Tag Archive for: POSNA

Matthew Oetgen

Matthew Oetgen, M.D., M.B.A, lauded for paper on treating Compartment Syndrome

Matthew Oetgen

For his work in advancing the care for children with complex orthopaedic needs, Matthew Oetgen, M.D., M.B.A., chief of Orthopaedics at Children’s National Hospital, recently accepted the award for Best Basic Science Paper at the 2021 Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) annual meeting. Dr. Oetgen co-authored the paper titled “Activation of A Central Immunosuppressive Cascade Prevents Ischemia Reperfusion Injury after Acute Compartment Syndrome in a Murine Model.”

Compartment Syndrome is rare and often difficult to diagnose. It occurs when interstitial pressure exceeds perfusion pressure and results in warm ischemia and cell death due to impaired aerobic metabolism. Following surgical decompression and reperfusion of the extremity, a robust innate inflammatory response results in further tissue injury due to the production of reactive oxygen species and local capillary dysfunction.

The authors described using varenicline, an FDA-approved medication for smoking cessation, to mitigate inflammation after ischemia reperfusion injury in murine models. Twenty-four hours after reperfusion, the treatment reduced acute leukocyte infiltrate, 7 days following reperfusion, the expression of pro-fibrotic genes was reduced and 14 days following treatment, histologic evidence of collagen deposition was also significantly reduced.

“The promising results of this study show that this medication may have the potential to blunt the immune response resulting in better outcomes for children with compartment syndrome,” says Dr. Oetgen.

Watch Dr. Oetgen’s presentation here.

Dr. Laura Tosi talks to a patient

Refining criteria for childhood skeletal fragility and osteoporosis

Dr. Laura Tosi talks to a patient

Orthopaedic surgeon Laura Tosi, M.D., presented information about bone fractures and skeletal fragility in children at this year’s POSNA Annual Meeting.

It’s true that broken bones are often a typical part of childhood, says international bone health expert Laura Tosi, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon at Children’s National Hospital. But for some children, a single bone fracture under the right circumstances may be a signal that a child needs a closer look to rule out underlying skeletal fragility.

Dr. Tosi presented on this topic as part of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America’s (POSNA) 2020 Annual Meeting. The presentations were conducted virtually this year due to COVID-19.

“We know that between 27 and 40% of girls, and 42 to 51 percent of boys will have at least one fracture during childhood,” she says. “What we have also seen over time is that almost 40 percent of children who have one fracture will have more. How do we tell which children with a fracture may need our help to avoid future ones?”

During her session, Dr. Tosi discussed how adding more nuance to clinical evaluation criteria for childhood fractures can help identify which children should be evaluated for conditions affecting bone density.

To widen the scope and make sure an underlying bone density issue is detected and treated as early as possible, Dr. Tosi says there are some specific findings that should suggest the need for further exploration:

  • Does the child have an a priori risk for a fragility fracture due to a genetic bone disorder(such as osteogenesis imperfects (aka brittle bone disease) or immobility caused by a disorder such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy?
  • Is there a mismatch between the fracture severity and level of trauma that led to the injury?
  • Does the child’s history include any of four factors known to be associated with increased fracture risk: early age at the time of the first fracture, intolerance to cow’s milk, low dietary calcium intake or high BMI values.
  • Does the child have a vertebral compression fracture?
  • Is there a family history of frequent fractures (which may indicate a previously unidentified genetic condition)

Dr. Tosi also laid out specific evaluation steps for a skeletal fragility condition when a child’s fracture meets criteria, including:

  • Family, nutrition and exercise histories
  • A detailed physical exam
  • Complete radiograph review, including previously existing films and bone densitometry
  • Rule out rickets and child abuse
  • A complete lab work up

“It can be extremely challenging to identify if a child’s first bone fracture is a result of typical childhood activity or something else,” says Dr. Tosi. “But the risks of waiting to evaluate a fracture that meets some of the criteria above may mean we are delaying a treatment that might improve bone density and prevent a future fracture altogether — which is always what we’d hope to do.”

In the past, bone health experts felt that the word “osteoporosis” should not be used in children and pushed for the term “low bone density for age.”  That perspective has begun to change thanks to important advances in our understanding of the genetic basis of bone fragility, the important role of chronic conditions and how the use of bone-active medications can significantly reduce fracture risk and improve function in certain conditions.

She then spoke about the benefits of early detection for conditions causing skeletal fragility by presenting compelling evidence of the resiliency of a child’s bones when they are managed appropriately.

She noted that she’s seen significant bone remodeling in patients with serious bone degeneration due to osteogenesis imperfecta and leukemia, for example, thanks to early detection and treatment.

