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
-
Symptomatic thoracic disc herniation (TDH) is relatively rare, but patients with progressive myelopathy require surgical treatment without delay in diagnosis. The aim of this study was to review clinical and radiological features in patients with TDH presenting with myelopathy. ⋯ This study suggests that TDH presenting with acute myelopathy may have different clinical and radiological features compared to those of TDH with subacute and chronic myelopathy. Upper TDH should be suspected in cases of acute myelopathy that develops with sudden-onset back pain after certain triggers in younger and higher BMI people. These affected thoracic level matched with the upper line of the sternum in each case.
-
Recurrent lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is the most frequent reason for reoperation after lumbar microdiscectomy. While several risk factors for recurrent LDH have been well-described, the effect of age on recurrence remains unclear, especially concerning the timing of recurrent LDH. ⋯ In an analysis of a large prospective database of patients undergoing microdiscectomy for lumbar disc herniation, we found that younger patients do not have a higher reoperation probability than their older counterparts, even after correcting for multiple confounders. However, older patients tend to experience recurrent LDH significantly earlier after the index surgery compared to younger patients.
-
Z-spectral MRI data were analyzed to produce multiparametric metabolic and microenvironmental contrasts for identifying intervertebral discs with/without pain symptom and sore pain. ⋯ Z-spectral MRI with its multiparametric metabolic and microenvironmental contrasts has been demonstrated to identify discs with and without pain symptom or sore pain, providing more important information of CLBP.
-
Decompression is one of the most common interventions in spinal surgery. Obesity has become an increasing issue in surgical patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the clinical outcome following lumbar microsurgical decompression in correlation with the patient's body mass index (BMI). ⋯ The data obtained from this large, homogenous cohort demonstrate that the quality of life improved substantially in all patients that were treated microsurgically for spinal stenosis. However, a BMI ≥ 30 may be considered as a negative predictor for a significantly inferior clinical outcome.
-
To investigate the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) T2-weighted turbo spin-echo SPACE (T2-SPACE) sequence in LNRC. ⋯ III.