13 research outputs found
Minimally invasive lateral transiliac sacroiliac joint fusion using 3D-printed triangular titanium implants
No full textVikas Patel,1 Don Kovalsky,2 S Craig Meyer,3 Abhineet Chowdhary,4 Harry Lockstadt,5 Fernando Techy,6 James Billys,7 Robert Limoni,8 Philip S Yuan,9 Andy Kranenburg,10 Daniel Cher,11 Gabriel Tender121Department of Orthopedics, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA; 2Orthopaedic Center of Southern Illinois, Mt. Vernon, IL, USA; 3Columbia Orthopaedic Medical Group, Columbia, MO, USA; 4Overlake Medical Center, Bellevue, WA, USA; 5Bluegrass Orthopaedics, Lexington, KY, USA; 6ClinTech Center for Spine Health, Johnstown, CO, USA; 7The B.A.C.K. Center, Melbourne, FL, USA; 8BayCare Clinic Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, Green Bay, WI, USA; 9Memorial Orthopaedic Surgical Group, Long Beach, CA, USA; 10South Oregon Orthopedics, Medford, OR, USA; 11SI-BONE, Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA; 12Department of Neurosurgery, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, LA, USABackground: Minimally invasive sacroiliac joint (SIJ) fusion (SIJF) has become an increasingly accepted surgical option for chronic SI joint dysfunction, a prevalent cause of chronic low back/buttock pain.Objective: To report clinical and functional outcomes of SIJF using 3D-printed triangular titanium implants (TTI) for patients with chronic SI joint dysfunction.Methods: A total of 28 subjects with SIJ dysfunction at 8 centers underwent SIJF with 3D TTI and had scheduled follow-up to 6 months (NCT03122899).Results: Mean preoperative SIJ pain score was 79.1 and mean preoperative Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was 49.9. At 6 months, pain scores decreased by 51 points and ODI decreased by 23.6 points (both p<0.0001). The proportion of subjects able to perform various back/pelvis-related physical functions with minimal difficulty improved significantly for nearly all activities. Opioid use decreased and physical function, as assessed with three objective tests, improved.Conclusion: Early results from this prospective multicenter trial confirm that clinical responses to a 3D triangular titanium implant for SIJF are similar to those from prior trials, with improved physical function and decreased opioid use.Level of evidence: Level II.Keywords: spine surgery, pelvic pain, osteoarthritis, arthrodesi
Demographics, Clinical and Radiographic Results of Kyphoplasty: Follow-up from 2 Weeks to 5 Years
No full textOutpatient service profile in a plastic surgery clinic in Southern Brazil
No full textObjective: To describe the outpatient service profile in a plastic surgery clinic in southern Brazil.
Materials and Methods: It was conducted a descriptive, exploratory and quantitative study in order to analyze the total outpatient service (consultations and surgeries) performed in a private plastic surgery clinic in the period from January 1th to December 31th of 2010.
Results: It was observed that from 671 (60,5%) new consultations, only 205 (18,5%) surgeries were performed. March was the month with the highest number of consultations (10%) and surgeries (11,7%). Of the total of new consultations, the reparative ones were prevalent in 55,6% of the cases, followed by the esthetic with 33,7%. The average age was 37 years and the women were predominant. The ages ranged from 8 months to 89 years. The married patients represented the majority of surgeries (49,8%)and there was a predominance of adult patients (31-59 years) with 316 patients (47,1%). Unimed was the health insurance plan more used (49,3%) in the consultations; the most frequent surgical procedures were excisions and/or scraping of skin disorders and attachment 70 (33,1%), followed by mammoplasty (augmentation mammoplasty, mastopexy, gynecomastia).
Conclusion: Although most of the surgical service were exeresis of congenital deformities and/or acquired, the result is not far from the reality found in the rest of Brazil, with a predominance of women and large number of breast implants. The studied clinic is an institution that provides conditions for the feasibility of outpatient care, considering the numerous advantages offered by this method
Designing Tracy: a conversational holiday recommender for Generation Z
No full textVirtual assistants are rapidly growing in popularity, triggering businesses around the world to explore their applicability. From a user perspective,, having a conversational interaction with technology has certain advantages, as it is easy to use, hands-free and eye-free. Despite the fact that Transavia already released its first steps with the assistant, there is still minor knowledge about how it can be used effectively to engage with the customer. A techy, social and young customer group - often referred to as Generation Z - is interacting with technology and brands in a very different way than Millenials. As a starting point, a preliminary design goal is formulated which links the technology and the user to an early touch point in Transavia’s customer journey: “Design a virtual assistant for Transavia that offers added value in helping Generation Z with finding and/or booking flights”. The contexts of four aspects are analysed: business, process, user and technology, which together lay the foundation for the subsequent user studies. The studies show the flight finding and -booking behaviour of Generation Z, as well as their current and preferred interactions with virtual assistants. Based on the outcomes the witty assistant ‘Tracy’ is conceptualised and piloted using the Google Assistant and Lenovo Smart Display. Tracy focuses on the moment right before booking called pre-booking, and recommends Generation Z affordable trips based on their availability. Alongside user tests the prototype goes through three iterations to optimise various aspects of the design: tone-of-voice, product personality, content and conversational flow. The final design is intended to be feasible for a short term release, and proved there lies true potential in using a conversational interface to engage with Generation Z in the pre-booking phase. Finally, recommendations are proposed for Transavia to support them when continuing with either Tracy or with virtual assistance in general.Design for Interactio
