Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
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The authors report a rare case of surgically treated symptomatic thoracic kyphosis caused by dynamic compression in an elderly man. Myelopathy due to thoracic kyphosis has been reported in patients with congenital kyphosis, Scheuermann dorsal kyphosis, and Cushing disease, but to the authors' knowledge this is the first report of dynamic kyphosis in an elderly person. This otherwise healthy 84-year-old man presented with a 2-year history of progressive difficulty in walking and bilateral leg dysesthesia. ⋯ Posterior corrective fusion was performed with instrumentation from T-2 to T-9. Postoperative CT myelography demonstrated no significant spinal cord compression with restoration of the cerebrospinal fluid space anterior to the spinal cord, and the successful correction of the kyphosis to 44 degrees. The patient's neurological sequelae gradually resolved throughout 6 months of follow up.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Quality of life of lumbar stenosis-treated patients in whom the X STOP interspinous device was implanted.
This study was conducted to compare the quality of life (QOL) in patients with neurogenic intermittent claudication (NIC) secondary to lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Using the 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) questionnaire, the authors compared the results obtained in patients treated with the X STOP Interspinous Process Decompression (IPD) System with those obtained in patients who underwent nonoperative therapies. ⋯ The results of this study demonstrate that the X STOP device is significantly more effective than nonoperative therapy in improving the QOL in patients with LSS. The results are comparable with those reported in other studies involving traditional decompressive techniques for LSS and suggest that the X STOP implant can provide an effective treatment compared with nonoperative and conventional surgical therapies.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of polyetheretherketone cages with femoral cortical bone allograft as a single-piece interbody spacer in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.
Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) is an accepted alternative to circumferential fusion of the lumbar spine in the treatment of degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, and recurrent disc herniation. To maintain disc height while arthrodesis takes place, the technique requires the use of an interbody spacer. Although titanium cages are used in this capacity, the two most common spacers are polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cages and femoral cortical allografts (FCAs). The authors compared the clinical and radiographic outcomes of patients who underwent TLIF with pedicle screw fixation, in whom either a PEEK cage or an FCA was placed as an interbody spacer. ⋯ Both PEEK cages and FCAs are highly effective in promoting interbody fusion, maintaining postoperative disc space height, and achieving desirable clinical outcomes in patients who undergo TLIF with pedicle screw fixation. The advantages of PEEK cages include a lower incidence of subsidence and their radiolucency, which permits easier visualization of bone growth.
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The authors conducted a study to assess the correlation between radiological features and clinical courses in patients with chronic atlantoaxial rotatory fixation (AARF) and to determine diagnostic imaging signs for predicting prognosis. ⋯ Both facet joint deformity and lateral inclination observed on 3D CT reconstructions can be useful signs to predict the prognosis and the treatment of choice in patients with chronic AARFs.
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The retroperitoneal surgical approach has gained acceptance as a way to access the ventral aspect of the lumbar spine. Visualization is often limited, however, by the psoas muscle, which lies along the posterolateral aspect of the spine. Improved visualization is often attempted by retracting the muscle from the wound, which generally pulls the muscle laterally from the spine but not posteriorly, which is desirable for a better exposure of the spine, particularly the neural elements. In this paper, the authors describe a simple, atraumatic technique for retraction of the psoas muscle that allows excellent visualization of the spine.