'Watch' helps surgeons minimize potential risks of all-inside meniscal repair

Important tips for successfully using FAST-FIX meniscal-repair devices

2015-07-24

(Press-News.org) Needham, MA.-JBJS Case Connector, an online case report journal published by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, has issued a "Watch" regarding potential risks with anchor-based all-inside meniscal repairs. While all-inside techniques have many advantages, including shorter surgical time and reduced risk of damage to neurovascular tissues, potential drawbacks include risks of local soft-tissue irritation and implant migration or breakage. In particular, the "Watch" offers important tips for successfully using FAST-FIX meniscal-repair devices produced by Smith & Nephew. This "Watch" is based on a July 22, 2015 JBJS Case Connector report by Rauck et al. The authors present two cases in which FAST-FIX anchors came loose postoperatively, causing knee pain within two to six months after anchor placement. In the first case, a meniscal anchor came undone and lodged near the anterior horn of the medial meniscus, while in the second case, an implant became lodged underneath the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus. While the "Watch" recognizes the many potential benefits of all-inside meniscal repair and general success with FAST-FIX, these cases indicate the need to consider the possibility of loose anchors in patients who present postoperatively with pain and mechanical symptoms. Perhaps the most important key to success is to use FAST-FIX in areas of the meniscus that provide strong holding tissue. According to Tim Spalding, FRCS, an experienced FAST-FIX user at the University Hospital in Coventry, England, the best grip site for anchors is the posterior third of the medial meniscus, while tears of the lateral meniscus near the popliteal hiatus represent the biggest grip-hold challenge. "The publication of 'Watches' helps fulfill our mission to serve the orthopaedic community," commented Marc Swiontkowski, MD, editor of JBJS Case Connector. "The 'Watch' designation may encourage the orthopaedic community to either demonstrate that these are isolated, unrelated cases or sharpen the focus further by rigorously evaluating the intervention and/or reporting related cases."

INFORMATION:

About JBJS Case Connector JBJS Case Connector is an online, cross-referenced journal containing thousands of orthopaedic case reports. It compiles symptoms, conditions, and demographic details to empower surgeons to find cases similar to theirs and to mine the database to reveal emerging trends and identify patterns, distinguishing between truly rare cases and repeated, related single instances of a larger problem. For more information, visit caseconnector.jbjs.org.

About JBJS JBJS, Inc., is a not-for-profit publisher specializing in orthopaedic information. It publishes The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, which has been the most valued source of information for orthopaedic surgeons and researchers for 125 years and is the gold standard in peer-reviewed scientific information in the field -- a core journal and essential reading for orthopaedic surgeons worldwide. Other publications include JBJS Case Connector and JBJS Essential Surgical Techniques, along with CME and professional development products. Twitter: @jbjs.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Diagnosis of psychiatric disorders not as important as outcomes

2015-07-24

Nailing the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder may not be important in prescribing effective treatment, according to Mark Zimmerman, M.D., a clinical researcher at Rhode Island Hospital. His opinion editorial was published online today in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. "During the past 35 years, we have witnessed a revolution in the treatment of psychiatric disorders," said Zimmerman, director of outpatient psychiatry and the partial hospital program at Rhode Island Hospital and director of the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services ...

Stadium lighting affects bat behavior and may threaten biodiversity

2015-07-24

A new Animal Conservation study shows that sports stadium lighting can alter patterns of bat species activity and feeding, which may in turn have cascading effects on other organisms and the ecosystem as a whole. Using a novel field experiment, Dr. M. Corrie Schoeman demonstrates that urban exploiter bats are more likely to hunt insects attracted to bright light pollution sources such as stadiums than urban avoider bats. (Exploiter organisms can take advantage of food or resources supplied by humans, while avoider organisms have either a history of conflict with humans ...

