Clinical Research Directory

Zimmer Biomet-RibFix Titan

Prospective, single-center, non-randomized, single-cohort, post-market clinical follow-up study to confirm the safety, performance, and clinical benefits for the use of the RibFix Titan™ system implants and instrumentation) in the fusion, stabilization, and fixation of fractures in the chest wall including rib reconstructive surgical procedures, trauma, or planned osteotomies.

Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) for Diagnosis and Treatment of Fractures in the Costal Cartilage

The goal of this observational study is to learn if combining ultrasound and CT scans can better diagnose cartilage fractures in the ribs, and to understand how finding these injuries affects treatment decisions for patients with injuries to the Chest wall. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does using both ultrasound and CT scans find more costal cartilage fractures than CT scans alone? * Does discovering costal cartilage fractures change how patients are treated, such as whether more patients receive surgery or if different fractures are repaired? * How do costal cartilage fractures heal, and do they affect lung function, pain, or the risk of complications after surgery? Patients with cartilage injuries will be followed up at 1, 3, and 12 months after their injury. They will be checked for pain, instability, and healing using ultrasound and sometimes CT scans. The study will also assess lung function, quality of life, and pain levels.

Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Cryoneurolysis to Treat Pain Following Thoracic Trauma

Thoracic trauma frequently involve rib fractures which can be very painful for 2-3 months. Unfortunately, pain is not simply a "symptom" of the injuries, but a significant cause of additional medical problems: pain causes people to breath and cough less deeply/often which increases the risk of collapsing little parts of the lung. These collapsed areas often lead to complications which can increase the risk of death. In addition, the higher the amount of pain in the weeks following the fracture, the higher the risk of developing persistent, chronic pain that can last indefinitely. So, providing excellent pain control is very important for a variety of reasons. Various nerve blocks can greatly decrease pain, but even the longest acting are measured in hours or days, and not the weeks and months for which rib fracture pain can last. Therefore, opioids-"narcotics"-are the most common pain control method provided to patients; but they frequently do not provide enough pain control, have undesirable side effects like nausea and vomiting, and are sometimes misused which can lead to addiction or overdose. A prolonged nerve block lasting multiple months from a single treatment may be provided by freezing the nerve using a process called "cryoneurolysis". With cryoneurolysis and ultrasound machines, a very small "probe" may be placed through anesthetized skin and guided to the target nerve to allow freezing. The procedure takes about 5 minutes for each nerve, involves little discomfort, has no side effects, and cannot be misused or addictive. After 2-3 months, the nerve returns to normal functioning. The investigators have completed a small study suggesting that a single cryoneurolysis treatment provides potent short- and long-term pain relief following thoracic trauma with rib fractures. The ultimate objective of the proposed research is to determine if percutaneous cryoneurolysis is an effective non-opioid, single-application treatment for pain following traumatic rib fracture. The current project is a pragmatic, multicenter, randomized, triple-masked (investigators, participants, statisticians), sham/placebo-controlled, parallel-arm, human-subjects, post-market clinical trial to determine if cryoneurolysis is an effective non-opioid treatment for pain following traumatic rib fractures.