Spine
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Review Case Reports
Atypical fungal vertebral osteomyelitis in a tsunami survivor of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Case report. ⋯ We report a rare case of the fungal vertebral osteomyelitis caused by S. apiospermum. If a patient develops severe back pain after a near-drowning episode in dirty water such as a swamp or a river, the clinician should be suspicious of the possibility of fungal spondylitis by S. apiospermum.
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Retrospective study. ⋯ It seems that upper cervical levels are more likely to degenerate and to have more advanced degrees of degeneration than the lower cervical levels. As expected, age correlates with worsening degeneration. The proposed computed tomographic grading system for cervical facet arthrosis seemed to be reliable.
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Case Reports
Traumatic expulsion of T4 vertebral body into the spinal canal treated by vertebrectomy and spine shortening.
A case report. ⋯ Total vertebrectomy and spinal shortening are safe and replicable procedures applicable in few patients with paraplegia. A surgical procedure after 3 weeks makes a complete reduction and a perfect sagittal alignment of the spine difficult to be obtained.
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A questionnaire survey. ⋯ There has been a significant decrease in the number of surgeons using high-dose steroids for acute SCIs. Sepsis, gastrointestinal bleeding, and an injury occurring more than 8 hours prior to presentation were agreed upon as contraindications to steroid use.
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Cohort study. ⋯ This study suggests that athletes with preexisting cervical spine pathology were less likely to be drafted than controls. Players with preexisting cervical spine pathology demonstrated a shorter career than those without; however, statistically based performance and numbers of games started were not different. Players with cervical spinal stenosis and those with a history of previous surgery demonstrated no difference in performance-based outcomes and no reports of neurological injury during their careers.