2023 Pediatric Orthopaedic Research Highlights

Rainbow Orthopaedic Update | Winter 2024

2023 has been another productive year for research conducted in the pediatric orthopaedics division. Our research team actively collaborates with an outstanding group of medical students, residents and research fellows. In addition to this active participation, we have been able to collaborate through several multicenter research groups. This work resulted in 37 PubMed listed publications over the past year in addition to numerous regional, national and international invited abstracts and talks.

We continue to be key contributors to the Harms and Pediatric Spine Study Group spine databases. Michael Glotzbecker, MD, is the treasurer-elect and past leader of the Pediatric Spine Study Group. Christina Hardesty, MD, continues as the leader of the Graduates Research Interest Group as well as a member of the Research Council.

We are now participating in the IMPAACT trial, a multi-center NIH funded randomized controlled trial studying the outcomes of distal radius and medial epicondyle fractures in children. This study is also headed by a former Case orthopaedic resident, Jay Janicki, MD.

This year, we join with several other centers around the country to participate in multicenter studies looking at bracing for spinal deformity surgery. UH Rainbow has also been one of the few sites selected for an IDE trial of a device designed to allow patient with Spinal Muscular Atrophy easier access to intrathecal medications.

Our sports team participates in ASTEROID, the prospective multicenter tibial spine registry, and has been integral in expanding understanding of tibial spine fractures through the previous retrospective multicenter database.

Our younger multicenter databases, each lead at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s, are continuing to develop. The Children’s Hospitals Investigating Limb Deformity (CHILD) study group drafted its first manuscript this year, which is accepted for publication at the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. The Children’s Hospital Intrathecal Pump (CHIP) database has onboarded additional sites in the last year, gave a presentation at AACPDM, and continues to grow.

All of our faculty are deeply invested in mentoring our residents and students at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. This year, Raymond Liu, MD, was acknowledged with the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award presented by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.