Prognostic factors associated with improvements in patient-reported outcomes in idiopathic adhesive capsulitis

Manual therapy considerations for adhesive capsulitis in the breast cancer population: a clinical perspective

Adhesive capsulitis (AC) is common in women aged 40-60, overlapping with the population at higher risk for breast cancer. Many breast cancer survivors develop shoulder dysfunction, including AC, due to cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, leading to pain, limited mobility, altered biomechanics, and soft tissue contracture. Despite the prevalence of AC in this population, clinical guidelines for its management remain underexplored. Manual therapy can play a key role in improving quality of life for these individuals.Understanding the pain mechanisms - nociceptive, neuropathic, and nociplastic - can inform appropriate treatment strategies for breast cancer survivors with AC. This clinical perspective integrates manual therapy principles into the evaluation and management of AC in this population. As breast cancer cases continue to rise, clinicians must recognize the impact of cancer treatment sequelae on orthopedic conditions to optimize patient care.

Does concomitant thyroid disorder lead to worse outcomes in frozen shoulder? A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Frozen shoulder is a common pathology characterized by significant shoulder pain, range of motion limitation, and physical disability. There exists a clear association between the prevalence of frozen shoulder and thyroid disease. However, the effects of concomitant thyroid disease on clinical outcomes of frozen shoulder are less well established. This study aims to evaluate if the presence of thyroid disease predisposes to poorer clinical outcomes in patients with frozen shoulder.

METHODS

The study was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and registered with PROSPERO. Two databases (PubMed and Embase) were searched from date of inception to 9 January 2024. Human studies reporting clinical outcomes of patients with concomitant thyroid disorder and frozen shoulder were included. Risk of bias was assessed based on the Quality In Prognosis Studies tool and quality of evidence was judged based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework in the domains of range of motion, responsiveness to treatment or timeliness of recovery, and multidimensional scoring systems.

RESULTS

Seven studies comprising 167,397 subjects (mean age 52.7-58 years, female proportion 67.1%) including 49,314 patients with concomitant thyroid disorder and frozen shoulder were included. Amongst the 7 included studies: 1 study reported improved clinical outcomes in patients with concomitant frozen shoulder and hypothyroidism, 1 study reported that presence of thyroid disorder led to worse outcomes, while the remaining 5 studies did not demonstrate evidence of statistically worse outcomes in patients with concomitant thyroid disorder. Based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework, there was no consistent prognostic association between thyroid disorder and frozen shoulder in the domains of range of motion, responsiveness to treatment or timeliness of recovery, and multidimensional scoring systems, and the quality of evidence ranged from 'Very Low' to 'Low'.

RISK OF BIAS ASSESSMENT

Based on the Quality In Prognosis Studies tool, 3 studies were assessed to have low risk of bias, while 4 studies were assessed to have moderate risk of bias.

CONCLUSION

Though there exists an association between the prevalence of frozen shoulder and thyroid disorder, there is no consistent evidence in available literature to suggest that concomitant thyroid disorder predisposes to worse clinical outcomes.

Does the addition of Patient-Reported Outcome Measure Information System (PROMIS) pain instruments improve the sensitivity of PROMIS upper extremity scores after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair?

BACKGROUND

Although Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Upper Extremity (P-UE) has been validated in upper extremity orthopedics, its ability to capture a patient's functional recovery after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (aRCR), as measured by its responsiveness, is minimal in the early postoperative period. The primary purpose of this study is to determine if the addition of PROMIS Pain Intensity (P-Intensity) or Pain Interference (P-Interference) scores to PROMIS UE improves the responsiveness throughout the 1-year postoperative period after aRCR.

METHODS

This prospective, longitudinal study included 100 patients who underwent aRCR. Patients completed P-UE, P-Interference, P-Intensity, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, and Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index scores preoperatively and at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after surgery. Responsiveness at each time point relative to preoperative baseline and 1-way analysis of variance with post hoc analysis was conducted for each PROM. The responsiveness of the outcome score was determined using the effect size, graded as small (0.2), medium (0.5), or large (0.8). The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was determined between these instruments at each time point.

RESULTS

In isolation, P-UE, P-Interference, and P-Intensity showed a medium-large ability to detect change (positive and negative) throughout the 1-year postoperative period. The addition of PROMIS pain scores to P-UE improved the responsiveness of the instrument (from medium to a large effect size) starting at 3 months and continued throughout the 12-month follow-up period. Although the addition of pain scores increases the response burden for PROMIS, this was still lower than the response burden for the legacy outcome scores (P < .05).

