Hi, My name is Satyam Patel. I started this blog as a resident in orthopedic surgery at the University of Saskatchewan for several reasons.
Firstly, it was used to get feedback for various ongoing research projects – one of which is a national survey of orthopedic surgeons regarding attitudes and knowledge about osteoporosis. It was hoped that this forum would allow multiple contributors to post and discuss ideas relevant to the ongoing research.
Secondly, it was (and still will be) used to disseminate notes and presentations to other orthopedic residents. Anyone is welcome to use these for self-study, however I would appreciate acknowledgement if they are used in a public forum.
For further information about the blog, please see the post “wow, people actually read my stuff”
Regarding the survey, Osteoporosis management in Canada is unstructured – many patients recieve appropriate fracture treatment, but no treatment of the underlying osteoporosis. Available diagnostic techniques, treatment strategies, and management guidelines have improved over time. Unfortunately, our overall impression is that few orthopedic surgeons initiate treatment of underlying osteoporosis concurrently with fracture care. Our goal is to assess the current knowledge and attitudes of canadian orthopedic surgeons regarding treatment of osteoporosis through a user-friendly web-based survey.
The main purpose of this blog is to allow me to get feedback about ongoing research and keep it organized. Any feedback or contributions to my review notes and presentations would be appreciated as well. If you prefer to keep your suggestions private or anonymous you can email me at satyampatel@hotmail.com.
Thanks for your time and your contributions.
Sincerely, Satyam Patel
Hello Satyam – What caught my eye was “runs in Saskatoon”, a city which I hold in fond memory from my time at the University Hospital. Your resident’s notes are interesting. I won’t comment on them, but if you have some perplexions about orthopaedics dont hesitate to write. JP Driver-Jowitt
Hello,
I just finished going through your SLAC & SNAC wrist management and results presentation. It was came up on my google search on 4 corner arthrodesis. I did two yesterday for the first time…
It was really tough to find info on this for some reason, so your presentation was concise and clear presentation was timely and helpful. Thanks!
No problem. I’m glad the presentation was helpful.
I don’t think that this needs to be a difficult operation, but I agree that it is poorly described, and the importance / methods of restoring proper Lunate-Capitate alignment prior to fusing them is often overlooked.
I’m curious to know what technique you used – i tried to be unbiased in the presentation, but my current preference would be to use 3 headless cannulated screws (e.g. Accutrak, Herbert-Whipple, etc.) (L-C, C-H, L-T)
I recently spoke with Greg Bain about his published technique (he excises the triquetrum, and uses staples for fixation) I haven’t used the staples, but excision of the triquetrum is potentially attractive to increase ulnar deviation. I’m not sure what effect the reduction in fusion mass will have. I’ve discussed this with a few people and have had two different answers, one being that decreased fusion mass will result in decreased ability to load across the carpus, and the other being that size of fusion mass is irrelevant, but rather that carpal height and alignment are most important. I haven’t tried it yet, but probably will at some point.
Let me know how things go.