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Pretibial traumatic hematomas, a subtype of subcutaneous tension hematomas, are a frequent but understudied injury seen predominantly among the elderly. This patient cohort has a high incidence of comorbidities and frailty. They are frequently taking antiplatelet medications and systemic anticoagulants. The treatment of these injuries can be costly and associated with significant morbidity and even mortality. Early detection and treatment are important when managing pretibial hematomas with the potential for skin necrosis. We report on a case where we performed how early operative debridement, negative pressure wound therapy, and subsequent split-thickness tissue grafting may be an effective management strategy for pretibial hematomas and suggest the importance of establishing standardized institutional approaches for their management., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Joutovsky et al.)

Purpose: There is no consensus on how age and expectations influence planning for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). This study developed and evaluated a new expectation questionnaire and assessed the relationship between preoperative expectations and patient characteristics., Method: The questionnaire evaluated expectations for mobility, pain, participation, and rate of recovery after surgery. Fifty-five participants completed a 6-minute walk test and expectation questionnaire prior to TKA; 17 participants repeated the questionnaire one week later for reliability testing. Analysis of the questionnaire included intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), homoscedasticity, skewness, kurtosis, multicollinearity, and descriptive measures. A four-step hierarchical linear regression was completed to determine the relationship of patient age, BMI, previous contralateral TKA, and 6-minute walk test scores to expectations., Results: The questionnaire showed good/high test-retest reliability (ICC 0.84; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.94; p > 0.001). The final model was significant in predicting expectation scores R 2 = 0.19 ( p = 0.017)., Conclusions: This questionnaire reliably measures patient expectations before TKA; however, further research is needed. Although we anticipated younger age to be related to higher expectations, higher function prior to TKA appears to be more strongly associated with higher expectations., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: None declared., (© Canadian Physiotherapy Association, 2023.)

Background: Obesity is a widely accepted risk factor for the development of severe COVID-19. We sought to determine the survival benefit of early initiation of aggressive anticoagulation in obese critically ill COVID-19 patients., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 237 intubated patients at a single academic accredited bariatric center and stratified them based on their BMI into 2 groups, obese (BMI > 30) and non-obese (BMI ≤ 30). We used chi-square tests to compare categorical variables such as age and sex, and two-sample t-tests or Mann Whitney U-tests for continuous variables, including important laboratory values. Cox proportional-hazards regression models were utilized to determine whether obesity was an independent predictor of survival and multivariable analysis was performed to compare risk factors that were deemed significant in the univariable analysis. Survival with respect to BMI and its association with level of anticoagulation in the obese cohort was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier models., Results: The overall mortality in the obese and non-obese groups was similar at 47% and 44%, respectively (p = 0.65). Further analysis based on the level of AC showed that obese patients placed on early aggressive AC protocol had improved survival compared to obese patients who did not receive protocol based aggressive AC (ON-aggressive AC protocol 26% versus OFF-aggressive AC protocol 61%, p = 0.0004)., Conclusions: The implementation of early aggressive anticoagulation may balance the negative effects of obesity on the overall mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Although acute gastrointestinal injury (AGI) and feeding intolerance (FI) are known independent determinants of worse outcomes and high mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, the incidence of AGI and FI in critically ill COVID-19 patients and their prognostic importance have not been thoroughly studied., Methods: We reviewed 218 intubated patients at Stony Brook University Hospital and stratified them into three groups based on AGI severity, according to data collected in the first 10 days of ICU course. We used chi-square test to compare categorical variables such as age and sex and two-sample t-test or Mann-Whitney U-tests for continuous variables, including important laboratory values. Cox proportional hazards regression models were utilized to determine whether AGI score was an independent predictor of survival, and multivariable analysis was performed to compare risk factors that were deemed significant in the univariable analysis. We performed Kaplan-Meier survival analysis based on the AGI score and the presence of FI., Results: The overall incidence of AGI was 95% (45% AGI I/II, 50% AGI III/IV), and FI incidence was 63%. Patients with AGI III/IV were more likely to have prolonged mechanical ventilation (22 days vs 16 days, P-value <0.002) and higher mortality rate (58% vs 28%, P-value <0.001) compared to patients with AGI 0/I/II. This was confirmed with multivariable analysis which showed that AGI score III/IV was an independent predictor of higher mortality (AGI III/IV vs AGI 0/I/II hazard ratio (HR), 2.68; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.69-4.25; P-value <0.0001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that both AGI III/IV and FI (P-value <0.001) were associated with worse outcomes. Patients with AGI III/IV had higher daily and mean D-dimer and CRP levels compared to AGI 0/I/II (P-value <0.0001)., Conclusions: The prevalence of AGI and FI among critically ill COVID-19 patients was high. AGI grades III/IV were associated with higher risk for prolonged mechanical ventilation and mortality compared to AGI 0/I/II, while it also correlated with higher D-dimer and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. FI was independently associated with higher mortality. The development of high-grade AGI and FI during the first days of ICU stay can serve as prognostic tools to predict outcomes in critically ill COVID-19 patients., (© 2021. The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.)

