European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society
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Review Meta Analysis
Epidural steroid compared to placebo injection in sciatica: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine whether epidural steroid injections (ESI) are superior to epidural or non-epidural placebo injections in sciatica patients. ⋯ The literature indicates that ESI induces larger improvements in pain and disability on the short term compared to epidural placebo, though evidence is of low to moderate quality and MCID is not met. Strong conclusions for longer follow-up or for comparisons with non-epidural placebo cannot be drawn due to general low quality of evidence and limited number of studies. Epidural injections can be considered a safe therapy.
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Clinical evaluation of lumbar foraminal stenosis typically includes qualitative assessments of perineural epidural fat content around the spinal nerve root and evaluation of nerve root impingement. The present study investigates the use of several morphological MRI-derived metrics as quantitative predictors of foraminal stenosis grade. ⋯ The results of the study have demonstrated that segmented volumes of perineural fat predict the severity of clinically scored foraminal stenosis. This finding motivates further development of automated perineural fat segmentation methods, which could offer a quantitative imaging biometric that yields more reproducible diagnosis, assessment, and tracking of foraminal stenosis.
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Review Meta Analysis
How helpful is the halo-gravity traction in severe spinal deformity patients?: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
This study sought to evaluate the complications and clinic outcome in radiographic parameters, pulmonary function, and nutritional status of halo-gravity traction (HGT) in treating severe spinal deformity. ⋯ Partial correction can be achieved by preoperative HGT, thereby reducing the difficulty of the operation and the risk of neurologic injury caused by excessive correction. Moreover, preoperative HGT can improve pulmonary function and nutritional status and, thus, increase patients' tolerance to surgery.
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Review Case Reports Meta Analysis
Prognostic indicators of surgical outcome in painful foot drop: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Foot drop is a relatively uncommon presentation of lumbar degenerative disease and there is currently a paucity of evidence on management and outcomes which is reflective of the lack of standardised treatment provided to patients. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the effectiveness of surgical management and the factors that predict surgical outcome. ⋯ This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the outcome and prognostic indicators of lumbar decompression for foot drop. Findings indicate that age, duration of foot drop weakness and MRC grade of foot drop prior to intervention were strong predictors of surgical outcome.
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Review Meta Analysis
Erector spinae plane block for postoperative analgesia in spine surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Although in recent years some randomized controlled trails (RCTs) have explored the analgesic effect of erector spinae plane block (ESPB) in spine surgery, their results are controversial. Our study aimed to examine the analgesic effect of preoperative ESPB in spine surgery by a meta-analysis of RCTs. ⋯ Our meta-analysis demonstrates that ESPB is effective in decreasing postoperative pain intensity and postoperative opioid consumption in spine surgery. Therefore, for the management of postoperative pain following spine surgery, preoperative ESPB is a good choice.