PubMed · 16122465
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Julian E Losanoff. 2005. Invited commentary.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2005.05.019
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The repeatability of shoulder instability clinical examinations has been reported to be poor, producing a large range of translations. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of providing the clinician with joint orientation feedback on the magnitude and precision of glenohumeral joint kinematics. A 6-degree of freedom magnetic tracking system was used to determine the kinematics of the humerus with respect to the scapula (n=8 cadaveric shoulders). The joints were preconditioned with simple loading tests five times. At 60 degrees of glenohumeral abduction and 0 degrees of flexion/extension, a clinician then applied an anterior and posterior load to the humerus until a manual maximum simulating a simple translation test (STT) was achieved at 0, 30, and 60 degrees of external rotation with and without angular orientation feedback of the humerus with respect to the scapula. The precision for the external rotation was within 4.3 degrees for the feedback group and 17.5 degrees for the no feedback group over all external rotations. For achieving the target external rotation of 30 degrees , there was a significant difference in precision between the feedback and no feedback groups (p<0.05). The magnitudes of the anterior translations were 18.2+/-5.3, 15.5+/-5.1, and 9.9+/-5.5 mm for the feedback group and 19.3+/-6.6, 17.5+/-4.9, and 11.5+/-5.3 mm for the no feedback group, at 0, 30, and 60 degrees of external rotation, respectively. There was a significant difference in the precision of anterior translation at 30 and 60 degrees of external rotation for 4 of 8 specimens (p<0.05). Significant differences in the precision of the posterior translation was only detected at 0 degrees of external rotation for 3 of 8 specimens (p<0.05). Based on the data obtained, providing orientation feedback to a clinician performing a simulated STT results in increased precision for not only the target external rotations but also the resulting glenohumeral translations. While providing feedback may be a necessary step to achieving precise results for experimental studies, the magnitudes of translations in the anterior and posterior directions were relatively similar for the feedback and no feedback states indicating little benefit for clinical examinations.
BACKGROUND: Complex intra-articular distal humerus fractures are relatively uncommon injuries but are fraught with poor outcomes such as malunion, elbow stiffness and deformity. Various types of internal fixation screw-plate constructs have been developed to improve fixation. Specifically, a 90 degrees offset periarticular system lowers the profile on the lateral epicondyle, yet it is unclear how this design compares to other plate constructs. This study compared the mechanical stiffness and plate surface strains between two types of constructs for stabilization of complex distal humerus fractures. METHODS: Identical bi-columnar segmental intra-articular fractures were created in ten epoxy composite left humeri. Models were randomly assigned to two groups (n=5/group) with either parallel plates or perpendicular plates. Rosette strain gages were placed at the most distal possible space on the lateral plate for both constructs. Models were mechanically tested with estimates of physiologic loads in flexion, extension, varus, valgus axial compression and axial torsion. Data for mechanical stiffness, transverse plate strain and longitudinal plate strain were compared with a one-way ANOVA (P<0.05). FINDINGS: There was no statistical difference in stiffness in any direction. The longitudinal strain for the 90 degrees construct was significantly lower in axial compression. The 180 degrees system demonstrated significantly lower transverse strains during axial torsion. INTERPRETATION: Both systems demonstrated similar mechanical stiffness theoretically providing similar fracture stabilization. Plate strain differences may affect fragment position, but it is unclear how much plate loading occurs in vivo. Surgeon experience and preference may dictate the choice of a plate construct for this fracture configuration.
In this study, the challenge to maximise the potential of gait analysis by employing advanced methods was addressed by using self-organising neural networks to quantify the deviation of patients' gait from normal. Data including three-dimensional joint angles, moments and powers of the two lower limbs and the pelvis were used to train Kohonen artificial neural networks to learn an abstract definition of normal gait. Subsequently, data from patients with gait problems were presented to the network which quantified the quality of gait in the form of a single curve by calculating the quantisation error during the gait cycle. A sensitivity analysis involving the manipulation of gait variables' weighting was able to highlight specific causes of the deviation including the anatomical location and the timing of wrong gait patterns. Use of the quantisation error can be regarded as an extension of previously described gait indices because it measures the goodness of gait and additionally provides information related to the causes underlying gait deviations.