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Background: Although cephalomedullary nail fixation is often used for metastatic peritrochanteric lesions of the femur, there is concern regarding the durability of the implant in comparison to endoprosthetic reconstruction. Previous studies have reported the proportion of patients who undergo reoperation for loss of stability, but the adequacy of the construct has not been critically evaluated in a competing risk analysis that incorporates death of the patient in the calculation., Questions/purposes: (1) What is the cumulative incidence of reoperation of cephalomedullary nails with death as a competing risk for metastatic lesions of the proximal femur? (2) What is the survival of patients with metastases to the proximal femur after cephalomedullary nailing? (3) What clinical factors are associated with implant stability in these patients?, Methods: Between 1990 and 2009, 11 surgeons at one center treated 217 patients with cephalomedullary nails for metastatic proximal femoral lesions. This represented 40% (217 of 544) of the patients undergoing surgery for metastases in this location during the study period. In general, we used cephalomedullary nails when there was normal bone in the femoral head, no fracture in the neck, and a moderate-sized lesion; we favored bipolar hemiarthroplasty for femoral neck fractures and disease affecting the femoral head; finally, we used proximal femoral endoprosthetic replacement for large lesions with severe bone destruction. A retrospective study was conducted of 199 patients with cephalomedullary nails for peritrochanteric metastases from 1990 to 2009. Pathologic fracture, defined as a breach in cortex with a clear fracture line either with or without displacement, was present in 61 patients. The most common primary cancers were breast (42 of 199 patients [21%]), lung (37 of 199 patients [18%]), and renal cell (34 of 199 patients [17%]). A competing risk analysis was performed to describe the cumulative incidence of implant revision. Patient overall survival was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survivorship. A univariate analysis was performed to determine whether there was an association between revision surgery and various patient factors, including tumor histology, pathologic fracture, cementation, and radiation., Results: Loss of implant stability necessitating revision surgery occurred in 19 of 199 patients (10%). In a competing risk analysis with death of the patient as the competing event, the cumulative incidence of revision surgery was 5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3%-9%) at 12 months and 9% (95% CI, 5%-13%) at 5 years. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, the overall patient survival was 31% (95% CI, 25%-37%) at 12 months and 5% (95% CI, 3%-9%) at 60 months. Patients with lung cancer had the shortest overall survival of 11% (95% CI, 1%-21%) at 12 months, and patients with multiple myeloma had the longest overall survival of 71% (95% CI, 49%-94%) at 12 months (p < 0.001). Duration of patient survival beyond the median 7 months was the only factor associated with a greater likelihood of revision surgery. Factors not associated with revision included tumor histology, pathologic fracture, closed versus open nailing, cementation, gender, age, and postoperative radiation., Conclusions: The competing risk analysis demonstrates a relatively low cumulative incidence of reoperation and suggests that cephalomedullary nailing is reasonable for patients with moderate-sized proximal femoral metastasis not affecting the femoral head. For the large majority of patients, the construct achieves the goal of stabilizing the femur for the duration of the patient's life. Longer patient survival was associated with greater risk of revision surgery, but no particular tumor histology was found to have a greater cumulative incidence of reoperation. Future work with a larger number of patients and stricter surgical indications may be needed to corroborate these findings., Level of Evidence: Level III, therapeutic study.

Osteoporosis is a common condition with serious consequences because of fractures. Despite availability of treatments to reduce fracture risk, there is a large osteoporosis treatment gap that has reached crisis proportions. There are too few specialists to provide services for patients who need them. Bone Health Extension for Community Health Care Outcomes (TeleECHO) is a strategy using real-time ongoing videoconferencing technology to mentor health care professionals in rural and underserved communities to achieve an advanced level of knowledge for the care of patients with skeletal diseases. Over the first 21 months of weekly Bone Health TeleECHO programs, there were 263 registered health care professionals in the United States and several other countries, with 221 attending at least 1 online clinic and typically 35 to 40 attendees at each session at the end of the reported period. Assessment of self-confidence in 20 domains of osteoporosis care showed substantial improvement with the ECHO intervention ( P = 0.005). Bone Health TeleECHO can contribute to mitigating the crisis in osteoporosis care by leveraging scarce resources, providing motivated practitioners with skills to provide better skeletal health care, closer to home, with greater convenience, and lower cost than referral to a specialty center. Bone Health TeleECHO can be replicated in any location worldwide to reach anyone with Internet access, allowing access in local time zones and languages. The ECHO model of learning can be applied to other aspects of bone care, including the education of fracture liaison service coordinators, residents and fellows, and physicians with an interest in rare bone diseases.

Bone Health ECHO telementors healthcare professionals to develop the clinical skills needed to provide advanced levels of care for patients with skeletal disorders. The goal of this mentorship model is to improve osteoporosis care in underserved areas, decrease the need for referral to specialty centers, and reduce the osteoporosis treatment gap., Introduction: The Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) model of telementoring has been shown to improve the care individuals with chronic hepatitis C. ECHO has since been adapted to the address unmet needs in the care of other chronic complex diseases and recently applied to the care of osteoporosis and metabolic bone diseases., Methods: Bone Health ECHO outcomes are assessed through an electronic data collector asking qualitative questions about self-efficacy. This is a progress report of Bone Health ECHO from its launch in October 2015 through May 2016., Results: A total of 31 weekly Bone Health ECHO clinics were held over 8 months, with 43 individuals participating at least one clinic session. The number of clinics attended range from 1 to 30, with 13 learners attending more than 10 clinics and an average of 11 learners per clinic. Self-efficacy information provided by learners was diverse with many favorable anticipated changes in clinical practice., Conclusions: Bone Health ECHO telementors healthcare professionals in underserved areas to provide advanced levels of care for patients with skeletal disorders. The experience of Bone Health ECHO will guide the development of similar telementoring clinics in other locations. More data are needed to fully evaluate this novel approach to reducing the osteoporosis treatment gap.

Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes creates knowledge networks that enable a transition from centralized specialty care at academic institutions to empowerment of primary care providers to provide more highly skilled care closer to home.