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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The lateral recess is one of the main compression sites in lumbar spinal canal stenosis. Lumbar nerve root is mainly entrapped by bony tissue in compression syndrome. The patient has a long history of back pain in conjunction with claudication symptoms. ⋯ There were not any surgery-related complications. Mean follow-up period is 22.6 months. The surgical technique described and used in this study provides easy access to every zone of lateral recess and is safe and effective in treating the lumbar lateral recess stenosis syndrome.
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Disc degeneration is deeply associated with many spinal disorders and thus has a significant clinical impact on society. The currently available surgical treatment often necessitates removing a pathological disc and spinal fusion. However, it is also well known that these surgical treatments have many potential problems including invasion and cost. ⋯ One of the significant advantages of gene therapy is that we can expect a lasting duration of biological effect which is potentially beneficial for most disc degeneration associated disorders, as they are, by nature, chronic conditions. Originally, gene therapy was mediated by viral vectors, but recent technological progress has enabled us to opt for non-virus-mediated gene therapy for the disc. Furthermore, the development of the RNA interference technique has enabled us to down-regulate a specific gene expression in the disc opening the door for a new generation of intradiscal gene therapy.
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Social and economic disadvantage is associated with general poor physical health. This relationship has been recognised for centuries, but it is unknown whether socioeconomic factors have a specific influence on low back pain (LBP). Furthermore, it is unknown how social and economic disadvantages in youth affect adult health. ⋯ When merging the socioeconomic variables into a combined score, the results indicated that a good social background had a protective effect against the persistent LBP, while there was no association with any LBP. However, the statistical significance of this effect was unclear. We found no or very weak indications of possible relationships between social factors in adolescence and LBP at baseline and at follow-up.
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Percutaneous disc decompression procedures have been performed in the past. Various percutaneous techniques such as percutaneous discectomy, laser discectomy, and nucleoplasty have been successful. Our prospective study was directly to evaluate the results of percutaneous cervical nucleoplasty (PCN) surgery for cervical disc herniation, and illustrate the effectiveness of PCN in symptomatic patients who had cervical herniated discs. ⋯ Our findings confirm that PCN for the treatment of cervical disc herniation results in a good outcome without any tampering of the stability of the cervical spine. Hence, PCN as a procedure is safe, minimally invasive, less traumatic, requiring less time with an excellent clinical outcome. PCN should be performed for those patients who fail conservative medical management including medication, physical therapy, behavioral management, psychotherapy, and who are unwilling to undergo a more invasive technique such as spinal surgery.
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This is a prospective analysis of 129 patients operated for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Paucity of prospective data on surgical management of CSM, especially multilevel CSM (MCM), makes surgical decision making difficult. The objectives of the study were (1) to identify radiological patterns of cord compression (POC), and (2) to propose a surgical protocol based on POC and determine its efficacy. ⋯ No major graft-related complications occurred in multilevel groups. The better surgical outcome of anterior surgery in MCM may make a significant difference in surgical outcome in younger and fitter patients like those of POC III whose expectations out of surgery are more. Judicious choice of anterior or posterior approach should be made after individualizing each case.