PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Steven L Frick

Publications and source records attributed to Steven L Frick.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Advances in the surgical management of pediatric femoral shaft fractures.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To provide an update on surgical methods of pediatric femur fracture treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: Multiple studies describe successful results with elastic nail stabilization of pediatric femur fractures. The indications and risk factors for complications are being more clearly defined. Trochanteric entry-locked intramedullary nailing and submuscular bridge plating have also recently been reported to produce excellent outcomes in a high percentage of patients. Older (>11 years) patients, heavier patients and patients with length-unstable fracture patterns may be best treated with locked nailing or plating. SUMMARY: Pediatric femur fractures can be successfully treated by a number of methods. This review examines the recent literature to provide some guidelines for choosing amongst the options for surgical stabilization.

Bone Nails↗
PubMed2006

Evaluation of the child who has hip pain.

Evaluation of children who have hip pain can be a diagnostic challenge. This article reviews pertinent history taking, physical examination, laboratory testing, and imaging studies that assist in reaching a correct diagnosis. It also reviews the diagnostic categories that are important in formulating a differential diagnosis to frame clinical decision making.

Arthralgia↗
PubMed2006

Ponseti management of clubfoot in older infants.

UNLABELLED: Treatment of clubfoot with the Ponseti method is successful when performed immediately after birth. We treated 23 infants (36 feet) who presented to us after casting, applied at other institutions, failed or after 3 months of age. Twenty-two infants had serial casting started during the first 2 months, and one infant who was 6 months old at presentation had not received previous treatment. The original orthopaedists of 18 patients advised posteromedial release. The parameter studied was the need for posteromedial release (ie, failure of Ponseti casting and percutaneous Achilles tenotomy to obtain satisfactory clinical appearance). Only one (2.8%) of 36 feet required open surgical release (posterior only). Thirty-five feet required percutaneous Achilles tenotomy. A mean of six Ponseti casts were applied before tenotomy. Two feet (two infants) required anterior tibialis transfer for mild relapse; three other feet (two infants) required repeat casting for mild relapse. Most pediatric orthopaedists think that successful clubfoot casting depends on treatment started immediately after birth. Our data suggest that older infants with clubfoot can be treated successfully without extensive surgery. Our results in older infants are similar to the results of a previous study we conducted with younger infants. In that study, one (2.9%) of 34 feet required posteromedial release surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic study, Level IV (Case series). See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Achilles Tendon↗
PubMed2006

Gene expression during fracture healing in rats comparing intramedullary fixation to plate fixation by DNA microarray.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to compare mRNA gene expression in healing diaphyseal femoral fractures between those injuries treated with intramedullary nails and those treated with internal plate fixation. DESIGN: RNA gene expression was measured at 1 day, 3 days, and 1, 2, 4, and 6 weeks after surgery in the fracture callus of rats randomized to femoral shaft fracture with intramedullary nail fixation, rigid plate fixation, or sham fracture. SETTING: AAALAC-accredited vivarium of an independent academic medical center. ANIMALS: Fifty-seven, adult, female, Sprague-Dawley rats at 16 weeks of age. INTERVENTION: Femoral fracture with intramedullary nail fixation, femoral fracture with plate and screw fixation, or sham surgery with no fracture. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: RNA expression for 8700 genes was measured with 19 Affymetrix U34A microarrays. The fracture callus was significantly larger with intramedullary nail fixation than with plate fixation. Most genes responded to fracture with a change in mRNA expression. Most of the responding genes followed the same time course for both fixation methods. This included genes related to growth factors, bone matrix, mast cells, most nerve factors, and hematopoiesis. The intramedullary nail group had significantly greater up-regulation for transcripts related to cartilage, cell division, inflammation, and the acetylcholine receptor. There was significantly greater up-regulation in the plate group for genes related to macrophage activity. CONCLUSIONS: There were differentially expressed genes present between the 2 surgical groups that may give insight into the control of fracture repair.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

The Ponseti method of treatment for congenital clubfoot: importance of maximal forefoot supination in initial casting.

