American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, March 10 to 14

The annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons was held from March 10 to 14 in San Diego, drawing approximately 2,000 participants from around the world. The conference highlighted recent advances in the diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal conditions, with presentations focusing on joint fractures, osteoarthritis, other musculoskeletal injuries, and factors impacting the outcomes of joint replacement procedures.

In a retrospective study, Nicholas M. Brown, M.D., of the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, and colleagues identified an increase in the quality of life of the spouse of a patient who underwent a total hip or total knee arthroplasty.

The authors surveyed 100 spouses of individuals who underwent total hip (50) or total knee (50) arthroplasty and followed them for up to two years, assessing quality-of-life measures.

The researchers cited a transient dip in spouses” quality of life in the acute postoperative period as they took care of their partners after surgery; however, the majority of spouses had an increase in their quality of life following the postoperative period. The investigators also found that spouses of hip arthroplasty patients had slightly better quality of life than the spouses of knee arthroplasty patients, which is also what is typically seen with hip versus knee replacement patients.

“The conclusion is that we can counsel patients that not only will the patient”s life improve after a hip or knee replacement, but the spouse”s quality of life will also typically improve,” Brown said. “Often it”s a shared decision with the spouse if and when the patient should get a hip or knee replacement, so knowing that the spouse typically will also have an improvement in their quality of life is useful in the decision-making process.”

Abstract

In another study, Dane Brodke, M.D., of the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues found that passively collected smartphone mobility data, such as step counts and walking speed, correlate with clinically observed mobility trends after lower-extremity fracture surgery.

The authors explored the potential of using passively collected smartphone mobility data (Apple Health metrics) to track recovery after lower-extremity fracture surgery. Step counts, walking speed, and other mobility metrics were analyzed for 107 patients who had sustained a lower-extremity fracture requiring surgery.

The researchers found that smartphone mobility metrics mirrored the expected clinical trends in mobility, with a significant drop in step counts and other measures immediately after injury and a gradual return toward preinjury levels during the recovery period of six months or longer. In addition, the investigators found that step counts differentiated between patients with and without nonunions. Patients with nonunions recovered their step counts 55 percent more slowly than patients without nonunions.