Buyer Beware of Foreign Drugs, Devices

John E. Kelly, JD; Matthew M. Curley, JD

Perhaps more than ever before, physicians are being inundated with fax and Internet advertising by foreign pharmacies selling prescription drugs and medical devices. Often, the prices are well below those set by the physician’s usual domestic drug and device suppliers.

Determining the Role of Particulate Debris in the Development of Osteolysis

Mark Crawford

“Am I going to be able to walk again without help?” As a specialist in adult reconstruction, Amanda D. Marshall, MD, hears this question nearly every day. “Total knee and total hip arthroplasty are some of the most life-changing procedures in all of medicine,” said Dr. Marshall, assistant professor in the department of orthopaedics at the University of Texas at San Antonio and three-time Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) grant recipient.

AAOS Wins AHRQ Grant

Mobile app will support CPG use The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has awarded a 3-year innovation grant to the AAOS to improve patient care in orthopaedics through the dissemination of AAOS evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), quality tools, and supporting information. The funds will be used to develop an easy to access, searchable online platform and mobile application that will be accessible from computers, smart phones, and tablets.

Understanding Sex Differences in Musculoskeletal Oncology

John H. Healey, MD, FACS

Sex-dependent differences in the incidence, etiology, and treatment of musculoskeletal tumors rarely receive adequate attention in clinical study protocols and have yet to be fully investigated. Due to their low incidence, primary bone tumors are infrequently encountered in a general orthopaedic surgical practice, so opportunities for firsthand observations of these differences are limited.

OREF, OMeGA Reach Agreement on Fellowship Funding

Each organization adopts a specific focus The Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) and the OMeGA Medical Grant Association have reached an agreement on fellowship funding. To allocate funding for maximum impact, OREF will focus on supporting research, while OMeGA will focus on grants for graduate medical education (GME). A new agenda In 2012, OREF examined how it could allocate funding for maximum impact in its grant-making.

Cobalt-chrome Rods in Spine Surgery: What Is the Risk of a Battery Effect?

Paul A. Anderson, MD; Kenneth Urish, MD, PhD

Spinal implants—including screws, rods, and plates—are manufactured using stainless steel, pure titanium, and titanium alloys. Each of these has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, advantages of titanium include its biocompatibility and the ability to do spinal imaging with magnetic resonance imaging without loss of signal secondary to metal artifact. Its disadvantages include decreased material stiffness, strength, and hardness.