Brian Drew

Bone stimulation for fracture healing: What's all the fuss?

Approximately 10% of the 7.9 million annual fracture patients in the United States experience nonunion and/or delayed unions, which have a substantial economic and quality of life impact. A variety of devices are being marketed under the name of “bone growth stimulators.” This article provides an overview of electrical and electromagnetic stimulation, ultrasound, and extracorporeal shock waves. More research is needed for knowledge of appropriate device configurations, advancement in the field, and encouragement in the initiation of new trials, particularly large multicenter trials and randomized control trials that have standardized device and protocol methods.

The Influence of Time from Injury to Surgery on Motor Recovery and Length of Hospital Stay in Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: An Observational Canadian Cohort Study

To determine the influence of time from injury to surgery on neurological recovery and length of stay (LOS) in an observational cohort of individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI), we analyzed the baseline and follow-up motor scores of participants in the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry to specifically assess the effect of an early (less than 24 h from injury) surgical procedure on motor recovery and on LOS. One thousand four hundred and ten patients who sustained acute tSCIs with baseline American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grades A, B, C, or D and were treated surgically were analyzed to determine the effect of the timing of surgery (24, 48, or 72 h from injury) on motor recovery and LOS. Depending on the distribution of data, we used different types of generalized linear models, including multiple linear regression, gamma regression, and negative binomial regression. Persons with incomplete AIS B, C, and D injuries from C2 to L2 demonstrated motor recovery improvement of an additional 6.3 motor points (SE=2.8 p<0.03) when they underwent surgical treatment within 24 h from the time of injury, compared with those who had surgery later than 24 h post-injury. This beneficial effect of early surgery on motor recovery was not seen in the patients with AIS A complete SCI. AIS A and B patients who received early surgery experienced shorter hospital LOS. While the issues of when to perform surgery and what specific operation to perform remain controversial, this work provides evidence that for an incomplete acute tSCI in the cervical, thoracic, or thoracolumbar spine, surgery performed within 24 h from injury improves motor neurological recovery. Early surgery also reduces LOS.

Reliability in grading the severity of lumbar spinal stenosis.

Stenosis of the lumbar spinal canal is a major cause of disability and lost productivity. Computed tomography (CT) is used commonly to assess the presence and severity of spinal stensosis, because it is relatively inexpensive, readily available, and has few adverse effects. The ability of four surgeons to agree about the presence and severity of lumbar spinal stenosis based on plain CT scans was evaluated from 30 scans of varying stenosis severity (normal to severe). Kappa, a measure of chance-corrected agreement, was calculated. Surgeons exhibited moderate agreement for the presence or absence of spinal stenosis (kappa = 0.58+/-0.06). Agreement regarding the severity of stenosis, when present, was poor (kappa = 0.26+/-0.04). The ability of surgeons to agree was not improved when individual features of the CT scans were assessed (facet joint arthrosis, ligamentum flavum hypertrophy, disk protrusion, and nerve root impingement). This study suggests that CT scans are not a reliable method by which to examine the severity of lumbar spinal stenosis.

Attitudes toward chiropractic: a survey of North American orthopedic surgeons.

