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Objectives: This study aims to evaluate functional outcomes of patients and to analyze complication rates of modular intercalary endoprosthetic reconstruction after resection of metastatic diaphyseal bone lesions. Patients and methods: Between December 2017 and February 2020, 22 patients (15 males, 7 females; median age: 64.2 years; range, 49 to 91) who underwent reconstruction with modular intercalary endoprostheses for metastatic bone tumors at five different centers were retrospectively analyzed. Age, sex, diagnosis, follow-up duration, previous treatments of patients, and resection lengths were recorded. The Musculoskeletal Tumor Society Scores (MSTS) were used to assess functional status of available patients at the final follow-up. Failures were categorized according to the Henderson classification. Results: Locations of the resected tumors included 10 humeri (45.5%), five tibiae (22.7%), and seven femurs (31.8%). The length of the resected tissues ranged from 35 mm to 180 mm. Seven patients (31.8%) died of disease, and one patient died of pneumonia within follow-up period. The functional outcomes of surviving patients were satisfying with a median MSTS score of 86.9% (range, 70 to 100%) at a median follow-up of 17 months (range, 8 to 26). There were two cases of type II (9%), one cases of type IIIa (4.5%), two cases of type IIIb (9%), and one case of type IV (4.5%) failure. Complications were most commonly observed in tibial reconstructions. Conclusion: The good short-term functional results were achieved in surviving patients. Uncomplicated patients were able to perform daily living activities without limitations. The overall rate of complications was relatively low and, among them, mechanical problems were the most commonly encountered problems.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the operational trends in the orthopedic surgery department of a tertiary referral center. Patients and methods: A total of 305 orthopedic surgical procedures in 245 patients (136 males, 109 females; mean age: 34±26.6 years; range, 0 to 91 years) between March 16th and June 27th, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The same period of the year before including 860 procedures in 783 patients (364 males, 419 females; mean age: 33.6±25.8 years; range, 0 to 95 years) was also reviewed as a pre-pandemic control group. Patient demographics, surgical indications, COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test status, method of anesthesia, surgical subspecialties (trauma, sports, etc.), trauma mechanisms, and surgical priorities were evaluated. The pandemic and the pre- pandemic periods were compared. Results: The rate of elective surgeries decreased compared to the previous year, and priority C type surgeries had the highest frequency (42.5%). Orthopedic trauma was the leading subspecialty with 91 (29.8%) cases and had a higher share, compared to the pre-pandemic period (17.0%). Hip fractures (18.7%) were the most common cause of trauma surgery, and simple falls (42.3%) composed the largest group of trauma mechanisms, which was similar to the pre-pandemic period (hip fractures, 13.6%; simple falls, 42.5%). The distribution of surgical urgency levels and subspecialties differed significantly between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods (p<0.001). Post- hoc analysis of subspecialty distribution revealed a significant decrease in arthroplasty (p=0.002) and hand surgery (p<0.001), and a significant increase in trauma (p<0.001) and the “other” category (p<0.001). Conclusion: Our experience in a tertiary referral center illustrated a shift toward performing emergent and urgent surgeries, when the severity of the outbreak increased. Prioritizing surgical urgencies during the outbreak changed the orthopedic surgery practice with an emphasis on trauma and oncology surgeries. Hip fractures were the most common cause of trauma surgery, and simple falls composed the largest group of trauma mechanisms.

Primary bone malignancies in children pose numerus challenges for orthopedic oncology surgeons. Limb salvage surgery is widely preferred, and biological reconstruction methods such as the vascularized autografts, allografts, radiated or frozen tumor bearing autografts bear the advantage of preserving children's own anatomy. [1][2][3][4] In such cases, conserving the joint and epiphysis may potentially improve the outcome of otherwise debilitating surgeries. [1] In this article, we present a pediatric case of epiphysissparing biological reconstruction of the proximal femur. CASE REPORTA five-year-old male patient who had a twomonth-old history of inability to bear weight with the left lower extremity presented to our A five-year-old boy with Ewing sarcoma of the proximal femur was operated at our institution with limb-sparing surgery and biological reconstruction of the proximal femur with a vascularized fibular autograft. During this procedure, the proximal femur was soaked in liquid nitrogen which was subsequently fixed to the fibular autograft, while the epiphysis of the femoral head was spared. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of epiphysis-sparing surgery of the proximal femur via a vascularized fibular autograft surrounded by a liquid nitrogen-treated tumor bearing bone autograft. Three years postoperatively, the patient remains disease-free, has a full weight-bearing extremity with good function, and a remodeled proximal femur with minimal deformity. There are no radiological or clinical signs indicative of femoral head osteonecrosis. In conclusion, hip-sparing biological reconstruction is a successful method of limb preservation as an alternative to tumor endoprostheses.

Background: Traditional growing rods (TGR) encompass a long process, in which patients experience physical and psychosocial difficulties. However, the effect of repeating surgeries on the overall psychological functioning of graduated patients has not been thoroughly investigated in the literature. The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychological well-being of graduated idiopathic early-onset scoliosis patients in terms of psychopathology, neurocognition, and psychosocial functioning, and determine the accuracy of scoliosis outcome questionnaires in these regards. Methods: TGR graduates with idiopathic early-onset scoliosis without known intellectual disabilities or neuromuscular impairments were included. Patients were thoroughly evaluated using psychological instruments [Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Auditory Consonant Trigram Test, Verbal Fluency Test, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Symptom Checklist-90, Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Spinal Appearance Questionnaire, Scoliosis Research Society 22-item questionnaire (SRS-22)]. Results were compared with normative data when available. Spearman correlations were performed between the results of these tests, the total treatment duration, and the number of spinal surgeries. Results: Of the 15 patients included in the study, 9 were females, and the mean age was 18.73 (16 to 23). The mean age at index surgery was 6.38 (3 to 10) whereas that of graduation was 14.00 (12 to 16). The average number of spinal surgeries was 14.28 (7 to 20). Two patients performed below the range of adult intellectual functioning. Auditory Consonant Trigram Test showed normal verbal working memory and attention control. Six patients had abnormal Verbal Fluency Test performance. Eight patients had abnormal ratings on at least one of the assessment scales of psychopathology (Symptom Checklist-90, Beck Depression Inventory, and Beck Anxiety Inventory). Eight patients had low-to-moderate self-esteem (Rosenberg self-esteem scale). The median spinal appearance questionnaire and SRS-22 scores were 34 and 4.18, respectively. Pain and function subdomains of SRS-22 scored higher than self-image and mental health. No correlation was found between the treatment duration and number of surgeries and test scores. SRS-22 showed correlations with multiple psychological tests. Conclusion: Completed TGR treatment yields acceptable correction of deformities and surgical outcomes, however, may fail to improve psychological well-being. This is the first study to find various psychosocial abnormalities in two-thirds of cases. Level of Evidence: Level IV; cross-sectional study.