“Our knowledge of bone density and bone health is improving, but is still imperfect,” she concluded. “But as we learn more, and are able to appropriately identify and treat kids with skeletal fragility or osteoporosis earlier, we can continue to refine how we evaluate and care for all of them.”

Matt Oetgen and patient

Periop procedures improve scoliosis surgery infection rates

Matt Oetgen and patient

Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA, chief of orthopaedics and sports medicine at Children’s National Hospital, presented findings from a study aimed at improving quality and safety for pediatric spinal fusion procedures by reducing surgical site infection rates.

Pediatric orthopaedic surgery as a field is focused on improving quality and value in pediatric spine surgery, especially when it comes to eliminating surgical site infections (SSI). Many studies have documented how and why surgical site infections occur in pediatric spinal fusion patients, however, there is very little data about what approaches are most effective at reducing SSIs for these patients in a sustainable way.

At the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America’s 2020 Annual Meeting, Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA, chief of orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine at Children’s National Hospital, presented findings from a long-term single institution study of acute SSI prevention measures.

“These findings give us specific insight into the tactics that are truly preventing, and in our case sometimes even eliminating, SSIs for pediatric scoliosis surgery,” says Dr. Oetgen, who also served on the annual meeting program committee. “By analyzing patient records across more than a decade, we were able to see that some strategies are quite effective, and others, that we thought would move the needle, just don’t.”

The team reviewed medical records and radiographs dating back to 2008 for 1,195 patients who had spinal fusion for scoliosis, including idiopathic scoliosis as well as other forms such as neuromuscular or syndromic scoliosis. Over that period of time, the division of orthopaedics and sports medicine at Children’s National was collaborating with the hospital’s infection control team to achieve several programmatic implementation milestones, including:

  • January 2012: Standardized infection surveillance program
  • July 2013: Standardized perioperative infection control protocols including those for pre-operative surgical site wash, surgical site preparation and administration of antibiotics before and after surgery
  • March 2015: Standardized comprehensive spinal care pathway including protocols for patient temperature control, fluid and blood management, and drain and catheter management

Over the study time period, the team found that SSIs did decrease, but interestingly, the rate did not progressively decrease with each subsequent intervention.

“Instead, we found that the rate went down and was even eliminated for some subgroups when the perioperative infection control protocols were implemented in 2013 and sustained through the study period end,” says Dr. Oetgen. “The other programmatic efforts that started in 2012 and 2015 had no impact on infection rates.”

He also notes that the study’s findings have identified a crucial component in the process for infection control in pediatric spinal surgery—perioperative protocols. “A relatively uncomplicated perioperative infection control protocol did the best job decreasing SSI in spinal fusion. Future efforts to optimize this particular protocol may help improve the rates even further.”

Matt Oetgen talks about an x-ray

Nicotine-like anti-inflammatories may protect limbs, testicles from inflammatory damage after injury

Daniel Casella

Daniel Casella, M.D., is teaming up with Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA, for a POSNA-funded pre-clinical study of the anti-inflammatories varenicline and cytisine.

A new pre-clinical study will explore the use of anti-inflammatory medications to prevent the body’s inflammatory response from further damaging limbs after an injury restricts blood flow. Varenicline and cytisine, anti-inflammatories with similarities to nicotine, have shown early promise in similar pre-clinical laboratory studies of the testicles and will now be tested in arms and legs.

Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA, chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Children’s National and Children’s pediatric urologist Daniel Casella, M.D., will jointly lead the new study entitled, “Modulation of the Injury Associated with Acute Compartment Syndrome,” which builds on Dr. Casella’s previous work with the two anti-inflammatory agents. Drs. Oetgen and Casella recently were awarded the Angela S.M. Kuo Memorial Award Research Grant to fund this research during the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America’s (POSNA) Annual Meeting.

“We are honored that this important research was selected by POSNA for support,” says Dr. Oetgen. “An arm or leg injury can trigger the body’s natural inflammatory response, causing severe swelling that restricts blood flow. Even after blood flow is restored, the inflammatory response can lead to permanent muscle or nerve damage or even loss of limb. This grant will give us the opportunity to truly explore the application of anti-inflammatories after injury and see if this approach can modulate the immune response to protect the limbs.”

If successful in the laboratory, the team hopes to expand this work to human clinical trials.

Matt Oetgen talks about an x-ray

“We are honored that this important research was selected by POSNA for support,” says Dr. Oetgen. “This grant will give us the opportunity to truly explore the application of anti-inflammatories after injury and see if this approach can modulate the immune response to protect the limbs.”