Background: Mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are unable to communicate verbally. We sought to evaluate their needs via a communication board (CB) and a novel eye tracking device (ETD) that verbalizes selections made by gazing., Methods: This was a pilot prospective study conducted in a tertiary care surgical ICU. Continuously mechanically ventilated adult surgical ICU patients with a Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale score of -1 to +1, without cognitive impairment, were eligible. We asked patients four yes-or-no questions to assess basic needs regarding presence of pain, need for endotracheal suction, satisfactory room temperature, and position comfort. Patients were then asked if there was anything else that they wanted to communicate. All responses were confirmed by head nodding., Results: The median accuracy of the CB (100% (IQR 100%-100%)) for basic needs communication (yes/no questions) was comparable with that of the ETD (100% (IQR 68.8%-100%); p=0.14) in the 12 enrolled patients. Notably, 83% of patients desired to communicate additional information, ranging from spiritual (eg, desire for prayer/chaplain), emotional (eg, frustration, desire for comfort), physical/environmental (eg, television), to physiological (eg, thirst/hunger) needs., Discussion: The majority of patients desired to communicate something other than basic needs. Unless specifically assessed via an assistive communication device (eg, CB or ETD), some of these other needs would have been difficult to discern., Level of Evidence: IV therapeutic care/management., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.

Background: Few studies have compared the biomechanical outcomes of different surgical approaches for hip arthroplasty. The purpose of this study was to compare hip, pelvic, and trunk kinematics and kinetics between individuals who underwent a posterior or anterolateral approach., Methods: Forty-five individuals between 40 and 80 years old underwent motion analysis during overground gait prior to hip arthroplasty and 3 months after surgery. Walking speed, hip flexion angle, hip extension angle, adduction angle and moment, trunk angle, trunk lean, and pelvis drop were compared between approaches., Findings: There were 30 subjects in the posterior group and 15 subjects in the anterolateral group. The groups did not change differently over time as there were no significant interaction effects. However, there were main effects for time; walking speed increased 19.9% (p < .001), hip flexion angle increased 3.3 degrees (p = 0.014) and peak hip extension increased 4.5 degrees (p = .001), and peak hip adduction significantly increased 1.9 degrees (p = .004) for the sample as a whole. Trunk angle (p = .283) and trunk lean (p = .401) did not significantly change between time points, but there was a significant increase in pelvic drop (p = .003)., Interpretation: Surgical approach did not affect biomechanical outcomes 3 months after arthroplasty. Both groups showed improvement in sagittal plane hip kinetics and kinematics. However, increased pelvic drop may be indicative of residual hip weakness in both groups., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Although total hip arthroplasty (THA) has become standard procedure to manag the symptoms of end-stage osteoarthritis (OA), there are multiple surgical approaches to acceE the hip joint. To date, there is limited information on the effect of surgical approach on muscle strength and performance-based measures of functional ability after THA., Questions/purposes: The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of posterior or anterolateral surgical approaches on strength and function after THA. We hypothesized that individuals who underwent a posterior approach would have greater strength and performance-based measures of function than individuals who underwent an anterolateral approach one year after surgery. We also hypothesized that there would be no difference in pain or self-reported outcomes at follow-up., Methods: 63 subjects were tested two to four weeks prior to THA and then three months and 12 months after THA. Subjects were divided into a posterior approach and lateral approac groups. Patients completed functional testing, strength measures, as well as self-reported questionnaires at each time point. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were performed to test the change between the pre-operative and one year time point. Descriptive data were reported for all three time points., Results: There was a significant interaction effect for hip abduction strength (p=0.025) and the lateral group was significantly weaker at one year (p=0.018). No other variable demonstrated a significant interaction effect; however, all other variables with the exception of hip abductor strength (p=0.883) and pain on the non-operated side (p=0.527) demonstrated a significant main effect of time (p≤0.01) in which there was significant improvement at 1 year., Conclusion: The lateral surgical approaches result in weaker hip abduction one year after THA; however significant and clinically meaningful improvements in functional ability were seen for most subiects. regardless of surgical approach.

Study Design: Multicenter retrospective analysis., Objectives: To review the results of surgical treatment during the last 6 years of C2 fractures in patients over the age of 70., Summary of Background Data: Little information exists about the clinical outcome of surgical treatment of elderly patients with C2 fractures, their ability to return to their previous environment, and their postoperative level of independence., Methods: The medical records and radiographs of 29 patients who had undergone surgical treatment for C2 fractures were reviewed. The type of C2 fracture, neurologic examination at presentation, type of surgical treatment, perioperative morbidity and mortality, presence of osseous union, and stability of alignment were recorded. Long-term disposition was determined from office visits or by telephone interview., Results: Twenty-four of 29 patients had type II dens fractures alone. The remaining 5 had associated C1 fractures. All patients were neurologically intact at presentation except for 2 patients with signs and symptoms of central cord syndrome. Perioperative complications occurred in 3 patients (10.3%). One patient died on postoperative day 6 from a myocardial infarction. Mean+/-SD radiographic follow-up was 9+/-3.2 months (range, 3 to 24). Of the 16 patients who underwent odontoid screw fixation, 6 (37.5%) had osseous union, and 9 (56.2%) were stable on radiographs. An additional patient who had odontoid screw initially required a posterior approach reoperation. Of the 13 posterior fusions, 4 (30.7%) had osseous unions and 9 (69.2%) were stable on flexion extension radiographs. Mean+/-SD clinical follow-up was 18+/-2.2 months (range, 3 to 72 mo). Twenty-five of 29 patients (86.2%) returned to their previous environment. Two patients died of unrelated etiology., Conclusions: C2 fractures in the elderly can be treated surgically with both anterior and posterior approaches with acceptable morbidity and mortality rates. The majority of patients can be mobilized early and return to their previous levels of independence.

Multiple conditions, such as peripheral atherosclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, polyarteritis nodosa, and dermatomyositis, predispose a patient to arterial insufficiency of the lower extremities and subsequent formation of nonhealing wounds. This article will review the pathophysiology of these conditions, identify the unique physical characteristics of each, and describe the diagnostic tests needed for a complete evaluation. The management of lower-extremity ulcers complicated by arterial insufficiency will be reviewed; emphasis is also placed on treating the underlying condition in an effort to promote both healing of existing wounds and the prevention of further ulceration.