Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
-
Use of computed tomography (CT) imaging for evaluation of the cervical spine following blunt trauma is both an efficient and reliable method for detecting injury. As a result, many trauma centers and emergency departments rely exclusively on CT scans to acutely clear the cervical spine of injury. ⋯ In this case report, we describe the course of a patient whose CT scan harbored CT-generated artifact that suggested traumatic subluxation of the cervical spine. Clinicians should be aware of such artifact and how to recognize it when basing clinical management on such studies.
-
Surgical decompression is the recommended treatment in patients with moderate to severe degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS) in whom symptoms do not respond to conservative therapy. Multilevel disease, poor patient health, and advanced age are generally considered predictors of a poor outcome after surgery, essentially because of a surgical technique that has always been considered invasive and prone to causing postoperative instability. The authors present a minimally invasive surgical technique performed using a unilateral approach for lumbar decompression. ⋯ Evaluation of the results indicates that unilateral microdecompression of the lumbar spine offers a significant improvement for patients with DLSS, with a lower rate of complications.
-
Areas of intramedullary signal intensity changes (hypointensity on T1-weighted magnetic resonance [MR] images and hyperintensity on T2-weighted MR images) in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) have been described by several investigators. The role of postoperative evolution of these alterations is still not well known. ⋯ Intramedullary spinal cord changes in signal intensity in patients with CSM can be reversible (hyperintensity on T2-weighted imaging) or nonreversible (hypointensity on T1-weighted imaging). The regression of areas of hyperintensity on T2-weighted imaging is associated with a better prognosis, whereas the T1-weighted hypointensity is an expression of irreversible damage and, therefore, the worst prognosis. The preliminary experience with this patient series appears to exclude a relationship between the time of signal intensity recovery and outcome of CSM.
-
The authors undertook a study to explore the topographic anatomical features seen during the anterolateral approach to cervical spine, anatomical variations, and certain landmarks related to the surgical procedure. ⋯ Understanding the qualitative anatomy of this region not only improves the safety of anterior and anterolateral cervical spine surgery but also allows adequate decompression of neural elements and resolution of the other pathological processes of this region. In this fresh cadaveric study, our goal was to improve the approach and decrease the incidence of complications.
-
Perhaps the single greatest error that a surgeon hopes to avoid is operating at the wrong site. In this report, the authors describe the incidence and possible determinants of incorrect-site surgery (ICSS) among neurosurgeons. ⋯ Neurosurgical ICSSs do occur, but are rare events. Although there are significant limitations to the survey-based methodology, the data suggest that the prevention of such errors will require neurosurgeons to recognize risk factors and increase the use of intraoperative imaging.