Predictive factors of positive online patient ratings of spine surgeons

BACKGROUND

Online physician rating websites are increasingly used by patients to evaluate their doctors. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate factors associated with better spine surgeon ratings.

Multidisciplinary management of patients presenting with Lyme disease suspicion

Objective

The teaching hospital of Nancy, France, implemented a specific multidisciplinary care pathway (French acronym AMDPL) to improve the management of patients presenting with Lyme borreliosis (LB) suspicion. We aimed to assess the first year of activity of this care pathway.

Editorial Commentary: “Dancing the Hip Away”—Does Joint Laxity Correlate With Worse Outcome in Dancers Undergoing Hip Arthroscopy for Femoral Acetabular Impingement?

Dancers have a disproportionately high prevalence of hip issues compared with other types of athletes. Many of these hip issues are complex: a cam and/or pincer impingement combined with a seemingly paradoxical borderline dysplasia, capsular laxity, and subsequent instability. Our experience as nonarthritic hip surgeons tells us that careful patient selection is critical for a successful outcome after the arthroscopic treatment of a dancer. But, there is little guidance in the literature on the management of this specific group of patients. We have studies that advise us to repair the labrum when possible versus performing labral debridement in female patients with predominantly pincer-type impingement and studies that support capsular plication and careful capsule closure in patients, predominantly female patients, with combined hip impingement and dysplasia or borderline dysplasia. However, few studies have examined predictors of outcomes after hip arthroscopy in dancers.     

Post-Lyme disease syndrome

About 10% of patients with Lyme disease continue to experience musculoskeletal pain and cognitive dysfunction after recommended antibiotic treatment. This condition is called post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLDS) or post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. These two terms are used interchangeably. The pathogenesis of PLDS has been controversial. The hypothesis that patients with PLDS may harbor hidden reservoirs of Borrelia burgdorferi after their initial antibiotic treatment is difficult to accept. The prospective, double-blind studies contradict this point of view. Also, recently published research applying xenodiagnosis to PLDS supports the opinion that PLDS most likely has an autoimmune background. Lengthy courses of antibiotics are not justified in patients with PLDS because of the lack of benefit, and they are fraught with hazards. Most patients with PLDS recover from persistent symptoms with time. However, it can take months before they feel completely well.