Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
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The aim of the present study was to retrospectively evaluate progressive correction of coronal and sagittal alignment and pelvic parameters in patients treated with a Chêneau brace. ⋯ The Chêneau brace can be useful for preventing curvature progression in patients with AIS. However, the results of this study reveal high variability in the effect of brace treatment on sagittal and pelvic alignment. Treatment with the Chêneau brace may also influence sagittal global balance.
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Spinal metastases account for the majority of bone metastases from thyroid cancer. The objective of the current study was to analyze a series of consecutive patients undergoing spinal surgery for thyroid cancer metastases in order to identify factors that influence overall survival. ⋯ Progressive systemic disease, postoperative complications, and preoperative neurological deficits were significantly associated with worse overall survival, while preoperative spinal embolization was associated with improved overall survival. These factors should be taken into consideration when considering such patients for surgery. Preoperative embolization and posterior construct length significantly influenced the incidence of postoperative complications only on the univariate analysis.
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OBJECT The authors have established a multicenter registry to assess the efficacy and costs of common lumbar spinal procedures using prospectively collected outcomes. Collection of these data requires an extensive commitment of resources from each site. The aim of this study was to determine whether outcomes data from shorter-interval follow-up could be used to accurately estimate long-term outcome following lumbar discectomy. ⋯ CONCLUSIONS This national spine registry demonstrated successful collection of high-quality outcomes data for spinal procedures in actual practice. Three-month outcome data may be used to accurately estimate outcome at future time points and may lower costs associated with registry data collection. This registry effort provides a practical foundation for the acquisition of outcome data following lumbar discectomy.
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The authors sought to determine patient-related outcomes after minimally invasive surgical (MIS) lumbar intraspinal synovial cyst excision via a tubular working channel and a contralateral facet-sparing approach. ⋯ The MIS excision of lumbar intraspinal synovial cysts via a contralateral approach offers excellent exposure to the cyst and spares the facet joint at the involved level, thus minimizing risk of instability, blood loss, operative time, and hospital stay. Prospective randomized trials with longer follow-up times and larger cohorts are needed to conclusively determine the superiority of the contralateral MIS approach over others, including open or ipsilateral minimally invasive surgery.
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OBJECT Previous studies that have evaluated the prognostic value of abnormal changes in signals on T2-weighted MRI scans of an injured spinal cord have focused on the longitudinal extent of this signal abnormality in the sagittal plane. Although the transverse extent of injury and the degree of spared spinal cord white matter have been shown to be important for predicting outcomes in preclinical animal models of spinal cord injury (SCI), surprisingly little is known about the prognostic value of altered T2 relaxivity in humans in the axial plane. METHODS The authors undertook a retrospective chart review of 60 patients who met the inclusion criteria of this study and presented to the authors' Level I trauma center with an acute blunt traumatic cervical SCI. ⋯ CONCLUSIONS The authors describe a novel 5-point ordinal MRI score for classifying acute SCIs on the basis of axial T2-weighted imaging. The proposed BASIC score stratifies the SCIs according to the extent of transverse T2 signal abnormality during the acute phase of the injury. The new score improves on current MRI-based prognostic descriptions for SCI by reflecting functionally and anatomically significant patterns of intramedullary T2 signal abnormality in the axial plane.