Becker's Spine Review reported on five studies in the last 30 days that orthopedic surgeons should know.
1. A presurgical blood test can predict how quickly hip replacement patients will recover, according to a study published in Annals of Surgery. The study, led by Stanford (Calif.) Medicine researchers, involved 49 hip replacement patients between 57 and 68 years old. It found that those with the strongest immune function before surgery recovered 34 percent faster than those with weaker immune function.
2. Basketball players who drive past defenders to try and score are more likely to risk anterior cruciate ligament tears, researchers at Stanford (Calif.) University found. Researchers analyzed player performance and injury data from 37 NBA seasons. The study found players with high career driving tendencies had ACL tears at a rate of 5.2 percent. Those with low driving tendencies had ACL tear rates of 3.8 percent.
3. More medical students have applied for orthopedic surgery residencies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they had more research items compared with past years, according to a study from Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. Researchers reviewed trends in orthopedic residency application cycles from a single Northeast program between 2015 and 2021.
4. More adolescents and adults younger than 21 are undergoing hip replacement surgeries, according to a study from New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery. The study, published in the Journal of Arthroplasty, found the number of young patients who had hip replacements rose from 347 in 2000 to 551 in 2016 while the total pediatric population in the U.S. remained stable.
5. Patients who had robot-assisted total knee replacements had lower complication rates in the first three months after surgery, researchers at New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery found. Using a national database, the hospital assessed 1.3 million total knee replacements performed from 2010-18 and categorized them as conventional, technology-assisted or robot-assisted.