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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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is frequently utilised to aid in the comprehensive assessment of back pain, while dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is the gold standard test for the assessment of bone density. Assessing bone density on MRI could reduce costs and avoid exposing patients to ionising radiation. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the relative signal intensity of vertebral bodies compared to other structures can detect osteoporosis on MRI. ⋯ A high T1 VB/T1 CSF ratio suggests osteoporosis on MRI. Prospective validation is needed to confirm these findings.
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To evaluate feasibility, internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and prospective validity of AO Spine CROST (Clinician Reported Outcome Spine Trauma) in the clinical setting. ⋯ The AO Spine CROST showed moderate validity in a true clinical setting including patients from the daily clinical practice.
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The five-repetition sit-to-stand (5R-STS) test was designed to capture objective functional impairment (OFI), and thus provides an adjunctive dimension in patient assessment. It is conceivable that there are different subsets of patients with OFI and degenerative lumbar disease. We aim to identify clusters of objectively functionally impaired individuals based on 5R-STS and unsupervised machine learning (ML). ⋯ Unsupervised learning techniques identified three distinct clusters of patients with OFI that may represent a more holistic clinical classification of patients with OFI than test-time stratifications alone, by accounting for individual patient characteristics.
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To present a novel set of Left-Right Trunk Asymmetry (LRTA) indices and use them to assess the postoperative appearance of the trunk in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) patients. ⋯ We report positive outcomes for LRTA in the majority of patients, specifically in the shoulder blades and waist, even when no reduction of BSR is observed. The proposed indices can evaluate local trunk asymmetries and the degree to which they are improved or worsened after scoliosis surgery.
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The study aimed to examine the consistency of vertebral bone quality (VBQ) scores for assessing osteoporosis across different etiologies and explore the predictive value of various VBQ scores for fragility vertebral fractures. ⋯ This study is the first to evaluate the effectiveness of VBQs scores in assessing osteoporosis post-fracture. Only non-fractured patients' bone quality is fully susceptible to VBQT1 scores. While VBQT1 scores may not correlate with fragility fractures, VBQT2 scores present a viable alternative.