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Aging is associated with impaired tissue regeneration. Stem cell number and function have been identified as potential culprits. We first demonstrate a direct correlation between stem cell number and time to bone fracture union in a human patient cohort. We then devised an animal model recapitulating this age-associated decline in bone healing and identified increased cellular senescence caused by a systemic and local proinflammatory environment as the major contributor to the decline in skeletal stem/progenitor cell (SSPC) number and function. Decoupling age-associated systemic inflammation from chronological aging by using transgenic Nfkb1KO mice, we determined that the elevated inflammatory environment, and not chronological age, was responsible for the decrease in SSPC number and function. By using a pharmacological approach inhibiting NF-κB activation, we demonstrate a functional rejuvenation of aged SSPCs with decreased senescence, increased SSPC number, and increased osteogenic function. Unbiased, whole-genome RNA sequencing confirmed the reversal of the aging phenotype. Finally, in an ectopic model of bone healing, we demonstrate a functional restoration of regenerative potential in aged SSPCs. These data identify aging-associated inflammation as the cause of SSPC dysfunction and provide mechanistic insights into its reversal.

Objective To compare the outcomes of patients with segmental bone loss who underwent repair with the induced membrane technique (IMT) with a matched cohort of nonunion fractures without bone loss. Design Retrospective analysis on prospectively collected data. Setting Academic medical center. Patients Two cohorts of patients, those with upper and lower extremity diaphyseal large segmental bone loss and those with ununited fractures, were enrolled prospectively between 2013 and 2020. Sixteen patients who underwent repair of 17 extremities with segmental diaphyseal or meta-diaphyseal bone defects treated with the induced membrane technique were identified, and matched with 17 patients who were treated for 17 fracture nonunions treated without an induced membrane. Sixteen of the bone defects treated with the induced membrane technique were due to acute bone loss, and the other was a chronic aseptic nonunion. Main Outcome Measurements Healing rate, time to union, functional outcome scores using the Short Musculoskeletal Functional Assessment (SMFA) and pain assessed by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Results The initial average defect size for patients treated with the induced membrane technique was 8.85 cm. Mean follow-up times were similar with 17.06 ± 10.13 months for patients treated with the IMT, and 20.35 ± 16.68. months for patients treated without the technique. Complete union was achieved in 15/17 (88.2%) of segmental bone loss cases treated with the IMT and 17/17 (100%) of cases repaired without the technique at the latest follow up visit. The average time to union for patients treated with the induced membrane technique was 13.0 ± 8.4 months and 9.64 ± 4.7 months for the matched cohort. There were no significant differences in reported outcomes measured by the SMFA or VAS. Patients treated with the induced membrane technique required more revision surgeries than those not treated with an induced membrane. Conclusion Outcomes following treatment of acute bone loss from the diaphysis of long bones with the induced membrane technique produces clinical and radiographic outcomes similar to those of long bone fracture nonunions without bone loss that go on to heal. Level of evidence: III.

Background Tibial shaft fractures (TSFs) are among the most common long bone injuries often resulting from high-energy trauma. To date, musculoskeletal complications such as fracture-related infection (FRI) and compromised fracture healing following fracture fixation of these injuries are still prevalent. The relatively high complication rates prove that, despite advances in modern fracture care, the management of TSFs remains a challenge even in the hands of experienced surgeons. Therefore, the Fracture-Related Outcome Study for operatively treated Tibia shaft fractures (F.R.O.S.T.) aims at creating a registry that enables data mining to gather detailed information to support future clinical decision-making regarding the management of TSF’s. Methods This prospective, international, multicenter, observational registry for TSFs was recently developed. Recruitment started in 2019 and is planned to take 36 months, seeking to enroll a minimum of 1000 patients. The study protocol does not influence the clinical decision-making procedure, implant choice, or surgical/imaging techniques; these are being performed as per local hospital standard of care. Data collected in this registry include injury specifics, treatment details, clinical outcomes (e.g., FRI), patient-reported outcomes, and procedure- or implant-related adverse events. The minimum follow up is 12 months. Discussion Although over the past decades, multiple high-quality studies have addressed individual research questions related to the outcome of TSFs, knowledge gaps remain. The scarcity of data calls for an international high-quality, population-based registry. Creating such a database could optimize strategies intended to prevent severe musculoskeletal complications. The main purpose of the F.R.O.S.T registry is to evaluate the association between different treatment strategies and patient outcomes. It will address not only operative techniques and implant materials but also perioperative preventive measures. For the first time, data concerning systemic perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, the influence of local antimicrobials, and timing of soft-tissue coverage will be collected at an international level and correlated with standardized outcome measures in a large prospective, multicenter, observational registry for global accessibility. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT03598530 .

