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Category: Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: While the precise pathoetiology of Morton’s neuroma remains unclear, nerve inflammation as a result of chronic entrapment from the overlying intermetatarsal ligament (IML) may play a role. Traditional surgical management involved common digital nerve transection with neuroma excision, but this procedure risks unpredictable formation of a stump neuroma and potential worsening of symptoms. Accordingly, the senior author has over the past six years espoused isolated IML release and common digital nerve decompression in lieu of nerve transection or neuroma excision as an alternative treatment strategy. We hypothesized that IML release offers effective pain relief and high patient satisfaction level as a surgical treatment for recalcitrant Morton’s neuroma without the risk of stump neuroma formation or symptom exacerbation. Methods: Medical records for all consecutive patients treated surgically with isolated single interspace IML release for symptomatic and recalcitrant Morton’s neuroma over a four year period at a large academic medical center were examined. Any adult patient with clinically diagnosed Morton’s neuroma who had failed at least three months of conservative treatment and who then underwent single-webspace IML decompression were included. Any patient who had less than three months postoperative follow up, had undergone revisional neuroma surgery, or had undergone additional procedures at the time of the IML release were excluded. Overall patient satisfaction as well as pre- and post-operative Visual Analog Pain Scale (VAS) assessments were recorded for all patients. Results: Eleven patients underwent isolated, single interspace IML decompression for Morton’s neuroma over this time frame. One of these patients had a neuroma localized to the second web space and 10 were localized to the third web space. Average follow-up was 10.8± 9 (3-32) months (Table 1). VAS pain scores averaged 6.4 ± 1.9 (4-9) preoperatively and decreased to an average of 1.5 ± 1.6 (0-5) at final follow up (P = 0.003). All patients reported significant pain improvement and an overall satisfaction with the procedure (would undergo it again). No patients returned to the operating room, there were no postoperative infection nor worsening of pain, and no other complications were reported. Conclusion: Isolated single interspace IML release of chronically symptomatic Morton’s neuroma shows promising short-term results regarding pain relief and overall patient satisfaction, with few complications and no demonstrated risk of recurrent neuroma formation, permanent numbness, or postoperative symptom exacerbation. The authors’ collective experience with this approach has been positive enough over the past six years to result in the entire abandonment of the practice of neuroma excision in this patient population.

Stress fractures of the foot and ankle are common injuries in athletes. Management differs considerably based on fracture location and predisposing factors. Repetitive loading of the foot and ankle in athletes should result in physiologic bone remodeling in accordance with Wolff’s law. However, when there is not sufficient time for complete healing to occur before additional loads are incurred, this process can instead lead to stress fracture. Assessment of the athlete’s training regimen and overall bone health is paramount to both the discovery and treatment of these injuries, although diagnosis is often delayed in the setting of normal-appearing initial radiographs. While most stress fractures of the foot or ankle can usually be treated nonoperatively with a period of activity modification, fractures in certain locations are considered “high risk” due to poor intrinsic healing and may warrant more proactive operative management.

Category: Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: Proximal fifth metatarsal fractures (PFMF) are among the most common fractures of the foot, and may be subdivided into tuberosity avulsion fracture, Jones fracture, and proximal diaphyseal fracture. However, for Jones fractures and proximal diaphyseal fractures optimal treatment is still debated in literature. The Torg criteria are used in deciding to treat surgically or conservative, whereby Torg type I and II indicates conservative treatment, and type III indicates surgical treatment. Yet failure rates of both management options vary and derive from small study groups. The aim of this study was to compare failure rates after surgical- and conservative treatment of Jones fractures and proximal diaphyseal fractures, to evaluate the incidence of treatment failure, and to assess factors associated with healing difficulties of PFMF. Methods: A total of 1,133 adult patients that were diagnosed and treated for PFMF between 2005 and 2015 in a tertiary care foot and ankle referral center were included. Retrospective chart review recorded patient demographics, suspected risk factors for impaired healing of PFMF (rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, nutritional and hormonal disorders, foot deformities, (neuropathic) arthropathy of the foot and/or ankle and peripheral neuropathy of the lower extremity), and treatment indication. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with healing difficulties. Propensity score matching was used to minimize selection bias between treatments in Jones fractures and proximal diaphyseal fractures. Results: In total, 489(43.2%) patients were diagnosed with a tuberosity avulsion fracture, 391(34.5%) patients with a Jones fracture and 253(22.3%) patients with a proximal diaphyseal fracture. In the tuberosity fracture group, a nonunion was found in 5.3%(25/473) of the patients treated conservatively and in 0%(0/16) treated operatively. For the Jones fractures and proximal diaphyseal fractures the non-union rate for conservative treatment was 10%(35/337) and 5.9%(14/238), and for surgical treatment 11%(6/54) and 0%(0/15), respectively. No independent risk factors for complicating the healing process of PFMF were identified. With propensity score matching, 37 patients treated operatively were matched to 37 patients undergoing conservative treatment. The risk for a nonunion was lower in the operative group compared to the conservative treatment group (relative risk 0.8, P=0.006). Conclusion: In this propensity-matched cohort, surgical treatment for Jones fractures and proximal diaphyseal fractures were associated with better fracture healing compared to conservative treatment. In addition, no factors were found to be associated with healing difficulties of proximal fifth metatarsal fractures.