CONCLUSION

The addition of PROMIS pain instruments improves the responsiveness of the P-UE function score in patients undergoing aRCR.

Addition of PROMIS pain instruments to PROMIS upper extremity physical function improves the responsiveness of PROMIS scores compared to legacy scores in patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty: a prospective study

BACKGROUND

Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information Systems (PROMIS) is increasingly being utilized across the United States as a patient-reported outcome evaluation tool for a wide variety of musculoskeletal conditions. However, PROMIS Upper Extremity (P-UE) physical function has demonstrated limited responsiveness in the early postoperative period after total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). The aim of this study is to determine if addition of PROMIS Pain Interference (P-Interference) or Pain Intensity (P-Intensity) scores improve the ability to detect postoperative changes in the 1-year postoperative period following TSA.

METHODS

Patients who were indicated for and elected to undergo TSA between 2020 and 2022 were prospectively enrolled. Prospective data were collected for patient surveys (American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES), Simple Shoulder Test, P-UE, P-Interference and P-Intensity) at the 2-week, 6-week, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month timepoints. Instrument responsiveness for each PROM was evaluated using the effect size (ES; Cohen d). Responsiveness was defined by the absolute values of each measurement, previously reported as small (0.2), medium (0.5), or large (0.8). Statistical analysis (2 sample t-tests and Fisher's tests) was performed using R studio version 4.2.3 (Boston, MA, USA).

RESULTS

A total of 127 subjects were enrolled in this study. All survey instruments demonstrated large responsiveness (>0.8) at 3, 6, and 12 months. P-Intensity was the only instrument to demonstrate large responsiveness at 2-weeks with its addition to P-UE showing an improved responsiveness at all-time points. Moreover, the addition of P-Intensity had a lower response burden at all-time points when compared to the legacy measures (ASES, Simple Shoulder Test, and Oxford Shoulder Score) at all-time points albeit no difference to ASES (P = .55) at 12-months after surgery. P-Interference and other legacy scores demonstrated large responsiveness starting at 6-weeks postoperatively.

CONCLUSION

The responsiveness of PROMIS UE can be improved by coupling the outcome measure to P-Intensity scores with a significantly lower response burden when compared to the legacy measures evaluated at nearly all time points.

Impact of insurance payer type (medicare vs. private) on the patient reported outcomes after shoulder arthroplasty

Background

This study's purpose is to determine if there is a difference in patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) following shoulder arthroplasty (SA) based upon payer insurance type, with a secondary outcome of determining if any appreciable difference surpasses the minimal clinically important difference (MCID).

Methods

Subjects undergoing anatomic and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty were prospectively enrolled between March 2019 and March 2021. Subjects completed patient reported outcomes measurement information system upper extremity (P-UE), the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score (ASES), and the simple shoulder test (SST) preoperatively and at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months, postoperatively. Descriptive statistics of baseline patient characteristics and preoperative PROMs (ASES, SST, and P-UE) were compared between insurance types.

Results

143 patients were identified who met the inclusion criteria for this study. There were 98 patients within the Medicare cohort and 45 patients with private insurance. Patients in the Medicare cohort were older (mean age 70.5 vs. 61.3 years), with high proportion of smokers, diabetics, and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty compared to the private payor cohort. There were no significant differences between the two cohorts with respect to outcomes scores except for significantly better SST in the private insurance cohort (69.3 vs. 79.4, P = .02). No significant differences were noted for the achievement of MCID between cohorts [P-UE (P = 1.0), ASES (P = .25), and SST (0.52)] and pre-to-postoperative improvements for P-UE (P = .62), ASES (P = .4), or SST (0.66).

Conclusion

Our study demonstrates that, at a tertiary-level academic institution in a metropolitan city, payor type does not have significant impact on achieving MCID or pre-to-postoperative improvements in PROMs after SA.

Analysis of factors associated with patient-reported outcome (PRO) score completion rate one year after shoulder surgeries

Background

Patient-reported outcome measurements (PROMs) are important metrics for monitoring improvements following shoulder surgery. Despite the easy accessibility of electronic PROM surveys, completion rates vary, and factors predictive of survey completion for patients enrolled in medical survey follow-up after shoulder surgery remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study is to investigate survey completion rates for common shoulder procedures and identify factors predictive of PROM completion at one-year postoperatively. We hypothesize that the response rate to shoulder PROMs may vary by the shoulder procedure type after surgery.

