(Press-News.org) Challenging a longstanding practice of casting both legs in children with hip and thigh fractures, a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study shows that such fractures heal just as well in single-leg casts, while giving children greater comfort and mobility.
The findings of the study, which involved 52 Johns Hopkins patients ages 2 through 6, are published online June 13 in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
Casting both legs and hips has long been thought the only way to assure proper healing and pelvic immobilization in young children who wiggle around and are in perpetual motion, the researchers noted.
Not so, the new Hopkins study shows.
"The single-leg approach not only appears to be just as effective and safe as double-leg casting in terms of healing, but also it makes the child's life much easier and requires less complicated daily care," says senior investigator Paul Sponseller, M.D. M.B.A, director of pediatric orthopedics at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
Surgical repair is the treatment of choice for hip and thigh fractures in older children, but those younger than 6 years of age do better with casting only, the investigators say. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recently recommended casting as the first line of treatment for children younger than 5 to avoid general anesthesia and surgical complications.
The cast works by immobilizing the hips and thighs so that bones or tendons can heal properly, but it can also be cumbersome and uncomfortable. Casting can restrict motion and cause skin problems, aches and pains, increased muscle pressure and reduced blood flow to nerves and tissue. Casting also requires more complex daily maintenance by parents and other caregivers.
In the new study, 28 of the 52 children seen at Hopkins were randomly assigned to get double leg casts, while the remainder got single leg casts. The researchers used bi-weekly X-rays to monitor bone healing and questionnaires to gauge parental ease of care and the child's comfort and physical functioning.
While children in both groups healed equally well without any major complications, those in single-leg casts reported greater comfort and mobility, fit more easily in car seats, got dressed more easily and sat more comfortably in chairs, the study showed. Also, the parents and caregivers of children in single-leg casts reported taking less time off from work to provide care. They had, on average, eight fewer days missed from work, the researchers say.
###
Other investigators on the study included Dirk Leu, M.D., M. Catherine Sargent, M.D., Michael Ain, M.D., Arabella Leet, M.D., and John Tis, M.D.
Related
Hip, Thigh Implants Can Raise Bone Fracture Risk in Children
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hip-Thigh-Implants-Can-Raise-Bone-Fracture-Risk-in-Children.aspx
Treating Hip Problems Less Invasively
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Treating-Hip-Problems-Less-Invasively.aspx
Marfan, A ''Look-Alike'' Disorder, or Neither?
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Marfan-A-Look-Alike-Disorder-or-Neither.aspx
Hopkins Children's Study Finds Some Patients with Cerebral Palsy Have Asymmetric Pelvic Bones
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Patients-with-Cerebral-Palsy-Have-Asymmetric-Pelvic-Bones.aspx
Youngest hip and thigh fracture patients heal just fine with single-leg casts
2012-06-14
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Auto Recyclers Stunned by Sale of Pinnacle Yard Management Software by Actual Systems to Only Competitor in Space
2012-06-14
The owners of hundreds of auto salvage yards across the United States and partners in United Recyclers Group (URG) opened the business page a few days ago and nearly spit coffee all over their work pants.
The source of their chagrin is the sale of Actual Systems, the sole owner of Pinnacle yard management software, to a company that already owns its only real competitor, Hollander.
"Wow was all I could say when a friend e-mailed me news of the merger," said Ron Sturgeon, a 30-year veteran of the salvage industry who sold his yards to Ford in the 1990s and ...
Stanford researchers discover the African cichlid's noisy courtship ritual
2012-06-14
African cichlids enjoy an alien, exotic courtship routine. A dominant male attracts choice females to his territory by dancing seductively. If the female is sufficiently impressed, she lays her eggs and immediately collects them in her mouth, where the male fertilizes them. And, in some species, every once in a while, a lower-ranking male will dart into the scene and try to fertilize a few eggs before the dominant male knows what's happened.
At least that's what we thought was going on. But one day, while watching this nostalgic display in the lab, Stanford postdoctoral ...
