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Biomedical subjects

R H Rothman

Publications and source records attributed to R H Rothman.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Surgical management of sciatica involving anomalous lumbar nerve roots.

Twenty patients with sciatica associated with anomalous lumbar nerve roots were reviewed with an average follow-up of 26.3 months. All patients had predominantly leg pain and their nerve root anomaly was known preoperatively. Overall success rate was 65% but was increased to 80% in patients with concurrent disk herniation. Improved results of surgical decompression were most consistently associated with concurrent disk herniation whereas other factors such as more extensive decompression were less strongly correlated. Surgery should only be offered with these results in mind.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Laminectomy: a review of the Pennsylvania hospital experience.

Two hundred seventy-four patients were reviewed 1-5 years after laminectomy for spinal stenosis or herniated disks. All patients were treated according to the Pennsylvania Plan Algorithm for Degenerative Disk Disease. Ninety to ninety-five percent of the patients noted good to excellent relief of their leg pain, whereas only 80% noted low-back pain relief. The majority returned to work within 4 months. This review demonstrates that by following an algorithm for the treatment of back and leg pain from degenerative disk disease, the surgical results can be extremely gratifying, assuming the goals are relief of leg pain, the operative findings are definite, and the preoperative surgical indications and patient selection are well developed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Low back pain: development and five-year prospective application of a computerized quality-based diagnostic and treatment protocol.

A standardized protocol for low back pain was developed and computerized so that it could be used as a concurrent monitoring system for large patient populations. The software incorporated a relational database management system (RDBMS) and C language, a flexible, general-purpose programming language that is fast and portable. The protocol was then applied to a uniform group of industrial patients for 5 years. The results demonstrated that a quality-based protocol could be successfully computerized and applied to a large group of patients as a concurrent monitoring system. Quality care was insured by adherence to the computerized protocol. Associated economic results showed decreases in actual number of accidents each year (from 98/year prior to the study to 42/year in the last study year), in lost work days (from 3640/year before the study to 2118/year in the last year), and in costs (savings averaged $430,000/year). The goal of this study was to provide quality medicine; the economic benefits were a bonus. The monitoring system differed from those of the past in that it was driven by the basic medical information taken from the history, physical examination, and radiograph findings. The monitoring physicians were unbiased because they were not allowed to become involved in the patient's ongoing care. There was no rebound phenomenon (an initial drop in cases followed by a gradual return to the prestudy level); this was attributed to the constant monitoring of each case from beginning to end. These results led to the following conclusions: (a) Computerization of a standardized medical approach for low back pain is practical.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Back Pain↗
PubMed1988

The treatment of patellar fractures after total knee arthroplasty.

Based on 21 patellar fractures after total knee arthroplasty, the authors found that nondisplaced fractures of the patella following total knee arthroplasty are best treated nonoperatively, that displaced fractures with no extensor lag can adequately be treated nonoperatively, and that displaced fractures with an extensor lag present have poor results with operative treatment. Fragment excision should be considered for displaced distal pole fractures with patellar tendon disruption, and patellectomy should be considered for failures of all other treatments.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Posttraumatic gluteal compartment syndrome. A case report.

Posttraumatic sciatic nerve palsy associated with severe pain, swelling in the gluteal region, elevated tissue pressures, and diffuse edema of the gluteal musculature documented by computed tomography (CT) occurred in a 22-year-old man. Diffuse muscle swelling was observed intraoperatively, and sciatic nerve function returned within days following surgical decompression. This case represents an acute gluteal compartment syndrome, and this entity should be included in the differential diagnosis of posttraumatic sciatic nerve palsy.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Antibiotic penetration into rabbit nucleus pulposus.

A rabbit model was used to determine the penetration of four commonly used antibiotics (clindamycin, tobramycin, cephalothin, and oxacillin) into the nucleus pulposus after receiving an 8-hour course of intramuscular antibiotic injections. Clindamycin and tobramycin achieved therapeutic levels in the nucleus pulposus and both were present in greater than 50% of serum levels. Cephalothin was not detected in the nucleus pulposus and penetrated at less than 4% of serum levels at 1 hour after injection. The data were inconclusive regarding oxacillin penetration.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Treatment of the septic hip with total hip arthroplasty.

Forty-three patients, 23 with definite infection and 20 with probable infections before total hip arthroplasty (THA), were compared to 41 matched uninfected patients. The 43 infected patients were treated by 45 operative procedures: eight Girdlestone resections, 12 revisions of total hips, and 25 conversions from infected nontotal hip surgery to total hip arthroplasties. (Two revision THAs were converted to Girdlestones). The average follow-up period was 38.8 months, with a range of six-118 months. The statistically significant negative prognosticators were gross sepsis at surgery, number of previous operations, and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). The type of infecting organism did not affect the outcome. The prosthesis survival rate for total hip arthroplasties revised for sepsis was 83%. The prosthesis survival rate for other infected hips treated by total hip arthroplasty was 100%. All groups except Girdlestone resections improved postoperatively. While Girdlestone resection offered acceptable pain relief, total hip arthroplasty provided unequivocally superior function (p = 0.0001).

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The use of computerized tomography in evaluating non-visualized vertebral levels caudad to a complete block on a lumbar myelogram. A review of thirty-two cases.