Category: Other Introduction/Purpose: Amid the current opioid epidemic in the United States, surgeons are forced to more carefully manage postoperative pain prescriptions. Despite the enthusiastic engagement of physicians, politicians and the general public, however, clear guidelines for opioid prescribing postoperatively still do not exist, including after foot and ankle surgery. Given the ablity to improve patient outcomes by decreasing treatment variability in other realms of medicine, this study sought to quantify the postoperative opioid prescribing regimens of American foot and ankle surgeons as an initial step towards understanding prescription patterns and establishing a baseline regimen from which future guidelines may stem. Methods: A total of 1235 active and candidate members of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) from the United States and Canada were invited to fill out a postoperative pain management survey using a Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) web-based application. Surgeons were asked to report on their pain prescription regimens, including type and number of pills, after nine common foot and ankle procedures rated as minor, moderate, or major in severity. The presence of a regional block anesthesia was also recorded. Opioid prescriptions were then converted to the equivalent of 5 mg oxycodone pills for standardization and inter-prescriber comparison. Results: Two hundred twenty-four (18%) surgeons completed the survey. Because of highly skewed data results are reported as medians and the range. Postoperative opioid prescriptions, given in oxycodone 5 mg pill equivalents, were as follows: 39 (8-133) pills for minor procedure, 45 (10-180) pills for a moderate soft tissue procedure, 53 (16-186) pills for a moderate bony procedure, and 60 (20-200) pills for a major bony procedure. Conclusion: Wide variation between surgeons was noted in postoperative pain management. Median prescription opioid doses vary from 39 to 60 oxycodone pills depending on procedure type. It is likely that the amount of opioids prescribed is excessive for adequate pain management, especially for smaller procedures. We propose a post-operative pain regimen that limits the number of pills prescribed based on studies from other surgical specialties. Future studies are necessary to assess the efficacy of current postoperative pain management practices and to guide improved pain management that limits the use of opioids where possible.

Category: Arthroscopy, Sports, Trauma, Other, Syndesmosis Introduction/Purpose: Ankle arthroscopy is increasingly used to diagnose syndesmostic instability by visualizing the distal tibiofibular articulation and applying a lateral fibular stress. Precisely where in the incisura one should measure potential diastasis, however, remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine where within the incisura one should assess coronal plane instability in purely ligamentous syndesmotic injuries when performing a lateral hook stress test (LHT). Methods: Twenty-two above-knee cadaveric specimens underwent ankle arthroscopy, first with intact ligaments and thereafter after each sequential step of syndesmotic and deltoid ligament transection. At each step, a standard 100 N hook test was applied through a lateral incision 5 cm proximal to the ankle joint and the coronal plane diastasis in the stressed and unstressed states were measured at both anterior and posterior third of the distal tibiofibular joint using calibrated probes ranged from 0.1 to 6.0 mm, with 0.1 mm of increments. Results: Anterior third diastasis did not change significantly when applying a LHT, neither in the intact state nor after any stage of ligament transection (P values ranging from p=0.61 to p=0.94). In contrast, posterior third diastasis increased significantly by applying stress at the intact state at the following stages of transection: posterior-inferior tibiofibular ligament (PITFL), PITFL plus interosseous ligament, all syndesmosis ligaments, and all syndesmosis ligaments plus superficial and deep deltoid ligament (P values ranging p=0.001 to p=0.031). Interobserver agreement was substantial (ICC = 0.81; 95% confidence interval, 0.44-0.92), and moderate (ICC = 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.36-0.87) for anterior and posterior third diastasis measurements, respectively. Conclusion: Syndesmotic ligament injury results in coronal plane instability of the distal tibiofibular articulation that is readily identified arthroscopically with a LHT and when measured in the posterior third of the incisura. Measurement at the anterior third of the incisura may miss such injuries.