The Angela S.M. Kuo Memorial Award Research Grant is given each year to an outstanding investigator aged 45 or younger based on criteria including the study’s potential significance, impact, originality/innovation, the investigator’s track record and study feasibility. The award totals $30,000.

While at POSNA’s 2019 Annual Meeting, Dr. Oetgen and Children’s pediatric orthopaedic surgery colleagues also participated in podium presentations and poster sessions, including:

  • “Achieving Consensus on the Treatment of Pediatric Femoral Shaft Fractures,” Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA
  • “A Prospective, Multi-centered Comparative Study of Non-operative and Operative Containment Treatments in Children Presenting with Late-stage Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease,” Benjamin Martin, M.D.

The Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America is an organization of 1,400 surgeons, physicians, and allied health members dedicated to advancing musculoskeletal care for children and adolescents. The annual meeting presents the latest research and expert clinical opinion in pediatric orthopaedics through presentations, posters, and symposia. It was held May 15-18, 2019, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

young girl sitting on a bed with a cast

Creating better casts

young girl sitting on a bed with a cast

Each year, millions of children in the U.S. come to hospital emergency departments with fractures. While broken bones are commonplace, the expertise to stabilize these injuries and cast them is not, says Children’s National Health System orthopedic surgeon Shannon Kelly, M.D.

Most fractures are casted by an on-call resident without the assistance of an orthopedist, she explains. Whether that resident applies a cast successfully depends largely on how well he or she learned this skill as an intern. While most current training models have interns take calls with residents, picking up casting skills through hands-on experience from their more senior peers, they can also pick up mistakes – which get repeated once they’re caring for patients independently as residents themselves, Kelly says.

Casting mistakes aren’t trivial, she adds. They can have serious consequences for patients. For example, a cast that’s not tight enough in the right places can leave bones vulnerable to shifting, a scenario that doctors call a loss in reduction, Kelly explains. If bones aren’t in the right position to heal, doctors must reposition them either in the operating room, often exposing patients to general anesthesia, or through painful, in-office procedures.

Conversely, casts that are too tight – particularly on a fresh fracture that’s prone to swelling – can damage tissues from loss of circulation. To avoid this latter problem, doctors often create a “bivalve” cast in which the two halves are split like a clamshell, leaving room for tissues to expand. But they must use extreme care when they cut open the cast with a saw to avoid cutting patients with the rotating blade or burning them with heat generated from its friction.

“Each year, thousands of children are harmed from improper casting and must go through additional procedures to fix the damage done,” Kelly says.

That’s why she and her colleagues are developing a better way to train interns before they start their orthopedics rotation. Starting this spring, the team will be directing a series of casting workshops to train interns on the proper casting technique.

The workshops will take advantage of models that allow interns to practice without harming patients. Some of these models have simulated bones that show up on an X-ray, allowing participants to evaluate whether they achieved a good reduction once they’re finished. Other models are made of wax that melts if the heat of a cast saw becomes too intense and show nicks if the blade makes contact. Learning proper technique using this tool can help spare human patients painful burns and cuts, Kelly says.

To broaden this effort beyond Children’s National, Kelly and her colleagues received a $1,000 microgrant from the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America to create videos based on material from these workshops. These videos will help trainees at medical institutions across the country learn the same pivotal casting skills.

“A broken bone is difficult enough,” Kelly says. “We’re hoping to decrease the number of times that a child has to have an unnecessary procedure on top of that from a casting mistake that could have been avoided.”

Matthew Oetgen

3D printed implant used to repair knee cartilage

Matthew Oetgen

“Our preliminary study shows this novel 3D printed material is able to allow ingrowth from the bone, so the body started to grow into the material to help fix it in place,” says Matthew Oetgen, M.D., M.B.A. “These are the first step requirements for an implant like this to be acceptable for treating lesions.”

Every year, an estimated 1 million children tear the articulate cartilage that lines their knees. Unfortunately, these types of injuries are extremely hard to repair because of the cartilage’s poor healing qualities and unique physiochemical properties.

Now, a new study by Children’s National Health System researchers has found that a three dimensional (3D) printed synthetic implant can be successfully used as a scaffold to encourage the healing and repair of articulate cartilage lesions.

Three bones meet in the knee joint: the femur, the tibia and the patella. The surface of these bones is covered with articulate cartilage, which can be damaged by injury or by normal wear and tear. Because articulate cartilage has poor healing qualities, these injuries will rarely heal or regenerate on their own, especially in younger and more active patients.

