Patients with proximal femoral fractures (PFFs) are often multimorbid, thus unplanned readmissions following surgery are common. We therefore aimed to analyze 30-day and one-year readmission rates, reasons for, and factors associated with, readmission risk in a cohort of patients with surgically treated PFFs across Austria. Data from 11,270 patients with PFFs, treated surgically (osteosyntheses, n = 6,435; endoprostheses, n = 4,835) at Austrian hospitals within a one-year period (January to December 2021) was retrieved from the Leistungsorientierte Krankenanstaltenfinanzierung (Achievement-Oriented Hospital Financing). The 30-day and one-year readmission rates were reported. Readmission risk for any complication, as well as general medicine-, internal medicine-, and surgery/injury-associated complications, and factors associated with readmissions, were investigated.Aims
Methods
To improve the challenging treatment of periprosthetic joint infections (PJI), researchers are constantly developing new handling methods and strategies. In patients with PJI after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and severe local or systemic comorbidities, a two-stage exchange using a temporary antibiotic loaded PMMA-spacer is considered gold standard. This method has undisputed advantages, however, the increased risk of biofilm formation on the spacer surface, bone defects and soft tissue contractions after a six-week spacer interval are severe limitations. Our hypothesis is that a vacuum sealed foam in combination with constant instillation of an antiseptic fluid can address these drawbacks due to a significantly reduced spacer interval. A pilot study was conducted in five PJI cases after TKA with severe comorbidities and/or multiple previous operations to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the proposed method. In the first step, surgical treatment included the explantation of the prosthesis, debridement, and the implantation of the VeraFlo-Dressing foam. The foam is connected to the VAC-Instill-Device via an inflow and an outflow tube. The surgical site is sealed airtight with the VAC-film. During the next 5 days, an antiseptic fluid (Lavasorb® or Taurolidine®) is instilled in a 30-minute interval using the VAC-Instill-Device. The limb is immobilized (no flexion in the knee joint, no weight bearing) for five days. Following that, the second operation is performed in which the VAC-VeraFloTM-Therapy System is explanted and the revision TKA is implanted after debridement of the joint.Aim
Method
In the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI), many biomarkers have shown a sound performance in terms of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. In this study we aimed to test the frequently used serum biomarkers C-reactive Protein (CRP), Fibrinogen, Leukocytes, Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interferon alpha (IF-alpha) and Procalcitonin (PCT) regarding these qualities. Following that, the optimal multi-biomarker combination was calculated to further improve the diagnostic performance. 124 knee or hip revision arthroplasty procedures were prospectively investigated focusing on preoperative serum blood levels of CRP, Fibrinogen, Leukocytes, IL-6, IF-alpha and PCT. The presence of PJI was determined by a blinded researcher. Logistic regression with lasso-regularization was used for the biomarkers and all their ratios. Following cross-validation on a training sample set to get optimal performance estimates, we performed the final model on a test set (25% of all samples).Aim
Method