During 2003, 2004, and 2005, the role of 70 tutors was changed from that of facilitator to discussion leader, in a preclinical PBL learning course, Gastrointestinal Pathophysiology, by use of three key business school teaching strategies: questions, summaries, and schematics. The purpose of this study was to learn what difference this new approach made.During each of the three study years, 171 (2003), 167 (2004), and 170 (2005) students were given Likert-scale attitudinal questionnaires to rate whether their tutors encouraged student direction of the tutorials and whether the summaries and closure schematics benefited their learning. Students' overall course evaluations and mean USMLE scores were quantitatively analyzed, pre- and postintervention. A variety of statistical tests were used to assess the statistical significance of means at the confidence level of .05.In the third year of the program, student ratings indicated that their tutors were significantly better at encouraging student direction of the tutorials than in the first year (P.05). The students reported that the tutorial made a more important contribution to their learning (P.05), and the course objectives were better stated (P = .038) and better met (P = .007). Overall satisfaction with the course also improved significantly (P = .006). Part I gastrointestinal system mean scores of the USMLE showed a statistically significant increase in 2005 compared with 2001 or 2002.The tutor as a discussion leader who questions, summarizes, and uses schematics to illustrate concepts had a significant and positive impact on learning in tutorials, achieving course objectives, improving overall course satisfaction, and increasing a standardized national exam's mean score.

There is controversy regarding the appropriate treatment of acute Achilles tendon ruptures, underscored in a recent clinical practice guideline published by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, in which twelve of sixteen recommendations were supported by “weak” or “inconclusive” evidence1. The basis of debate has shifted, however, as new functional rehabilitation protocols have altered the risk-benefit analysis inherent to decisions about whether to provide operative or nonoperative management2,3. In this review article, we highlight the expanding role of nonoperative management and delve into its effects on rerupture rates and functional outcomes. In patients opting for operative repair, minimally invasive techniques may assuage some operative risks. We also underscore a potentially heightened risk of thromboembolic events among at-risk populations. The overall incidence of Achilles tendon rupture has increased …

Background: Arm pain with little or no objective abnormality (referred to herein as idiopathic arm pain) is a common and frustrating problem for both patients and physicians. We investigated the relative effect of idiopathic arm pain and arm pain due to a discrete diagnosis on upper-extremity-specific health status. Methods: The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire was completed by 3888 patients seen over a twelve-month period. Scores for the entire sample, for 496 patients diagnosed with idiopathic arm pain, and for 1379 patients diagnosed with one of twenty-one discrete conditions were compared. Results: Patients with idiopathic pain reported substantial and highly variable upper-limb-specific dysfunction (average DASH score [and standard deviation], 36 ± 24 points). Patients with discrete diagnoses also exhibited substantial variation (average standard deviation, 25; range, 6 to 27) as well as long right tails indicating floor effects, particularly for less severe conditions (Pearson correlation of r = –0.87 between the mean DASH score and skewness). Analysis of variance confirmed the ability of the DASH instrument to discriminate among groups of diagnoses of varying severity, but post hoc Tukey analysis identified ten subgroups with substantial overlap of the DASH scores. Conclusions: Patients with idiopathic arm pain report substantial and highly variable upper-extremity dysfunction. The wide variations observed in the DASH scores of the patients with idiopathic pain and those with discrete diagnoses are greater than would be expected on the basis of the variations in the objective pathological conditions and may reflect the strong influence of psychological and sociological factors on health status measures.

The fundamental aspiration of any health-care system is to maximize the value it provides to patients. Historically, clinical advancement has been at epicenter of this aim, but skyrocketing costs and inconsistent correlations with outcomes have precipitated the search for system-wide alternatives. Any successful health-care system must ultimately integrate patients, providers, and payers in such a manner that promotes quality while containing costs. Doing so requires defining value in health care, as well as understanding the implications of moral hazards. Consumer-driven health care aims to use these concepts to alter the way patients approach health care, while accountable care organizations hope to do the same for providers. In both scenarios, the key questions include who benefits from and who bears the costs of decision making in the context of moral hazards, and how does a potential system-wide solution effectively distribute risk in order to incent innovations that maximize value?

Maintaining ulnohumeral stability can be difficult when either the coronoid is too fragmented for primary repair or operative delay makes repair difficult or impossible. In addition to ligament repair, restoration of radiocapitellar contact using radial head arthroplasty, and hinged external fixation, reconstruction of the coronoid using a fragment of the discarded radial head—a technique described in this report—can help restore elbow stability and function.