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the admitting service on cost of care for hip fracture patients by comparing the cost difference between patients admitted to the medicine service versus those admitted to a surgical service. Methods: A 2-year cohort of patients 55 years or older who were admitted to a single level 1 trauma center with an operative hip fracture were included. Patient demographics, comorbidities, admitting service, complications, and hospital length of stay were recorded for each patient. Cost of hospitalization, discharge disposition, and 30-day readmissions were collected. Patients who were admitted to the medicine service (medicine cohort) were compared to those admitted to a surgery service (surgery cohort). Multivariate regression models controlling for age, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), and American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) scores were used to evaluate hospitalization costs with a P value of <.05 as significant. Results: Two hundred twenty-five hip fracture patients were included; 143 (63.6%) patients were admitted to a surgical service, while 82 (36.4%) were admitted to the medicine service. Patients admitted to medicine service had greater CCI and ASA scores, longer lengths of stay, and more complications than those patients admitted to surgery service. Linear regression model controlling for age, CCI, ASA score, and time to surgery demonstrates that patients admitted to a surgical service will have 2.0-day (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.561-3.503; P = .007) shorter admissions with a US$4215 reduction in cost (95% CI: US$314-US$8116; P = .034) compared to patients admitted to the medicine service. Discussions: In our urban safety net hospital, hip fracture patients admitted to medicine service had longer lengths of stay and higher total hospitalization costs than patients who were admitted to surgery service. Conclusions: This study highlights that the admitting service should be an area of focus for hospitals when developing programs to provide effective and cost-conscious care to hip fracture patients.

Introduction: The Score for Trauma Triage in the Geriatric and Middle-Aged (STTGMA) is a validated mortality risk score that evaluates 4 major physiologic criteria: age, comorbidities, vital signs, and anatomic injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the addition of ASA physical status classification system to the STTGMA tool would improve risk stratification of a middle-aged and elderly trauma population. Methods: A total of 1332 patients aged 55 years and older who sustained a hip fracture through a low-energy mechanism between October 2014 and February 2020 were included. The STTGMA and STTGMAASA mortality risk scores were calculated. The ability of the models to predict inpatient mortality was compared using area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) by DeLong’s test. Patients were stratified into minimal, low, moderate, and high risk cohorts based on their risk scores. Comparative analyses between risk score stratification distribution of mortality, complications, length of stay, ICU admission, and readmission were performed using Fisher’s exact test. Total cost of admission was fitted by univariate linear regression with STTGMA and STTGMAASA. Results: There were 27 inpatient mortalities (2.0%). When STTGMA was used, the AUROC was 0.742. When STTGMAASA was used, the AUROC was 0.823. DeLong’s test resulted in significant difference in predictive capacity for inpatient mortality between STTGMA and STTGMAASA (p = 0.04). Risk score stratification yielded significantly different distribution of all outcomes between risk cohorts (p < 0.01). STTGMAASA stratification produced a larger percentage of all negative outcomes with increasing risk cohort. Total hospital cost was statistically correlated with both STTGMAASA (p < 0.01) and STTGMA (p = 0.02). Conclusion: Including ASA physical status as a variable in STTGMA improves the model’s ability to predict inpatient mortality and risk stratify middle-aged and geriatric hip fracture patients.