Fruit flies reveal mechanism behind ALS-like disease
2012-06-14
Studying how nerve cells send and receive messages, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered new ways that genetic mutations can disrupt functions in neurons and lead to neurodegenerative disease, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
In a report published April 26 in Neuron, the research team says it has discovered that a mutation responsible for a rare, hereditary motor neuron disease called hereditary motor neuropathy 7B (HMN7B) disrupts the link between molecular motors and the nerve cell tip where they reside. This mutation results in the production of ...
Researchers determine pathway for origin of most common form of brain and spinal cord tumor
2012-06-14
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered one of the most important cellular mechanisms driving the growth and progression of meningioma, the most common form of brain and spinal cord tumor. A report on the discovery, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Research, could lead the way to the discovery of better drugs to attack these crippling tumors, the scientists say.
"We are one step closer to identifying genes that can be targeted for treatment," says study leader Gilson S. Baia, Ph.D., a faculty research associate in the Department of Neurosurgery at ...
National Dog Bite Prevention Week Highlights: Increased Payouts for Dog Bite Claims
2012-06-14
In conjunction with National Dog Bite Prevention week, May 19-25, 2012, the Insurance Information Institute (III) released their most recent statistics on dog bite insurance claims. The 2011 data show that dog bites accounted for more than one-third of all paid homeowners' insurance liability claims. These claims totaled over $478 million dollars, a number that underscores the increasing costs of medical care for dog bite victims.
According to III statistics, the average cost for a dog bite claim increased by 53.4% in recent years, with a 12.3% increase from 2010 ($26,166) ...
'No-sleep energy bugs' drain smartphone batteries
2012-06-14
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have proposed a method to automatically detect a new class of software glitches in smartphones called "no-sleep energy bugs," which can entirely drain batteries while the phones are not in use.
"These energy bugs are a silent battery killer," said Y. Charlie Hu, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering. "A fully charged phone battery can be drained in as little as five hours."
Because conserving battery power is critical for smartphones, the industry has adopted "an aggressive sleep policy," he said.
"What ...
NASA's TRMM views forming tropical cyclone
2012-06-14
System 94E and System 95E are low pressure areas located off the western coast of Mexico that are being watched by forecasters and by satellites. Each of them has the potential for development into a tropical cyclone, although System 95E has a greater chance. That low was recently spotted by NASA's TRMM satellite, which provided rainfall and cloud height data to forecasters.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned that another tropical cyclone is probably forming from System 94E, located south of Guatemala and El Salvador. The TRMM satellite flew over on June 13, ...
LondonTown.com Supports PrideLondon 2012 with Discounted Hotel Rates Across the Capital
2012-06-14
PrideLondon returns in a bigger and better form in 2012 as a two-week long festival takes over central London. WorldPride Festival runs from 23 June through to 8 July with the PrideLondon Parade taking place on 7 July.
More than one million visitors are expected to enjoy the festivities in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Soho, which are open to everyone, gay or straight, male or female.
The parade itself is getting extended to make way for even more floats, costume groups and walking bands that will be more colourful, entertaining and lively than ever before. ...
Berkeley Lab scientists help define the healthy human microbiome
2012-06-14
You're outnumbered. There are ten times as many microbial cells in you as there are your own cells.
The human microbiome—as scientists call the communities of microorganisms that inhabit your skin, mouth, gut, and other parts of your body by the trillions—plays a fundamental role in keeping you healthy. These communities are also thought to cause disease when they're perturbed. But our microbiome's exact function, good and bad, is poorly understood. That could change.
A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-organized consortium that includes scientists from the U.S. Department ...
OrangeHRM Launches OrangeAM - A Global Leave Management System
2012-06-14
OrangeHRM Inc. a global leader in HRIS development for small and medium-sized enterprises worldwide, launched OrangeAM (Absence Management System) with improved and sophisticated leave management features.
The success of the leave module led to the creation of this standalone service, OrangeAM. OrangeAM facilitates defining leave types, work weeks, company holidays, leave accruals, rules and policies that can be applied for all subsidiaries across the globe with rules specific to each country.
"Absent management is a critical part of managing your human capital, ...