In thirty-two patients who demonstrated a complete or almost complete block on a lumbar myelogram, computerized tomography of the non-visualized vertebral levels caudad to the block was performed prior to surgical intervention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical value of computerized tomography in detecting a lesion that is caudad to the level of a myelographic block. For twenty-three patients the cause of the myelographic block was stenosis of the spine; for five patients, a combination of stenosis of the spine and herniation of a disc; for one patient, herniation of a disc between the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae alone; for two patients, arachnoiditis; and for one patient, kyphosis secondary to fracture. A total of fifty vertebral levels that could not be visualized because of the block were evaluated. Thirty (60 per cent) of the non-visualized vertebral levels, in nineteen (59 per cent) of the thirty-two patients, demonstrated stenosis of the spine or a herniated disc that was confirmed at the time of surgical treatment. The value of computerized tomography for the evaluation of the vertebral levels caudad to the level of a complete or almost complete block on a lumbar myelogram was threefold. First, it provided visualization of the vertebral levels that could not be evaluated by the myelography. Second, the findings on computerized tomography provided information that was essential for preoperative planning and it removed the so-called exploratory element from the operative procedure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Conversion total hip replacement. Review of 140 hips with greater than 6-year follow-up study.

The authors compared 140 conversion with 433 primary total hip arthroplasties with a 40-month minimum follow-up period. All replacements were performed with a transtrochanteric technique. No conversion total hip arthroplasty had prior cementation. Pain was the indication for surgery. The average number of prior operations was 1.3 and the average number of months to total hip arthroplasty was 65.4. The patient characteristics for the two groups were similar. The overall results were uniformly good to excellent (94% or better) at greater than 6-year mean follow-up in both groups. The authors review important differences between the two groups. None of the differences are statistically significant. The overall results of conversion total hip arthroplasty were good to excellent, and the presence of a preoperative infection did not significantly alter the clinical results. The absence of prior bone cement in conversion total hip arthroplasty is proposed to explain these findings.

Hip Prosthesis↗
PubMed1986

Aseptic loosening after total hip arthroplasty. Incidence, clinical significance, and etiology.

Three hundred forty-one consecutive Charnley total hip arthroplasties were reviewed after a 3-10-year follow-up period to correlate the radiographic signs of aseptic loosening to clinical outcome, femoral cementing technique, and epidemiologic patient characteristics. High-grade femoral demarcation at the bone-cement interface (75-100%) correlated with a significantly higher incidence of unsatisfactory follow-up clinical scores. The incidence of high-grade femoral bone-cement demarcation and the associated radiographic signs of aseptic loosening had a direct correlation with the quality of the femoral cementing technique (P less than .01). Trochanter nonunion or trochanter separation demonstrated a highly significant correlation with high-grade femoral bone-cement demarcation (P less than .001). Patients having secondary total hip arthroplasty for failed cup arthroplasty or endoprosthesis had a higher rate of unsatisfactory pain and function scores, compared with those having arthroplasties performed after failed internal fixation. Male patients or patients with a high activity level demonstrated a twofold greater incidence of high-grade femoral demarcation (P less than .05). Patient weight by itself did not demonstrate any effect on radiographic outcome.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1986

Decision-making in low back surgery.

The author was the 1986 Sir Robert Jones Lecturer of the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute. This article is a slightly edited version of the speech he delivered in that capacity on October 24, 1986, at the Annual Scientific Program of the Alumni Association.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1985

The Pennsylvania Plan II: an algorithm for the management of lumbar degenerative disc disease.

We have thus presented a series of decision-making processes that are easy to follow, clearly defined, and cost effective. We have found that with the use of this decision-making algorithm our patients receive the therapeutic measures most helpful at the optimal time and are neither denied helpful surgery nor submitted to operations that are useless surgical exercises. With the use of this protocol, we believe that our efficiency as surgeons, physicians, and advisors will increase and the specter of fear found in the general population regarding low back pain will diminish.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The use of epidural steroids in the treatment of lumbar radicular pain. A prospective, randomized, double-blind study.

Seventy-three patients with lumbar radicular pain syndromes were treated in a prospective, randomized, double-blind fashion with either seven milliliters of methylprednisolone acetate and procaine or seven milliliters of physiological saline solution and procaine. All patients had radiographic confirmation of lumbar nerve-root compression, consistent with the clinical diagnosis of either an acute herniated nucleus pulposus or spinal stenosis. No statistically significant difference was observed between the control and experimental patients with either acute disc herniation or spinal stenosis. Long-term follow-up, averaging twenty months, failed to demonstrate the efficacy of a second injection of epidural steroids administered to the patients whose pain did not respond within twenty-four hours to an injection of either eighty milligrams of methylprednisolone acetate combined with five milliliters of 1 per cent procaine or two milliliters of sterile saline combined with five milliliters of 1 per cent procaine. Therefore, a decision to use epidural steroids must be made with the realization that we failed to demonstrate its clinical efficacy in this study and that reports of serious complications of this procedure have been published.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed1985

Recurrent posterior dislocation of the shoulder: treatment using a bone block.

Acute posterior dislocations of the shoulder are uncommon. Recommended surgical treatments for recurrent posterior dislocation include soft-tissue advancement, posterior glenoid osteotomy, rotational osteotomy of the humerus, and posterior bone block. The posterior bone-block procedure successfully prevented recurrent dislocation in our series of five patients. The patients ranged in age from seventeen to forty-four years, and have been followed for two and one-half to eight years. All returned to unrestricted activity and recreational sports. The complications included a later anterior dislocation of the shoulder in one patient and an unsightly scar requiring revision in two patients. There were no complaints of pain. Radiographs showed decreased density of the bone block in two patients, but graft resorption did not occur.

Adolescent↗