Risk factors for intra-operative and post-operative fractures associated with primary total ankle replacement surgery - a data linkage study from the UK National Joint Registry

Category: Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Intra and post-operative fractures are recognised complications of total ankle replacement (TAR) surgery. Intra-operative fractures are captured on the National Joint Registry (NJR) in the UK. The NJR has been capturing data on ankle replacement surgery since April 2010 and the number of TARs on the register is approaching 4000. Post-operative fractures are captured in the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) database. HES stores all patients admitted to NHS hospitals in England and captures 125 million records each year. Diagnostic information is stored using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and operative details using the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys Classification (OPCS) codes. The purpose of this work was to determine the rate of intra and post-operative fracture with primary TAR and determine risk factors. Methods: A data-linkage study of the UK National Joint Registry (NJR) data and Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) database was peformed using the first 3 years of NJR data. These two databases were linked in a deterministic fashion. 1522 NJR records were linked with the HES data set of over 90 million records. 1110 records were able to linked and available for analysis. Unlinked NJR data was analysed to identify intra-operative fractures. Linked data was analysed to identify post-operative fractures using ICD codes. Logistic regression was used to model predictors of intra and post-operative fractures. Every model was adjusted for patient characteristics including age, BMI, comorbidity and ASA grade. Results: The rate of intra-operative fracture was 2.69% (95% CI 2.67% to 2.74%). When looking at patient characteristics no significant predictors emerged. Logistic regression adjusted for patient characteristics showed that patients with rheumatoid arthritis were twice as likely to have a intra-operative fractures. The rate of post-operative fracture in the 12 months following primary TAR was 1.08% (95% CI 1.05% to 1.14%). Age emerged as a risk factor with a 5 five fold increase in risk of post-operative fracture with age 65-74 compared with those below 65. Adjusted logistic regression showed an increase risk of post-operative fracture in rheumatoid patients, hybrid operations and with those with multiple concurrent procedures. The risk of fracture was doubled with one associated procedure and tripled with two procedures. Conclusion: The rate of intra and post-operative fracture associated with primary total ankle replacement is low. However care should be taken with patients over 65 as they are at greater risk of intra operative fractures. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at greater risk of both, likely due to the effect of drug treatment. All efforts should be made to review medications and bone protective medication prescribed for these patents when undergoing TAR

Effectiveness of targeted screening for chronic kidney disease in the community setting: a systematic review

Background: Targeted screening interventions for chronickidney disease (CKD) are increasingly being implementedin various community settings. However, the overall successof these programs is uncertain. Therefore, the aim ofthis review is to determine whether targeted screening iseffective in detecting people with undiagnosed CKD.Methods: We performed a systematic literature review,and included studies of targeted screening interventionimplemented in any community-based setting. Studies wererequired to have targeted people aged≥18 years, and multipleCKD risk factors from the following: diabetes, hypertension,cardiovascular disease and family history of kidneydisease. The outcome measures were percentages of participantswith positive screening test results and diagnosedwith CKD at follow-up.Results: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Eightstudies reported the percentage of participants with positivescreening test results, which ranged from 7 to 60.3%. Onlytwo studies repeated the diagnostic tests to detect CKD,and confirmed the chronicity of CKD in 20.5 and 17.1%of screened participants. The most commonly used screeningtests were albumin creatinine ratio (≥3.4  mg/mmol),and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (Conclusions: This systematic review found significantvariation in the methods that were used to detect CKD,with the majority of studies reporting results based on onlysingle albuminuria or eGFR values. Future targeted screeningprograms should appropriately use the 2012 KDIGOguidelines in order to detect CKD, which is necessary todetermine the benefit of these programs when implementedin community-settings

MRI Classification of subtalar and talonavicular joint osteoarthritis

Category: Hindfoot Introduction/Purpose: The sublatar joint is formed by the articulation of the talus and the calcaneus. The Calcaneus had three facets; posterior, middle and anterior that articulate with the talus. The anterior facet is also continuous with the Talonavicular joint. Plain radiography of the foot and ankle is the usual method to detect degeneration in these joints, however plain films do not permit full characterisation of non-ossified structures, such as articular cartilage, marrow tissue and synovial fluid. MRI is a better way to detect these changes. The aim of this study was to develop a quantitative way to score arthritic changes to the subtalar and talonavicular joints using MRI that was usable, repeatable and reliable. Methods: The MRI scans of thirty consecutive subjects with foot and ankle pain were retrospectively evaluated. MRI images were obtained using 1.5-T MRI. Images were interpreted independently by three musculoskeletal radiologists. In order to determine intra-observer reliability as well as the inter-observer reliability two of the readers independently scored the studies twice, more than 14 days apart. Five features of osteoarthritis were scored in the Subtalar joint and the Talonavicular joint. These were; cartilage morphology, subarticular marrow, subarticular cyst, marginal osteophytes and synovitis. The Subtalar joint was scored in eight different regions and Talonavicular joint in two The maximum score for both regions was 100. Scores were summarised and Inter- and Intra-observer agreement was calculated. Intraclass coefficient values less than 0.40 were poor, fair between 0.40 and 0.59 were fair, values between 0.60 and 0.74 were good, and values between 0.75 and 1 excellent. Results: For the 30 MRI scans the mean score for the Subtalar joint ranged from 11.7 to 14.4 and for the Talonavicular joint ranged from 3.7 to 5.6. The inter-observer correlation for the Subtalar joint between the three readers ranged between 0.53 and 0.83 for the individual features but overall was excellent at 0.76. For the Talonavicular joint the total correlation was good at 0.67. The inter-observer ICC for the total score was 0.75 which showed excellent agreement between the three readers. The total intra-observer correlation was excellent. Conclusion: We have designed a novel scoring system subtalar and talonavicular arthritis that is easy to perform and demonstrates excellent reliability and may be an extremely useful tool for clinical trials on ankle arthritis and other studies to diagnose and monitor disease progression