Spine
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Preclinical study. ⋯ This pilot study demonstrated that DDS can be fabricated to deliver sustained and therapeutic dosages of ETN and GDF5. In addition, ETN+GDF5-DDS may have greater anti-inflammatory and regenerative effects than ETN-DDS alone. Thus, intradiscal injection of controlled release TNF-α inhibitors and growth factors may be a promising treatment to reduce disk inflammation and back pain.
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Cross-sectional; observational. ⋯ NaF-PET/CT detects decreased vertebral bone turnover with aging, particularly in females. Measured NaF uptake increased with PET acquisition time after tracer injection, which must be considered in follow-up studies monitoring disease development and treatment effects.