Study identifies risks related to falling in patients with COPD

2015-07-24

In a recent year-long study, 40% of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experienced falls, with more than 75% of these falling multiple times. Factors linked with an increased risk of falling included smoking, having other illnesses, taking multiple medications, having a fear of falling, and falling in the past. "The findings could be useful for developing preventative strategies," said Dr. Cristino Oliveira, lead author of the Respirology study. INFORMATION: ...

Attention-control video game curbs combat vets' PTSD symptoms

2015-07-24

A computerized attention-control training program significantly reduced combat veterans' preoccupation with - or avoidance of -- threat and attendant PTSD symptoms. By contrast, another type of computerized training, called attention bias modification - which has proven helpful in treating anxiety disorders - did not reduce PTSD symptoms. NIMH and Israeli researchers conducted parallel trials in which the two treatments were tested in US and Israeli combat veterans. Daniel Pine, M.D., of the NIMH Emotion and Development Branch, Yair Bar-Haim, Ph.D., School of Psychological ...

Pesticides found in most pollen collected from foraging bees in Massachusetts

2015-07-24

Boston, MA -- More than 70% of pollen and honey samples collected from foraging bees in Massachusetts contain at least one neonicotinoid, a class of pesticide that has been implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which adult bees abandon their hives during winter, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study will be published online July 23, 2015 in the Journal of Environmental Chemistry. "Data from this study clearly demonstrated the ubiquity of neonicotinoids in pollen and honey samples that bees are exposed to during ...

'Successful aging' linked to harmful drinking among over 50s

2015-07-24

The over 50s who are 'successful agers'--healthy, active, sociable, and well off--are more at risk of harmful drinking than their less successful peers, concludes research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Harmful drinking is a "middle class phenomenon" which may be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people, warn the researchers, who call for explicit guidelines on alcohol consumption for this group. They base their findings on more than 9000 responses to the two most recent waves (2008-9 and 2010-11) of the English Longitudinal ...

The Lancet: New studies show that 2 classes of inexpensive generic drugs can reduce breast cancer deaths

2015-07-24

Two new studies, both published in The Lancet, suggest that two different classes of drugs, aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and bisphosphonates, can each improve survival prospects for postmenopausal women with early breast cancer. Moreover, the researchers suggest that the two types of drug can be used together, increasing the benefits while also decreasing some side-effects. Most women are post-menopausal when they develop breast cancer, and breast cancer is usually found early, when surgery can remove all detectable disease, but might leave dangerous undetected micrometastases ...

Estrogen-suppressing drugs substantially reduce breast cancer deaths

2015-07-24

A class of hormonal drugs called aromatase inhibitors substantially reduce the risk of death in postmenopausal women with the most common type of breast cancer, a major study of more than 30,000 women shows. The research underlines the importance of aromatase inhibitors in the treatment of oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer - and shows they reduce risk of death by significantly more than the older hormonal treatment tamoxifen. The study, published in The Lancet today (Friday), is relevant to postmenopausal women with ER-positive breast cancer, which accounts ...

Researchers identify potential new targets for treating kidney disease

2015-07-24

Highlight Proteins in the Wnt signaling pathway help drive kidney scarring that can lead to chronic kidney disease. Washington, DC (July 23, 2015) -- Chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension cause injury to the kidneys, which can lead to scarring and the development of chronic kidney disease. By identifying proteins important to this scarring process, researchers now point to a new strategy for possibly preventing kidney failure and the need for dialysis or transplantation in many patients. The findings appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the ...

Study finds abrupt climate change may have rocked the cradle of civilization

2015-07-23

MIAMI - New research reveals that some of the earliest civilizations in the Middle East and the Fertile Crescent may have been affected by abrupt climate change. These findings show that while socio-economic factors were traditionally considered to shape ancient human societies in this region, the influence of abrupt climate change should not be underestimated. A team of international scientists led by researchers from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science found that during the first half of the last interglacial period known ...

'Watch' helps surgeons minimize potential risks of all-inside meniscal repair

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: