Clinical neurology and neurosurgery
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Clin Neurol Neurosurg · Jun 2019
Deterministic-tractography-based approach for diagnosis and disease monitoring of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Upper and lower motor neuron signs are required for the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The detection of upper motor neuron signs is key for the diagnosis, as quite a few patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis lack upper motor neuron signs during the course of disease. This study sought to investigate whether deterministic tractography of the corticospinal tract, reflecting upper motor neuron signs, could be a surrogate biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ⋯ These findings suggest that the deterministic-tractography-based approach is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and disease monitoring of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
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Clin Neurol Neurosurg · Jun 2019
Impact of sagittal imbalance correction on clinical outcomes in patients undergoing MIS-TLIF for LSS.
In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of sagittal imbalance correction on clinical outcomes in patients undergoing single-segment minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). ⋯ A significant proportion of LSS patients with preoperative sagittal malalignment had a compensatory mechanism rather than a structural malalignment, while single-segment MIS-TLIF could effectively improve sagittal imbalance at 2-year follow-up. However, we found no correlation between the improvements of sagittal imbalance and 2- year clinical outcomes. Reconstruction of sagittal balance might not be the main goal of single-segment MIS-TLIF for LSS, and did not affect its clinical results at two-year follow-up.
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Clin Neurol Neurosurg · Jun 2019
Migraine in patients with fibromyalgia and outcomes of greater occipital nerve blockage.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of greater occipital nerve (GON) blockage in patients with migraine and fibromyalgia (FM) comorbidity. ⋯ GON blockage reduces pain severity, headache frequency and duration and increases QoL in patients with migraine and FM comorbidity.