The correction of cavus deformity requires further supination of the forefoot. In the Ponseti method, the initial cast is applied with the forefoot supinated such that the plane of the metatarsal heads is parallel to the long axis of the tibia. This study reviewed Pirani scores of 27 patients with 38 clubfeet treated over an 18-month period by the Ponseti method to evaluate changes in midfoot deformity after the initial cast. Initial average scores for severity of the lateral border deformity, medial crease, and talonavicular joint reducibility decreased from 0.92, 0.75, and 0.75, respectively, to 0.73, 0.25, and 0.5, respectively, after the first cast. The improvement in Pirani scores provides support for the efficacy of the initial cast to reduce the cavus and also increase the reducibility of the midfoot. Failure to address the cavus deformity with the initial cast as described by Ponseti may lead to persistent rigidity and incomplete correction.

Casts, Surgical↗
PubMed2004

Informed consent is not routinely documented for procedures using allografts.

Patients who receive musculoskeletal allografts may have severe postoperative infections develop. Media reports have heightened public awareness of the risk of allograft use. Explaining these risks to patients preoperatively has become more important as attention to informed consent issues has increased. This study retrospectively investigated the patterns of informed consent for allograft bone used during elective orthopaedic procedures at a major teaching hospital. Forty-seven (32%) of 148 patients had preoperative discussions of allograft risks and benefits documented with a signed preoperative consent. In nearly 70% of the cases in which structural allograft was used, preoperative consent was documented. Only 8% of cases in which nonstructural, highly processed allograft was used had documented preoperative consent. Forty-eight (32%) of 148 patients were treated with allograft and autograft. Consent was obtained for the harvesting and use of autograft from 90% of these patients. In none of these patients was consent obtained for the allograft used. Although risks of disease transmission vary widely with the degree of allograft processing and the source of its procurement, informed consent for any allograft use should be a routine part of preoperative discussions of risks and benefits in elective orthopaedic surgeries.

Bone Transplantation↗
PubMed2003

Spinal osteochondroma presenting as atypical spinal curvature: a case report.

STUDY DESIGN: The case of an 8-year-old girl with hereditary multiple exostosis presenting with atypical spinal curvature is reported. OBJECTIVE: To describe a case of spinal curvature caused by an osteochondroma, illustrating the need for careful evaluation of patients with hereditary multiple exostosis presenting with "scoliosis." SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Osteochondromas have been known to arise in the spinal canal and to present with symptoms of neural compression. Spinal curvature is a rare presenting sign of osteochondromas. METHODS: The patient's medical and radiographic history is reviewed as well as the medical literature. RESULTS: An 8-year-old girl with hereditary multiple exostosis was referred for possible thoracotomy and anterior decompression of a T4 osteochondroma thought to be causing an atypical "scoliosis." Further examination, review of the radiographs, and computed tomography scan showed a large L4 osteochondroma encroaching on the neural elements. The patient's neurologic symptoms and spinal curvature resolved in the 2 years after surgical excision of the lumbar osteochondroma. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with hereditary multiple exostosis and spinal curvature require further diagnostic evaluation to ensure that an osteochondroma in the spinal canal is not the cause of that curvature.

Child↗
PubMed2003

Femoral anteversion in children with cerebral palsy. Assessment with two and three-dimensional computed tomography scans.

