Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
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Clinical Trial
Intrathecal morphine analgesia after cervical and thoracic spinal cord tumor surgery.
The aim of this study was to provide evidence for the effect of intrathecal morphine application after spinal cord tumor resection. ⋯ Intrathecal morphine for postoperative analgesia after resection of cervical and thoracic spinal cord tumors is effective and safe. These preliminary results require confirmation by larger comparative studies and further clinical experience.
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Laminoplasty is the preferred operation for most patients with cervical myelopathy due to multilevel ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL). Recent studies have demonstrated several significant risk factors for poor clinical outcomes after laminoplasty, including older age, lower preoperative Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, postoperative change in cervical alignment, cervical kyphosis, and high occupying ratio of the OPLL (that is, the ratio of the greatest anteroposterior thickness of the OPLL to the anteroposterior diameter of the spinal canal at the same level on a lateral image). However, the impact of dynamic factors on clinical outcomes is unclear. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of dynamic factors on the clinical outcome after laminoplasty for cervical myelopathy due to OPLL. ⋯ Fusion surgery may be a useful strategy in patients with preoperative hypermobility of the cervical spine.
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Extradural en plaque meningiomas are very rare tumors in the spinal canal. Most studies on these lesions have been case reports with literature reviews. In this paper, the authors review their experience in a surgical series of 12 patients with histologically proven, purely extradural en plaque meningiomas and discuss their clinical features, radiological findings, and long-term outcomes. ⋯ Spinal extradural en plaque meningiomas are amenable to surgery if complete removal can be achieved. Because of the encirclement of the dura that is characteristic of the tumors, complete resection is usually difficult, subtotal removal for spinal cord decompression is advised, and follow-up imaging is needed. The risk of long-term recurrence/regrowth of the lesions is low, and a good clinical outcome after total or subtotal removal can be expected.
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Case Reports
The Nationwide Inpatient Sample database does not accurately reflect surgical indications for fusion.
The rates of lumbar spinal fusion operations have increased dramatically over the past 2 decades, and several studies based on administrative databases such as the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) have suggested that the greatest rise is in the general categories of degenerative disc disease and disc herniation, neither of which is a well-accepted indication for lumbar fusion. The administrative databases classify cases with the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). The ICD-9-CM discharge codes are not generated by surgeons but rather are assigned by trained hospital medical coders. It is unclear how accurately they capture the surgeon's indication for fusion. The authors sought to compare the ICD-9-CM code(s) assigned by the medical coder to the surgeon's indication based on a review of the medical chart. ⋯ Characterizing indications for fusion based solely on primary ICD-9-CM codes extracted from large administrative databases does not accurately reflect the surgeon's indication. While these databases may accurately describe national rates of lumbar fusion surgery, the lack of fidelity in the source codes limits their role in accurately identifying indications for surgery. Studying relationships among indications, complications, and outcomes stratified solely by ICD-9-CM codes is not well founded.
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To date, formulation of the optimal surgical protocol for noncontiguous multilevel cervical spondylosis remains controversial, and the corresponding clinical data continue to be limited. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical and radiological outcomes of two hybrid reconstructive techniques in noncontiguous 3-level cervical spondylosis (2 contiguous disc levels and 1 "skip" disc level [nonoperated level between 2 operated levels]). The incidence of adjacent-segment degeneration (ASD) was also evaluated. ⋯ Both of the hybrid procedures (anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion [ACCF] + anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, and ACCF + cervical disc arthroplasty [CDA]) yielded favorable clinical and radiological outcomes in the treatment of noncontiguous 3-level cervical spondylosis. Moreover, the ACCF + CDA procedure may have the ability to decrease the likelihood of ASD in appropriate patients.