Extract
This Specialty Update in orthopaedic trauma will emphasize the most
relevant clinical literature that was published between June 2006 and May
2007. Given the scope of the literature and the broad overview of trauma, we
have focused our search to include journals that we believe to be most
relevant to orthopaedic trauma. Our approach certainly is not exhaustive,
however. For example, we did not translate non-English-language articles, nor
did we cover hand and pediatric trauma, given that these topics will be
reviewed in their specific subspecialty sections. Specifically, we searched
the Cochrane Database, seven orthopaedic journals, and four high-impact
medical journals (see Appendix). This search identified 8469 articles, of
which 340 were selected for possible relevance. All of these abstracts were
then reviewed by one of us (P.A.C.). After the abstract review, sixty-eight
studies were chosen for this update, including nineteen Level-I studies,
fifteen Level-II studies, seven Level-III studies, and twenty-seven Level-IV
studies. A table in the Appendix summarizes each of the studies and classifies
them according to level of evidence and study type. Of the sixty-eight
clinical articles, forty-seven represented studies of therapy, sixteen
involved prognosis, and five evaluated diagnostic tests.