Study Design. Questionnaire survey. Objective. To elicit orthopedic surgeons’ attitudes toward chiropractic. Summary of Background Data. Orthopedic surgeons and chiropractors often attend to similar patient populations, but little is known about the attitudes of orthopedic surgeons toward chiropractic. Methods. We administered a 43-item cross-sectional survey to 1000 Canadian and American orthopedic surgeons that inquired about demographic variables and their knowledge and use of chiropractic. Imbedded in our survey was a 20-item chiropractic attitude questionnaire (CAQ). Results. 487 surgeons completed the survey (response rate, 49%). North American orthopedic surgeons’ attitudes toward chiropractic were diverse, with 44.5% endorsing a negative impression, 29.4% holding favorable views, and 26.1% being neutral. Approximately half of respondents referred patients for chiropractic care each year, mainly due to patient request.The majority of surgeons believed that chiropractors provide effective therapy for some musculoskeletal complaints (81.8%), and disagreed that chiropractors could provide effective relief for nonmusculoskeletal conditions (89.5%). The majority endorsed that chiropractors provide unnecessary treatment (72.7%), engage in overly-aggressive marketing (63.1%) and breed dependency in patients on short-term symptomatic relief (52.3%). In our adjusted generalized linear model, older age (−2.62 points on the CAQ for each 10 year increment; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −3.74 to −1.50), clinical interest in foot and ankle (−2.77; 95% CI = −5.43 to −0.10), and endorsement of the research literature (−4.20; 95% CI = −6.29 to −2.11), the media (−3.05; 95% CI = −5.92 to −0.19), medical school (−7.42; 95% CI = −10.60 to −4.25), or ‘other’ (−4.99; 95% CI = −8.81 to −1.17) as a source of information regarding chiropractic were associated with more negative attitudes; endorsing a relationship with a specific chiropractor (5.05; 95% CI = 3.00 to 7.10) or residency (3.79;95% CI = 0.17 to 7.41) as sources of information regarding chiropractic were associated with more positive attitudes. Conclusion. North American orthopedic surgeons’ attitudes toward chiropractic range from very positive to extremely negative. Improved interprofessional relations may be important to ensure optimal care of shared patients.

Management of type II odontoid fractures in the geriatric population: outcome of treatment in a rigid cervical orthosis.

Study Design Retrospective study. Objective To analyze geriatric patients with Type II odontoid fractures treated either with rigid cervical orthosis (CO) or surgery (Odontoid Screw or Transarticular screw). Summary of Background Data Our literature search did not yield any studies on the outcome of Type II odontoid fractures in geriatric population treated with the rigid CO. We therefore designed a study to analyze geriatric patients with Type II odontoid fractures treated with either rigid cervical collar or surgery. Materials and Methods This is a retrospective chart review of patients with Type II odontoid fractures between July 1998 and June 2006. Inclusion criteria consists of males and females of 70 years of age or older with Type II odontoid fractures who were treated with rigid cervical collar or surgery. Exclusion criteria were displacement >4 mm, posteriorly displaced fracture, neurologic compromise, multilevel cervical spine injury, and treatment in a halo vest. Medical comorbidities were assessed using the Modified Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for Geriatrics. Primary outcomes were mortality and fusion (union, stable nonunion, nonunion). Minimum of 3 months follow-up was acceptable. Results One hundred eighty four odontoid fractures were identified in 8 years. Twenty patients met our inclusion criteria (9 treated in rigid collar and 11 treated surgically). Median follow-up was 5.5 months. Out of 20 patients, 4 patients died (1 treated in CO, 3 treated surgically). Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for Geriatrics index was highest in patient treated in CO. In the rigid collar group, 6 patients had union (66.6%), and 2 developed stable nonunion (22.2%); whereas in the surgically treated group, 7 patients had union (87.5%), and 1 patient developed nonunion (12.5%). Conclusions Patients treated nonoperatively in rigid collar seem to have an overall favorable outcome. A well-designed prospective study, to compare the outcomes of surgical intervention with nonsurgical management of Type II odontoid in elderly is recommended.

Minimizing Errors in Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Trials by Acknowledging the Heterogeneity of Spinal Cord Anatomy and Injury Severity: An Observational Canadian Cohort Analysis

Clinical trials of therapies for acute traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) have failed to convincingly demonstrate efficacy in improving neurologic function. Failing to acknowledge the heterogeneity of these injuries and under-appreciating the impact of the most important baseline prognostic variables likely contributes to this translational failure. Our hypothesis was that neurological level and severity of initial injury (measured by the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale [AIS]) act jointly and are the major determinants of motor recovery. Our objective was to quantify the influence of these variables when considered together on early motor score recovery following acute tSCI. Eight hundred thirty-six participants from the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry were analyzed for motor score improvement from baseline to follow-up. In AIS A, B, and C patients, cervical and thoracic injuries displayed significantly different motor score recovery. AIS A patients with thoracic (T2-T10) and thoracolumbar (T11-L2) injuries had significantly different motor improvement. High (C1-C4) and low (C5-T1) cervical injuries demonstrated differences in upper extremity motor recovery in AIS B, C, and D. A hypothetical clinical trial example demonstrated the benefits of stratifying on neurological level and severity of injury. Clinically meaningful motor score recovery is predictably related to the neurological level of injury and the severity of the baseline neurological impairment. Stratifying clinical trial cohorts using a joint distribution of these two variables will enhance a studys chance of identifying a true treatment effect and minimize the risk of misattributed treatment effects. Clinical studies should stratify participants based on these factors and record the number of participants and their mean baseline motor scores for each category of this joint distribution as part of the reporting of participant characteristics. Improved clinical trial design is a high priority as new therapies and interventions for tSCI emerge.

