The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume
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J Bone Joint Surg Am · Jan 1989
Case ReportsEmergency transport and positioning of young children who have an injury of the cervical spine. The standard backboard may be hazardous.
In ten children who were less than seven years old, an unstable injury of the cervical spine was found to have anterior angulation or translation, or both, on initial lateral radiographs that were made with the child supine on a standard flat backboard. In all ten patients, extension was the proper position for reduction of the injury of the cervical spine. Young children have a large head in comparison with the rest of the body. ⋯ When they lie supine, the neck is flexed. To prevent undesirable cervical flexion in young children during emergency transport and radiography, a standard backboard can be modified to provide safer alignment of the cervical spine. This can be accomplished by the use of a recess for the occiput to lower the head or of a double mattress pad to raise the chest.
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J Bone Joint Surg Am · Jan 1989
Spinal fusion augmented by luque-rod segmental instrumentation for neuromuscular scoliosis.
Seventy-four patients who had deformity of the spine secondary to a neuromuscular disorder were treated using posterior fusion with Luque-rod segmental instrumentation. The mean curve was 73 degrees preoperatively and 38 degrees postoperatively. The mean loss of correction was 4 degrees at an average duration of follow-up of forty-two months (range, 2.0 to 7.3 years). ⋯ Failure of instrumentation occurred more frequently with 3/16-inch (4.8-millimeter) diameter than with 1/4-inch (6.4-millimeter) diameter stainless-steel rods. There was a tendency for cephalad progression of deformity when the fusion ended cephalad at or below the fourth thoracic vertebra. We concluded that Luque-rod segmental instrumentation with posterior spinal fusion is an effective treatment for patients who have neuromuscular scoliosis.