BACKGROUND: Assessment of femoral anteversion in children with cerebral palsy with two or three-dimensional computed tomography scans may be limited by both positional and anatomic variables. Three-dimensional computed tomography techniques are considered to be more accurate than two-dimensional imaging when the femur is not optimally positioned in the gantry or when the neck-shaft angle is increased. METHODS: Computed tomography scanning was performed on a series of nine model femora with anteversion ranging from 20 degrees to 60 degrees and neck-shaft angles ranging from 120 degrees to 160 degrees. Each femoral model was scanned in two holding devices, the first of which held the femur in optimal alignment (normal model) and the second of which held the femur in flexion, adduction, and internal rotation (cerebral palsy model) relative to the gantry. Femoral anteversion was calculated for each model from two and three-dimensional computed tomography scans by four examiners on two separate occasions. The intraobserver and interobserver reliability, the accuracy, and the effect of increasing the neck-shaft angle on the accuracy of the measurements made on the two and three-dimensional scans of the normal and cerebral palsy models were then examined. RESULTS: The mean differences in the measurements of femoral anteversion made by the same examiner (intraobserver reliability) were <2 degrees for the two-dimensional scans of the normal and cerebral palsy models and the three-dimensional scans of the normal models, and the mean difference was <4 degrees for the three-dimensional scans of the cerebral palsy models. The mean differences among examiners (interobserver reliability) were <3 degrees for the two-dimensional scans of the normal and cerebral palsy models and the three-dimensional scans of the normal models, and the mean difference was <6 degrees for the three-dimensional scans of the cerebral palsy models. The accuracy of the assessments of femoral anteversion of the normally aligned models was comparable between the two and three-dimensional scans. However, the three-dimensional assessment was significantly more accurate than the two-dimensional assessment for measurement of anteversion of the cerebral palsy models (p = 0.003). Accuracy within 5 degrees was comparable between the two and three-dimensional scans for measurement of the normally aligned models, with 86% of the two-dimensional measurements and 78% of the three-dimensional measurements falling within 5 degrees of the actual measurements. However, the accuracy within 5 degrees was significantly compromised when the models were placed in cerebral palsy alignment. Only 3% of the two-dimensional measurements and 14% of the three-dimensional measurements fell within 5 degrees of the actual measurements, with three-dimensional assessment being significantly better than two-dimensional assessment (p = 0.006). Increasing the neck-shaft angle did not significantly compromise the accuracy of measurement of femoral anteversion with either the two-dimensional or the three-dimensional technique (p > 0.05 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS: When adequate alignment of the femur in the computed tomography scanner was possible, a simple two-dimensional technique exhibited excellent intraobserver and interobserver reliability and clinically acceptable accuracy within the relevant ranges of anatomic variability tested (neck-shaft angles of 120 degrees to 160 degrees and femoral anteversion of 20 degrees to 60 degrees). When optimal alignment of the femur in the scanner was not possible, neither two-dimensional nor three-dimensional techniques exhibited clinically acceptable accuracy for the measurement of femoral anteversion.

Cerebral Palsy↗
PubMed2002

Surgical correction of residual hip dysplasia in two pediatric age-groups.

BACKGROUND: The goal of operative treatment of hip dysplasia or subluxation in children is to normalize the hip joint to delay or prevent the premature onset of osteoarthritis. In theory, intervention in early childhood, when the remodeling potential is greater, should provide the best opportunity for the development of a normal joint. METHODS: To determine the efficacy of early surgical intervention in restoring the normal morphology of the hip, according to radiographic criteria, we reviewed the cases of thirty-six children (fifty hips) with residual dysplasia or subluxation who were managed with either a femoral and/or a pelvic osteotomy when they were between two and eight years old (Group I). The average age at the time of surgery was 3.7 years, and the average duration of follow-up was 4.3 years. We compared these results with those achieved in fourteen patients (eighteen hips) with residual hip dysplasia or subluxation who were treated surgically at an older age, between eight and eighteen years old (Group II). The outcome was assessed with use of clinical as well as multiple radiographic criteria. We believe that a normal relationship between the acetabulum and the femoral head was established when there was an acetabular index of <20 degrees or a Sharp angle of <42 degrees, a center-edge angle of >20 degrees, and an intact Shenton's line. RESULTS: At the time of the latest follow-up, sixteen of the seventeen hips with residual dysplasia that had been treated with pelvic osteotomy alone in Group I and three of four such hips in Group II had a normal relationship between the acetabulum and the femoral head. Normal radiographic findings were noted in fifteen of the seventeen hips with residual subluxation that had been treated with combined femoral and pelvic osteotomies in Group I compared with four of eight such hips in Group II. CONCLUSIONS: We found that residual hip dysplasia or subluxation could be more predictably corrected, with normal radiographic results and with less morbidity and fewer complications, in children who were between two and eight years old than in those who were between eight and eighteen years old. Long-term follow-up is required to confirm whether the improved anatomy and function of the hip that resulted from early correction of residual dysplasia or subluxation lasts into adulthood.

Bone Diseases, Developmental↗