Introduction: Operative hip fractures are known to cause a loss in functional status in the elderly. While several studies exist demonstrating the association between age, pre-injury functioning, and comorbidities related to this loss of function, no studies have predicted this using a validated risk stratification tool. We attempt to use the Score for Trauma Triage for Geriatric and Middle-Aged (STTGMA) tool to predict loss of ambulatory function and need for assistive device use. Materials and Methods: Five hundred and fifty-six patients ≥55 years of age who underwent operative hip fracture fixation were enrolled in a trauma registry. Demographics, functional status, injury severity, and hospital course were used to determine a STTGMA score and patients were stratified into risk quartiles. At least 1 year after hospitalization, patients completed the EQ-5D questionnaire for functional outcomes. Results: Two hundred and sixty-eight (48.2%) patients or their family members responded to the questionnaire. Of the 184 patients alive, 65 (35.3%) reported a return to baseline function. Eighty-nine (48.4%) patients reported a loss in ambulatory status. Patients with higher STTGMA scores were older, had more comorbidities, reported greater need for help with daily activities, increased difficulty with self-care, and a reduction in return to activities of daily living (all p ≤ 0.001). Patients with lower STTGMA scores were more likely to never require an assistive device while those with higher scores were more likely to continue needing one (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001). Patients in the highest STTGMA risk groups were 1.5x more likely to have an impairment in ambulatory status (need for ambulatory assistive device or decreased ambulatory capacity) (p = 0.004). Discussion: Patients in higher STTGMA risk quartiles were more likely to experience impairment after hip fracture surgery. The STTGMA tool can predict loss of ambulatory independence following hip fracture. At-risk populations can be targeted for enhanced physiotherapy and rehabilitation services for optimal return to prior functioning.

Patterns of discharge location may be evident based on the “sickness” profile of the patient. This study sought to evaluate the ability of the STTGMA tool, a validated mortality risk index for middle-aged and geriatric trauma patients, to predict discharge location in a cohort of low-energy elderly hip fracture patients, with successful discharge planning measured by readmission rates. Low-energy hip fracture patients aged 55 years and older were prospectively followed throughout their hospitalization. On initial evaluation in the Emergency Department, each patient’s age, comorbidities, injury severity, and functional status were utilized to calculate a STTGMA score. Discharge location was recorded with the primary outcome measure of an unsuccessful discharge being readmission within 30 days. Patients were risk stratified into minimal-, low-, moderate-, and high-risk STTGMA cohorts. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant for all statistical tests. 408 low-energy hip fractures were enrolled in the study with a mean age of 81.3±10.6 years. There were 214 (52.5%) intertrochanteric fractures, 167 (40.9%) femoral neck fractures, and 27 (6.6%) subtrochanteric femur fractures. There was no difference in readmission rates within STTGMA risk cohorts with respect to discharge location; however, among individual discharge locations there was significant variation in readmission rates when patients were risk stratified. Overall, STTGMA risk cohorts appeared to adequately risk-stratify readmission with 3.5% of minimal-risk patients experiencing readmission compared to 24.5% of moderate-risk patients. Specific cohorts deemed high-risk for readmission were adequately identified. The STTGMA tool allows for prediction of unfavorable discharge location in hip fracture patients. Based on observations made via the STTGMA tool, improvements in discharge planning can be undertaken to increase home discharge and to more closely track “high-risk” discharges to help prevent readmissions.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of surgeon volume on outcomes following ankle fracture fixation. Methods: Over 7 years, 362 patients who met inclusion criteria (>18 years with rotational ankle fractures) were identified and treated by orthopaedic surgeons at several hospitals within an academic medical center and were retrospectively reviewed. Surgeons that completed less than 24 ankle fixations per year (<90th percentile) during the study period were classified as low-volume (LV) and surgeons completing 24 or more ankle fixations per year (>90th percentile) were classified as high-volume (HV). Chart review was conducted to gather data regarding perioperative, radiographic, inpatient, and long-term outcome data (average 12-month follow-up). Results: One hundred thirty-four patients (37.0%) were treated by LV surgeons and 228 (63.0%) were treated by HV surgeons. Although both cohorts had a similar breakdown of fracture patterns (P = .638), the LV cohort had a greater incidence of open fractures (P = .024). No differences were found regarding wait time to surgery, surgery duration, and LOS. Radiographically, more patients in the HV cohort achieved anatomic mortise after surgery (96.5% vs 89.6%, P = .008). Patients in the LV cohort took longer to heal radiographically (4.27 ± 2.4 months vs 5.59 ± 2.9 months, P < .001), and also had higher rates of reoperation and hardware removal (P < .05). Lastly, all cost variables were lower for high-volume surgeons (P < .05). Conclusion: In this single-center study, we found that patients treated by LV surgeons took 30% longer to heal radiographically and had greater reoperation rates than those treated by HV surgeons. Additionally, patients treated by high-volume surgeons had more anatomic postoperative radiographic ankle mortise reductions and was less cost-effective than when performed by high-volume surgeons. Level of Evidence: Level III, retrospective comparative study.