Surgical preference in anterior cervical discectomy: a national survey of Canadian spine surgeons.

Despite recent advances in implant design and surgical technique, the optimal approach for cervical disc disease remains unresolved. The choice of surgical approach (anterior or posterior), the decision to fuse, the choice of graft material, and the decision to augment fusions with plate fixation have been widely reported (1–23). The choice of surgical technique has been challenged in a number of randomized trials (9,19,23,24). Moreover, such trials comparing various treatment alternatives for single-level cervical disc disease have reported conflicting results and have been limited by small sample sizes and short followup periods. Given the variety of studies that have been published on cervical disc disease, it is essential to focus research funding toward large trials that reflect the current controversy among spine surgeons. Therefore, we conducted a national survey of Canadian spine surgeons (orthopedic and neurosurgeons) to examine their surgical preferences for anterior cervical discectomy (ACD). The survey questions were grouped into five domains: 1) surgeon’s background, 2) single-level versus two-level disease, 3) graft type used, 4) procedure used, and 5) postoperative care. The 1-page questionnaire was formatted as a series of nominal scales and was pretested for clarity and comprehensiveness. The questions regarding the surgeons’ background included whether the responder was an orthopedic surgeon or a neurosurgeon, the number of years since graduation from his/her residency program, if a spine fellowship was completed, and what percentage of their elective practice consisted of spine surgery. The next set of questions was designed to determine whether discectomy alone, discectomy and fusion, or discectomy, fusion, and plating were preferred in singleand two-level disc disease. For two-level disease, a corpectomy was also an option. The remaining questions addressed what types of bone graft were routinely used, whether the Cloward or Smith-Robinson procedure was used, and if a cervical collar was prescribed postoperatively. Surveys were faxed to each surgeon. Our choice of fax was based on high response rates achieved with this method (13). The spine surgeons were identified through the Canadian Association for Disorders of the Spine, Canadian Orthopedic Association, and the Canadian Neurosurgical Society. We conducted a 1 in 5 random sample from the list of surgeons obtained from the list of approximately 228 surgeons (both neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons). Differences in response rates between orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons were evaluated with the phi coefficient. Relationships between categorical variables were assessed with the phi coefficient. The test of association was the 2 test.

Effect of older age on treatment decisions and outcomes among patients with traumatic spinal cord injury

Background: Older people are at increased risk of traumatic spinal cord injury from falls. We evaluated the impact of older age (≥ 70 yr) on treatment decisions and outcomes. Methods: We identified patients with traumatic spinal cord injury for whom consent and detailed data were available from among patients recruited (2004–2013) at any of the 31 acute care and rehabilitation hospitals participating in the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry. Patients were assessed by age group (< 70 v. ≥ 70 yr). The primary outcome was the rate of acute surgical treatment. We used bivariate and multivariate regression models to assess patient and injury-related factors associated with receiving surgical treatment and with the timing of surgery after arrival to a participating centre. Results: Of the 1440 patients included in our study cohort, 167 (11.6%) were 70 years or older at the time of injury. Older patients were more likely than younger patients to be injured by falling (83.1% v. 37.4%; p < 0.001), to have a cervical injury (78.0% v. 61.6%; p = 0.001), to have less severe injuries on admission (American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grade C or D: 70.5% v. 46.9%; p < 0.001), to have a longer stay in an acute care hospital (median 35 v. 28 d; p < 0.005) and to have a higher in-hospital mortality (4.2% v. 0.6%; p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis did not show that age of 70 years or more at injury was associated with a decreased likelihood of surgical treatment (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.22–1.07). An unplanned sensitivity analysis with different age thresholds showed that a threshold of 65 years was associated with a decreased chance of surgical treatment (OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.19–0.80). Older patients who underwent surgical treatment had a significantly longer wait time from admission to surgery than younger patients (37 v. 19 h; p < 0.001). Interpretation: We found chronological age to be a factor influencing treatment decisions but not at the 70-year age threshold that we had hypothesized. Older patients waited longer for surgery and had a substantially higher in-hospital mortality despite having less severe injuries than younger patients. Further research into the link between treatment delays and outcomes among older patients could inform surgical guideline development.

