Spine
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En bloc resection of a chordoma in the midcervical vertebral spine was performed. ⋯ Although the surgical margin was intralesional in a small area, the technique used in this case study indicates that en bloc excision of such tumors can be used with a safety margin even in the cervical spine.
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A prospective cohort study assessing the responsiveness of two disease-specific questionnaires and a generic health questionnaire for patients with low back pain and sciatica. ⋯ Responsiveness varied according to which method was used in its calculation. The responsiveness of the SF-36 questionnaire shows that it can be a useful adjunct in the assessment of patients with low back pain when combined with disease-specific questionnaires.
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The prevalence of low back pain in the older population (> = or 65 years) was reviewed in an analysis of the literature from 1966 to the present. ⋯ There is an under-representation of the older population in the back pain literature. The data in the current study suggest that the prevalence of low back pain in this population is not known with certainty and is not comparable with that in the younger population. The authors stress the need for future studies to improve the reporting of age information to make prevalence studies more informative and applicable.
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Cadaveric study on the biomechanics of osteoporotic vertebral bodies augmented and not augmented with polymethylmethacrylate cement. ⋯ This study suggests that unipedicular and bipedicular injection of cement, as used during percutaneous vertebroplasty, increases acute strength and restores stiffness of vertebral bodies with compression fractures.
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Comparative Study
Variability of somatosensory-evoked potentials in different stages of scoliosis surgery.
A comparison of the latencies and amplitudes of the somatosensory-evoked potential in different stages of scoliosis surgery. ⋯ Some variability in latencies and amplitudes between different stages of scoliosis surgery is normal. These results suggest that the somatosensory-evoked potential when the spine is exposed may be used as the reference baseline to determine whether somatosensory-evoked potentials are subnormal at the subsequent stages of surgery.