Category: Midfoot/Forefoot; Trauma Introduction/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the time to clinical and radiographic healing in Zone 2 proximal 5th metatarsal (MT) fractures and to compare these outcomes to those of Zone 2 fractures treated operatively. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of all Zone 2 metatarsal fractures seen at a single large, urban, academic medical center between December 2012 and April 2022 was performed. Zone 2 injuries were defined as fractures entering the proximal 4-5 MT articulation on the oblique radiographic view. Clinical healing was characterized by the return to baseline ambulatory function without discomfort and a lack of tenderness on physical examination. Radiographic healing was defined as complete osseous consolidation. A total of 374 patients with Zone 2 proximal 5th MT fractures were included in the analysis. The mean age of patients was 53.8 +/- 16.6 years, and 74.3% were female. Results: 93.3% of patients with Zone 2 metatarsal fractures were treated nonoperatively. In the nonoperative group, 6.6% experienced delayed bony union with incomplete radiographic healing after 6 months, compared to 16.0% of the operative group (p = 0.095). However, by 1 year post-injury, 98.9% of patients who underwent nonoperative management and 96.0% of operative patients demonstrated radiographic union. Two patients failed nonoperative management and underwent operative fixation for symptomatic nonunions. There was no difference in time to radiographic healing between patients treated nonoperatively and those treated operatively (4.4 +/- 2.8 months vs 5.4 +/- 4.7 months, p = 0.413). Similarly, there was no difference in time to clinical healing between both groups (2.3 +/- 1.9 months vs 2.6 +/- 3.8 months, p = 0.723). Conclusion: Zone 2 5th metatarsal base fractures, which are often incorrectly referred to as Jones fractures despite being proximal to the fractures originally characterized by Jones, can be successfully treated with nonoperative management. There is no evidence that operative treatment leads to significantly faster clinical or radiographic healing for patients.

Introduction: Frailty in elderly trauma populations has been correlated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. The Score for Trauma Triage in the Geriatric and Middle-Aged (STTGMA) is a validated mortality risk score that evaluates 4 major physiologic criteria: age, comorbidities, vital signs, and anatomic injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the addition of additional frailty variables to the STTGMA tool would improve risk stratification of a middle-aged and elderly trauma population. Methods: A total of 1486 patients aged 55 years and older who met the American College of Surgeons Tier 1 to 3 criteria and/or who had orthopedic or neurosurgical traumatic consultations in the emergency department between September 2014 and September 2016 were included. The STTGMAORIGINAL and STTGMAFRAILTY scores were calculated. Additional “frailty variables” included preinjury assistive device use (disability), independent ambulatory status (functional independence), and albumin level (nutrition). The ability of the STTGMAORIGINAL and the STTGMAFRAILTY models to predict inpatient mortality was compared using area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs). Results: There were 23 high-energy inpatient mortalities (4.7%) and 20 low-energy inpatient mortalities (2.0%). When the STTGMAORIGINAL model was used, the AUROC in the high-energy and low-energy cohorts was 0.926 and 0.896, respectively. The AUROC for STTGMAFRAILTY for the high-energy and low-energy cohorts was 0.905 and 0.937, respectively. There was no significant difference in predictive capacity for inpatient mortality between STTGMAORIGINAL and STTGMAFRAILTY for both the high-energy and low-energy cohorts. Conclusion: The original STTGMA tool accounts for important frailty factors including cognition and general health status. These variables combined with other major physiologic variables such as age and anatomic injuries appear to be sufficient to adequately and accurately quantify inpatient mortality risk. The addition of other common frailty factors that account for does not enhance the STTGMA tool’s predictive capabilities.