Minimally invasive versus open surgery for cervical and lumbar discectomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION Minimally invasive surgery for discectomy may accelerate recovery and reduce pain, but it also requires technical expertise and is associated with increased risks. We performed a meta-analysis to determine the effects of minimally invasive versus open surgery on functional outcomes, pain, complications and reoperations among patients undergoing cervical or lumbar discectomy. METHODS We searched MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library for reports of relevant randomized controlled trials published to Jan. 12, 2014. Two reviewers assessed the eligibility of potential reports and the risk of bias of included trials. We analyzed functional outcomes and pain using standardized mean differences (SMDs) that were weighted and pooled using a random-effects model. RESULTS We included 4 trials in the cervical discectomy group (n = 431) and 10 in the lumbar discectomy group (n = 1159). Evidence overall was of low to moderate quality. We found that minimally invasive surgery did not improve long-term function (cervical: SMD 0.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.09 to 0.31; lumbar: SMD 0.04, 95% CI -0.11 to 0.20) or reduce long-term extremity pain (cervical: SMD -0.21, 95% CI -0.52 to 0.10; lumbar: SMD 0.08, 95% CI -0.16 to 0.32) compared with open surgery. The evidence suggested overall higher rates of nerve-root injury (risk ratio [RR] 1.62, 95% CI 0.45 to 5.84), incidental durotomy (RR 1.56, 95% CI 0.80 to 3.05) and reoperation (RR 1.48, 95% CI 0.97 to 2.26) with minimally invasive surgery than with open surgery. Infections were more common with open surgery than with minimally invasive surgery (RR 0.24, 95% CI 0.04 to 1.38), although the difference was not statistically significant. INTERPRETATION Current evidence does not support the routine use of minimally invasive surgery for cervical or lumbar discectomy. Well-designed trials are needed given the lack of high-quality evidence.

Health Conditions: Effect on Function, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Life Satisfaction After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. A Prospective Observational Registry Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE To analyze relations among injury, demographic, and environmental factors on function, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and life satisfaction in individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN Prospective observational registry cohort study. SETTING Specialized acute and rehabilitation SCI centers. PARTICIPANTS Participants (N=340) from the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR) who were prospectively recruited from 2004 to 2014 were included. The model cohort participants were 79.1% men, with a mean age of 41.6±17.3 years. Of the participants, 34.7% were motor/sensory complete (ASIA Impairment Scale [AIS] grade A). INTERVENTIONS None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Path analysis was used to determine relations among SCI severity (AIS grade and anatomic level [cervical/thoracolumbar]), age at injury, education, number of health conditions, functional independence (FIM motor score), HRQoL (Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey [Version 2] Physical Component Score [PCS] and Mental Component Score [MCS]), and life satisfaction (Life Satisfaction-11 [LiSat-11]). Model fit was assessed using recommended published indices. RESULTS Goodness of fit of the model was supported by all indices, indicating the model results closely matched the RHSCIR data. Higher age, higher severity injuries, cervical injuries, and more health conditions negatively affected FIM motor score, whereas employment had a positive effect. Higher age, less education, more severe injuries (AIS grades A-C), and more health conditions negatively correlated with PCS (worse physical health). More health conditions were negatively correlated with a lower MCS (worse mental health), however were positively associated with reduced function. Being married and having higher function positively affected Lisat-11, but more health conditions had a negative effect. CONCLUSIONS Complex interactions and enduring effects of health conditions after SCI have a negative effect on function, HRQoL, and life satisfaction. Modeling relations among these types of concepts will inform clinicians how to positively effect outcomes after SCI (eg, development of screening tools and protocols for managing individuals with traumatic SCI who have multiple health conditions).