BACKGROUND: The outcomes of combined arthroscopic repairs of a SLAP (superior labral anterior-posterior) lesion and a rotator cuff tear are not known. We compared the outcomes in a cohort of patients who had undergone concomitant arthroscopic repairs of a SLAP lesion and a rotator cuff tear with those in a cohort of patients with a stable biceps anchor who had undergone an isolated rotator cuff repair. We hypothesized that the results would be similar between the two cohorts with respect to the range of motion and preoperative and postoperative function. METHODS: Thirty-four patients (average age, 56.9 years) underwent an arthroscopic repair of an unstable SLAP lesion along with a concomitant arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Twenty-eight patients (average age, 59.6 years) underwent an isolated arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. The average durations of follow-up for the two groups were 40.9 and 42.7 months, respectively. All patients in both groups had a symptomatic full-thickness rotator cuff tear for which initial conservative treatment had failed. Patients with advanced supraspinatus fatty infiltration or advanced muscle atrophy were excluded from the study. American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) and Constant scores were determined preoperatively and postoperatively, as were measurements of the ranges of forward flexion, abduction, external rotation, and internal rotation. Dynamometer strength testing was performed on all patients as an adjunct to qualitative assessments, and normalized Constant scores were calculated to perform sex and age-matched functional assessments. RESULTS: In the group treated with concomitant repairs of a SLAP lesion and a rotator cuff tear, the average ASES score improved from 22.6 to 96.4 points and the average normalized Constant score improved from 55.1 to 101.0 points. In the group treated with an isolated arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, the average ASES score improved from 34.3 to 92.3 points and the average normalized Constant score improved from 60.7 to 95.8 points. The average preoperative ASES score in the group with the concomitant repairs was significantly worse than that in the group with the isolated rotator cuff repair (p = 0.027). This difference is also probably clinically relevant. There was no significant difference between the groups with regard to the preoperative normalized Constant scores, but postoperatively the normalized Constant score was significantly higher in the group with the concomitant repairs (p = 0.006). The active range of motion did not differ between the groups, preoperatively or postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Controversy surrounds the treatment of a SLAP lesion with concomitant treatment of a full-thickness rotator cuff tear. This study suggests that, in middle-aged patients, the results of combined SLAP lesion and rotator cuff repair can be comparable with those achieved with rotator cuff repair alone. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence. ORIGINAL ABSTRACT CITATION: “Concomitant Arthroscopic SLAP and Rotator Cuff Repair” (2010;92:1362-9).

Background: When it was first introduced, it was hoped that hinged external fixation with a built-in gear mechanism for applying passive motion and static progressive stretch by turning a dial would improve the arc of ulnohumeral motion, by gradually stretching contracted muscles, after open release of a severe elbow contracture. Methods: Forty-two patients were evaluated at an average of thirty-nine months after operative release of a severe posttraumatic elbow contracture (defined as ≤40° of motion). Twenty-three patients had been treated, during the early part of the study, with a hinged external fixator that incorporated a worm gear to apply static progressive stretch postoperatively. These patients were compared with nineteen patients who had been treated without hinged external fixation during the later part of the study, when the hinge was used less frequently. The operative techniques did not otherwise change during the study period. Demographic and injury characteristics as well as associated problems were comparable between the two groups. Results: The average gain in the range of motion after the index procedure was 89° in the patients treated with a hinge and 78° in those treated without a hinge, an insignificant difference with the numbers available (p = 0.175). Complications associated with use of the hinge included five pin-track infections, one case of pin-track osteomyelitis, one ulnar fracture through a pin site, two broken Schanz screws, and two cases of irritation of the ulnar nerve. Conclusions: Open release of a severe elbow contracture results in a substantial gain in motion, with or without hinged elbow fixation. The slightly greater improvement in motion provided by the hinge does not justify the associated increase in risk, expense, and complications. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

The fundamental mission of graduate medical education is to train young professionals to become future practitioners and academicians. Orthopaedic surgery training programs are primarily directed toward resident education. The subspecialty training of fellows, however, is arguably equally important. Thus, two constituencies that may compete for educational experience, attention, and resources are inherent to many training programs. We developed a survey to explore this issue prior to a symposium on this topic presented at the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) meeting in June of 2009. Questions concerning the relationship between resident and fellowship education were distributed to orthopaedic residents in their fourth postgraduate year (PGY-4) of training who attended the Resident Leadership Forum at the 2009 AOA meeting. Responses were obtained from seventy-seven resident participants, a number that represents 12% of the total PGY-4 orthopaedic residents in 2009. The same survey was distributed to orthopaedic surgery department chairs, program directors, and fellowship directors across the United States. One hundred sixty-nine of this “faculty” group responded, a number that was 41.6% of the possible total. In the nineteenth century, surgeons generally were self-trained or learned by way of an apprenticeship1. No formal system was in place and few surgeons spent more than one or two years in a hospital setting. In 1889, with the founding of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. William Halsted transformed surgical training from its loosely organized structure to a university-sponsored, hospital-based model with graduated responsibility that culminated in a period of near autonomy. Formalization of the qualifications requisite of surgical subspecialties soon followed, largely to assure the public of a specialist’s preparation and skill2. The American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) was incorporated on February 4, 1934, and gave its first certification examination in 19353. Oversight of board certification implied the need for …

During the past century, graduate medical education funding has evolved in response to the increasing specialization of modern medicine as well as the need for federal funding to effectively sustain specialty training. This article reviews historical and current funding methods for graduate medical education and examines current funding using Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) as a case example. Notably, it also explores whether graduate medical education funding at a large academic center such as MGH is commensurate with expenditures.