Methods

Patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA), rotator cuff repair (RCR), and instability surgery (Latarjet procedure [LP], and arthroscopic Bankart repair [ABR]) from 2019 to 2021 were prospectively enrolled. Each patient was administered PROM surveys via email preoperatively and at 2-weeks, 6-weeks, 3-months, 6-months, and 12-months following surgery. Demographics and socioeconomic characteristics were collected from our institutional database. The primary outcome studied was survey completion rate by procedure. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify factors predictive of completing 12-month follow-up.

Results

A total of 514 (251 TSA, 194 RCR, and 69 instability surgery (35 LP, 34 ABR)) patients with an average age of 58 ± 15 years were included in this study. Overall, the 12-month survey completion rate for all procedures was 57.2%. TSA had the highest completion rate (64.9%), followed by RCR (52.1%), ABR (44.2%), and LP (42.9%). ABR and LP demonstrated more than a 50% drop in survey response at 2 weeks, and the RCR cohort demonstrated an increased attrition in survey response at the 6-month mark. Patients who completed the 12-month follow-up survey were older [61 ± 14 vs. 54 ± 17; P < .001], less frequently self-identified as Hispanic [13% vs. 23%; P = .009], less frequently single [32% vs. 44%; P = .008], and most frequently classified as the American Society of Anesthesiology [ASA] score II [65%, P = .001].

Conclusion

Postoperative PROM survey completion rates vary significantly among commonly performed shoulder procedures during the first year after surgery. Hispanic ethnicity and younger age were all predictive of a lower propensity, and the TSA procedure is predictive of higher odds for PROM survey completion at the 12-month follow-up.

Angiotensin Receptor Blockers and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors Have No Significant Relationship With Postoperative Arthrofibrosis After Shoulder Arthroscopy

Purpose

To determine the effect of perioperative angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) on postoperative arthrofibrosis, as defined by requiring manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) or new diagnosis of adhesive capsulitis (AC) following arthroscopic shoulder procedures.

Methods

Patients were retrospectively identified using Current Procedural Terminology surgical billing codes to identify patients who underwent any shoulder arthroscopic procedure at a single urban academic institution from 2012 to 2020 with a minimum 2-year follow-up. Patients were excluded if <30 years old at time of surgery, as these patients rarely use ARB and ACEi medications, or if they had pre-existing AC. Demographics, active medication prescriptions at the time of surgery, and medical comorbidities were recorded. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine the effect of ARB/ACEi on subsequent MUA or AC by 90 days, 1 year, and 2 years.

Results

In total, 5,559 patients were included in the final analysis. A majority of the cohort (53.4%) underwent arthroscopic surgery between the ages of 50 to 69 years. Most patients were male (61.8%) and without obesity (67.3%). In total, 18.9% and 15.0% were taking an ARB or ACEi medication perioperatively, respectively. Within 2 years' postoperatively, 51 patients (0.9%) underwent subsequent ipsilateral MUA, and 174 patients (3.1%) developed AC. Patients taking ARBs had a 17.5% rate of postoperative arthrofibrosis within 2-years compared with 19.1% in those not on ARBs, although this difference was not significant (P = .58). Likewise, no significant difference was found between those taking ACEi versus not (15.0% vs 15.0%, P = .99). Individual generic ARB/ACEi subgroup analysis did not demonstrate any significant associations with rate of postoperative arthrofibrosis (P > .05).

Conclusions

ARBs or ACEi did not significantly affect the rate of postoperative arthrofibrosis following shoulder arthroscopy, however female sex, diabetes mellitus, and Black/African American race were associated with an increased rate of necessitating MUA or developing AC within 2 years postoperatively.

Level of Evidence

Level III, retrospective cohort study.

Snapping Sternoclavicular Joint

Snapping sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) is a rare presentation in the SCJ. We present a case report detailing the presentation and treatment of unilateral snapping SCJ in a 14-year-old male patient. Clinical findings included the subluxation of the medial end of the clavicle in the anterior-posterior direction following a specific maneuver by the patient that involved repetitive external rotation with the arm in horizontal abduction. Dynamic ultrasound demonstrated an asymmetric widening of the right sternoclavicular joint in the neutral position with a pronounced subluxation in provocative positioning. At 3.5-year follow-up, he continued to remain pain-free without static deformity of the SCJ. Snapping SCJ is a benign phenomenon that does not require any intervention and is not associated with ligament laxity.