Spine
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Retrospective database review. ⋯ PPAC and LOS varied by region. Although there was no significant difference in treatment type based on age or region, older patients tended to have more complex procedures and a higher LOS. This did not translate into a significant change in PPAC based on age. These data point to the need for further studies examining reasons for geographic variability in idiopathic scoliosis surgeries.
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Retrospective review. ⋯ Patients with spine fractures and ASD are at high risk for complications and death and should be counseled accordingly. Multilevel posterior segmental instrumentation allows effective fracture healing. AS and DISH patients represent similar patient populations for the purpose of treatment and future research.
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Case report. ⋯ This technique describes a novel, safe, and effective method to deal with anterior instrumentation from the posterior approach while performing posterior-based osteotomies for rigid spinal deformities.
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Review Meta Analysis
A meta-analysis of the clinical effectiveness of school scoliosis screening.
A meta-analysis that systematically reviewed the evaluation studies of a scoliosis screening program reported in the literature. ⋯ The use of the FBT alone in school scoliosis screening is insufficient. We need large, retrospective cohort studies with sufficient follow-up to properly assess the clinical effectiveness of school scoliosis screening.
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Surgeon survey. ⋯ The catastrophic morbidity of a symptomatic postoperative epidural hematoma remains a substantial disincentive to start chemoprophylaxis after spinal surgery. The rarity of this complication makes study of its risk factors difficult. Although many surgeons perceive the risk to be higher, the reported incidences of clinically relevant postoperative epidural hematoma are lower, ranging from 0% to 1%. Despite this finding, there is insufficient published data available to precisely define the safety of postoperative chemoprophylaxis. Though not pertaining to prophylaxis, the available evidence does suggest that use of therapeutic doses of heparin in postoperative spinal patients who sustain a PE may have a higher incidence of bleeding complications.