Background As obesity becomes more prevalent, it becomes more common among patients considering orthopaedic surgery, including spinal surgery. However, there is some controversy regarding whether obesity is associated with complications, failed reconstructions, or reoperations after spinal surgery. Questions/purposes We wished to determine, in patients undergoing spine surgery, whether obesity is associated with (1) surgical site infection, (2) mortality and the need for revision surgery after spinal surgery, and (3) increased surgical time and blood loss. Methods A systematic literature search was performed to collect comparative or controlled studies that evaluated the influence of obesity on the surgical and postoperative outcomes of spinal surgery. Two reviewers independently selected trials, extracted data, and assessed the methodologic quality and quality of evidence. Pooled odds ratios (OR) and mean differences (MD) with 95% CIs were calculated using the fixed-effects model or random-effects model. Data were analyzed using RevMan 5.1. MOOSE criteria were used to ensure this project's validity. Thirtytwo studies involving 97,326 patients eventually were included. Results Surgical site infection (OR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.94-2.79), venous thromboembolism (OR, 3.15; 95% CI, 1.92-5.17), mortality (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.50-4.49), revision rate (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.05-1.93) operating time (OR, 14.55; 95% CI,, and blood loss (MD, 28.89; 95% CI,, were all significantly increased in the obese group. Conclusion Obesity seemed to be associated with higher risk of surgical site infection and venous thromboembolism, more blood loss, and longer surgical time. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm the relationship between obesity and the outcome of spinal surgery.

No abstract

Level II, meta-analysis and systematic review.

Patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) has recently been introduced to improve the alignment following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, controversy remains between PSI and conventional instrumentation. The aim of this study is to compare the accuracy of PSI with conventional instruments for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). A systematic literature search was performed in databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Web of Science. All of the available randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) or non-randomized, controlled trials (nRCTs) comparing PSI with conventional instruments for TKA were identified. A statistical analysis was performed of this meta-analysis. Eighteen studies with 2417 patients were included in the authors' final analysis. The results of the meta-analysis demonstrated that there were no statistical differences in outliers of the mechanical axis (risk ratio [RR], 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61-1.11), the femoral component in the coronal (RR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.32-1.05) and sagittal (RR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.60-1.14) plane, the tibial component in the coronal (RR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.52-1.35) and sagittal (RR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.69-1.55) plane, and the femoral component rotation (RR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.57, 1.83) between the 2 groups. In addition, subgroup analysis showed that the study design and imaging used for preoperative scanning did not affect the outcome of the alignment, but a different PSI system might. The authors' meta-analysis indicated that the accuracy of PSI was not superior to conventional instruments for patients undergoing TKA. Future RCTs should focus on functional outcomes and component survivorship with mid- to long-term follow-up.

Background: Although combination therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) provides a promising efficacy in multiple cancers, their use is facing challenges for a high incidence of adverse effects. This meta-analysis was conducted to compare the risks of organ-specific immune-related adverse events (IRAEs) associated with ICI monotherapy versus combination therapy among cancer patients.Methods: Electronic databases were systematically searched to include eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Any-grade and 3-5 grade IRAEs (colitis, pneumonitis, hepatitis, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and hypophysitis) were extracted for meta-analysis. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality. The RevMan 5.3.5 software was used for meta-analysis.Results: A total of 10 studies involving 8 RCTs with 2716 patients were included in this study. The most common any-grade adverse event was colitis (14.5%), followed by hypothyroidism (13.8%), hepatitis (10.4%), hypophysitis (10.0%), hyperthyroidism (9.3%), and pneumonitis (4.6%). Meta-analysis showed that ICI combination therapy significantly increased the risks of any-grade IRAEs in colitis [relative risk (RR), 3.56; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.56-8.12; p < 0.05], pneumonitis (RR, 2.31; 95% CI, 1.54-3.45; p < 0.05), hepatitis (RR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.65-3.91; p < 0.05), hypothyroidism (RR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.71-2.76; p < 0.05), hyperthyroidism (RR, 3.13; 95% CI, 2.08-4.70; p < 0.05), and hypophysitis (RR, 3.54; 95% CI, 2.07-6.07; p < 0.05) compared with ICI monotherapy, as well as 3-5 grade IRAEs in colitis (RR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.62-3.86; p < 0.05), pneumonitis (RR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.00-3.93; p = 0.05), and hepatitis (RR, 2.70; 95% CI, 1.29-5.63; p < 0.05). Conclusions:This meta-analysis demonstrated that, compared with ICI monotherapy, patients receiving ICI combination therapy significantly increased organ-specific IRAEs in colitis, hypothyroidism, hepatitis, hypophysitis, hyperthyroidism, and pneumonitis. The incidence and severity of organ-specific IRAEs were drug and dose independent.

The current evidence suggests that periarticular multimodal drug injection in TKA provides short-term advantages in pain relief, straight leg raise and postoperative complications.

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The subvastus and medial parapatellar approaches are 2 commonly performed techniques in total knee arthroplasty, but the optimal approach for total knee arthroplasty remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness and safety of the subvastus vs medial parapatellar approach.The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Inter-Services Intelligence Web of Knowledge, and Chinese Biomedical Literature databases were searched for eligible quasi-randomized, controlled and randomized, controlled trials. Two authors independently extracted data and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies according to the Cochrane handbook version 5.1.0. Statistical analysis was performed using Review Manager version 5.1 software. Eight randomized, controlled trials and 1 quasi-randomized, controlled trial involving 940 primary total knee arthroplasties were included for meta-analysis. Meta-analysis revealed significant differences favoring the subvastus group in Knee Society Score in terms of function at 4 to 6 weeks (weighted mean difference [WMD]=5.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.08 to 7.09; P<.01) and knee score at 12 months (WMD=2.17; 95% CI, 0.01 to 4.34; P=.05) and lateral retinacular release (odds ratio=0.34; 95% CI, 0.14 to 0.79; P=.01) when compared with the medial parapatellar approach. However, both groups showed similar results in range of motion (P>.05), operative time (WMD=2.15; 95% CI, -3.61 to 7.35; P=.42), blood loss (WMD= -31.07; 95% CI, -91.89 to 29.75; P=.32), hospital stay (WMD= -0.18; 95% CI, -0.67 to 0.31; P=.47), and postoperative complications (P>.05).