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Orthopaedic injuries of the upper extremity remain common, often requiring prolonged immobilization after surgical or nonsurgical management. Upper extremity immobilization often has a profound effect on a patient's daily life, including one's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. Current literature on the safety of driving while immobilized is varied, although above-elbow immobilization of the upper extremity is generally thought to present a particular hazard to safe driving. Unfortunately, as common as this situation is, currently little to no guidance exists for patients, physicians, or lawmakers with regard to deciding whether a patient is safe to return to driving with upper extremity immobilization. Similar discord exists with the issue of patient and physician liability in such cases. In this review, we seek to present both historical precedent and a contemporary update of this complex, though a frequently encountered situation.

BACKGROUND: Acetabular fixation during revision total hip arthroplasty in patients who have a nonsupportive superior dome and proximal migration of the acetabular component (a Paprosky Type-IIIa defect) cannot be achieved reliably with use of a hemispherical porouscoated component alone. The purposes of the present study were to determine the long-term results associated with the use of a porous-coated hemispherical acetabular component, supported with a distal femoral structural allograft, for revision at the site of a Type-IIIa defect and to determine if graft resorption leads to late failure. METHODS: Thirty-one patients who had an acetabular reconstruction with use of a distal femoral allograft for the treatment of a Type-IIIa defect between January 1985 and December 1990 were followed annually with clinical and radiographic evaluations. At the time of the latest follow-up, eight patients had died and one patient had been lost to follow-up. One of the patients who died had had a clinical failure at 4.5 years postoperatively and was included in the analysis. Therefore, twenty-three patients, who had had an average age of sixty-one years at the time of the index procedure, were evaluated at an average of 10.3 years postoperatively. RESULTS: Five acetabular components were re-revised because of aseptic loosening at an average of 5.3 years after the index procedure. Radiographically, all but one of the remaining components were stable and showed evidence of bone ingrowth. The average Merle D'Aubigne and Postel hip score improved from 5 points preoperatively to 10 points at the time of the latest follow-up. Allograft bone resorption, although difficult to quantitate, was observed around six of the seventeen stable components and around two of the five components that failed clinically. CONCLUSIONS: Acetabular revision with use of a porous-coated acetabular component along with a structural distal femoral allograft for the treatment of a Type-IIIa defect demonstrated a high rate of clinical and radiographic success after an average of ten years of follow-up.

Background and Objectives Sacral amputations above the S2 body often involve increased surgical complexity leading to long-term morbidity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether proximal sacral amputations have substantially higher perioperative morbidity compared with more distal sacral amputations. Methods We evaluated the effect of sacral amputation level on perioperative outcomes within 90 days of surgery. Outcome measures included blood loss, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay, hospital cost, and incidence of a major and minor morbidity. Survival analyses were adjusted for the level of resection and histological appearance. Results Thirteen proximal and 14 distal resections were performed. In comparing proximal versus distal resections, median estimated blood loss was 4 L versus 1 L (P

Background: Acetabular fixation during revision total hip arthroplasty in patients who have a nonsupportive superior dome and proximal migration of the acetabular component (a Paprosky Type-IIIa defect) cannot be achieved reliably with use of a hemispherical porous-coated component alone. The purposes of the present study were to determine the long-term results associated with the use of a porous-coated hemispherical acetabular component, supported with a distal femoral structural allograft, for revision at the site of a Type-IIIa defect and to determine if graft resorption leads to late failure. Methods: Thirty-one patients who had an acetabular reconstruction with use of a distal femoral allograft for the treatment of a Type-IIIa defect between January 1985 and December 1990 were followed annually with clinical and radiographic evaluations. At the time of the latest follow-up, eight patients had died and one patient had been lost to follow-up. One of the patients who died had had a clinical failure at 4.5 years postoperatively and was included in the analysis. Therefore, twenty-three patients, who had had an average age of sixty-one years at the time of the index procedure, were evaluated at an average of 10.3 years postoperatively. Results: Five acetabular components were re-revised because of aseptic loosening at an average of 5.3 years after the index procedure. Radiographically, all but one of the remaining components were stable and showed evidence of bone ingrowth. The average Merle D'Aubigne and Postel hip score improved from 5 points preoperatively to 10 points at the time of the latest follow-up. Allograft bone resorption, although difficult to quantitate, was observed around six of the seventeen stable components and around two of the five components that failed clinically. Conclusions: Acetabular revision with use of a porous-coated acetabular component along with a structural distal femoral allograft for the treatment of a Type-IIIa defect demonstrated a high rate of clinical and radiographic success after an average of ten years of follow-up. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine whether immobilization of an arm has detrimental effects on driving performance. Methods: Thirty-six healthy officers-in-training were assigned a sequence of fiberglass splints (left and right-sided above-the-elbow thumb spica and below-the-elbow splints) with use of a randomized higher-order crossover design. Runs were scored on a cone-marked driving course used for officer certification with predetermined passing requirements. Driving time, the number of cones hit per course section, and the cone-adjusted total time (a five-second penalty per hit cone) were recorded. A linear mixed-effect model with random environmental and learning effects for cone-adjusted time analysis was used. Participants rated perceived driving difficulty and safety with each splint, and ratings were compared with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: Thirty participants completed the entire set of runs. Analysis of total cone-adjusted time revealed a significant performance decrease with the left arm in an above-the-elbow thumb spica splint (average, 22.2 seconds; p < 0.001) and with the left arm in a below-the-elbow splint (average, 16.2; p = 0.007). Analysis of forward-only course sections revealed poorer performance trends with all splints, with the worst performance with the left arm in an above-the-elbow thumb spica splint. Driving with the left arm in an above-the-elbow thumb spica splint had the highest perceived difficulty (median, 8.0) and lowest perceived safety (median, 3.0). Conclusions: Driving performance as measured with a standardized track and scoring system was significantly degraded with splint immobilization of the left arm. Further studies are required to determine the effect of arm immobilization on normal driving conditions.

A case of a total hip arthroplasty infection with Staphylococcus aureus, co-infected with Salmonella choleraesuis was treated with two-stage exchange and administration of vancomycin and ciprofloxacin. No signs of re-infection have appeared fourteen months after surgery. Cases of salmonella infection of hip prostheses are quite rare, with only a handful of reports in the literature.