that may otherwise remain obscured.

Effects of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Duty Hour Regulations on Clinical Preparedness of First-Year Orthopaedic Attendings: A Survey of Senior Orthopaedic Surgeons.

It is unclear how the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) resident duty hour restriction has affected attending orthopaedic surgeons in their first year of practice. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical preparedness of first-year orthopaedic attending surgeons who trained with ACGME duty hour regulations versus those trained without regulations. Senior orthopaedic surgeons with greater than 10 years of experience were surveyed and results indicate that first-year attendings who trained with ACGME duty hour regulations required more supervision reviewing cases preoperatively, required more assistance completing operative cases, had inferior technical skills, had more major operative complications, had poorer physical exam skills, and delivered an inferior quality of care.

Plate Alone Versus Plate and Lag Screw for Lapidus Arthrodesis: A Biomechanical Comparison of Compression.

Arthrodesis of the first tarsal metatarsal joint can be accomplished in many ways. The compressive force attained between various constructs remains unclear. This study compares compression achieved through a locking/compression Lapidus plate both with and without the addition of a lag screw.

Barbed versus traditional sutures: closure time, cost, and wound related outcomes in total joint arthroplasty.

The purpose of this study was to compare barbed sutures to traditional sutures in three domains: time, cost, and wound related outcomes in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA). A total of 34 patients were enrolled in a prospective randomized controlled trial to assess time to wound closure and cost. In addition, a retrospective chart review of an additional 100 patients was conducted to further assess wound-related outcomes.