“These are active 12 to 19 year olds, so it can really affect relatively normal kids,” says Matthew Oetgen, M.D., M.B.A., Division Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Children’s National. “While there are many ways to repair these lesions — from implanting autogenous cells to using grafts to fill the defect — none of these options are perfect, and they all have some down sides.”

To facilitate repair of these injuries, a team of researchers led by Dr. Oetgen received a grant from the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) to design a 3D printed implant that promotes bone and cartilage growth.

To make the implant, the team used nanoporous thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), a biodegradable material that is highly elastic and yet strong, very much like the native cartilage in the osteochondral region. TPU is also porous, which allows blood and nutrient flow through the implant.

“The implant is designed to allow native cells to repair the lesions with normal articular cartilage and not scar tissues like some repairs,” says Dr. Oetgen.

The implant itself has a stratified structure: an upper region that contains micro channels to allow for increased perfusion; a middle zone with a nanoporous structure that mimics porous cartilage and encourages stem cell recruitment, growth and differentiation; and a lower region, or articular surface, that allows for smooth transition from the articulating surface to the implant surface and minimizes adverse interactions between the articulate cartilage and the meniscus.

When tested in vitro, the implant was able to support the growth of stem cells and vascular cells, and structurally mature vascularized bone was formed around the implant after 10 days. In animal models with full thickness osteochondral lesions the implant did just as well: The scaffold was able to promote bone, soft tissue and vascular growth without eliciting an immune response.

“Our preliminary study shows this novel 3D printed material is able to allow ingrowth from the bone, so the body started to grow into the material to help fix it in place,” says Dr. Oetgen. “These are the first step requirements for an implant like this to be acceptable for treating lesions.”

Because of the ease with which 3D printing can be scaled up, Dr. Oetgen is hopeful that the implant will one day become a viable option for repairing articulate cartilage injuries. He plans on trying the implants in a larger animal model and on larger lesions, and is also looking at custom printing for the implants to match natural lesion shapes and sizes.

Femoral fracture

POSNA grant addresses variations in femoral fracture treatment

Femoral fracture

While there are plenty of options for treating pediatric femoral diaphyseal fractures, doctors don’t have a lot of specific guidance on the optimal regimen for each patient age, fracture location and fracture pattern.

Pediatric femoral diaphyseal fractures are some of the most common types of long bone fractures. There are many effective ways to treat these injuries, but unfortunately this assortment of options also leads to variations in cost and clinical outcome for patients and makes it difficult to develop clinical trials exploring the treatment of pediatric femur fractures.

To address this issue, a Children’s National research team led by Matthew Oetgen, M.D., M.B.A., Division Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, received a $30,000 grant from the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) to design a multi-centered, randomized, controlled clinical trial for the treatment of pediatric diaphyseal femur fractures. The team’s ultimate goal is to submit the resulting trial design to an extramural agency for study funding.

While there are plenty of options for treating pediatric femoral diaphyseal fractures, doctors don’t have a lot of specific guidance on the optimal regimen for each patient age, fracture location and fracture pattern. As a result, many treatment decisions are based on surgeon preference, regional variation in care and previous training or experience.

Another issue that arises in the treatment of diaphyseal femur fractures is the impact on the patient’s family. In general, femur fractures are caused by significant trauma that affects both the patient and the family members. On top of this, families are faced with issues such as extended hospitalization, the need for wheelchairs and walkers, pain control, missed school and secondary surgeries for removal of implants. Often, families are left to their own devices to resolve these issues, many of which are more impactful than the injury itself.

Dr. Oetgen believes that a well-planned and well-structured randomized clinical trial guided by patient and family concerns as well as expert surgical opinion has the potential to improve both treatment and care of femoral diaphyseal fracture patients.

“It is no longer good enough to design studies that only look at healing time for femur fractures,” explains Dr. Oetgen. “These injuries have such significant secondary impacts for the families of these patients, we need to determine which treatment is optimal for both fracture healing and is easiest for the families to tolerate. This grant will allow us to consider all of these outcomes in designing a study to find the best treatment for these injuries.”

To aid in the design of their clinical trial, Dr. Oetgen and his team will:

  1. Conduct an extensive literature review on the impact and treatment of pediatric femur fractures.
  2. Survey a diverse group of pediatric orthopaedic surgeons to establish areas of agreement, opposition and equipoise on the surgical treatment of pediatric femur fractures, and use that information to form a consensus opinion on the optimal design of the clinical trial.
  3. Solicit input from non-physician stakeholders (families, parents, payers, state Medicaid representatives, patient advocacy groups, professional organizations) on the important aspects of care in pediatric femur fracture treatment.

The team expects to have the study design competed by February 2019.