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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Comparative Study
Management in non-traumatic arm, neck and shoulder complaints: differences between diagnostic groups.
Arm, neck and/or shoulder complaints are common in western societies. In the Netherlands, general practice guidelines are issued on shoulder pain and epicondylitis only. Little is known about actual management of the total range of diagnoses. ⋯ Braces (4%) were mainly prescribed in epicondylitis. Overall, management most frequently consisted of prescribed analgesics and referral for physiotherapy. Specific and non-specific diagnostic subgroups differed in the frequency corticosteroid injections were applied, and referrals to physiotherapy and to a medical specialist.
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We present the occurrence and management of mediastinal migration of the distal aspect of a posterior occipito-thoracic screw-rod construct. No similar occurrence was found in the literature. This event occurred following an emergency tracheotomy (requiring neck hyperextension) in a patient with severe rheumatoid arthritis, who had previously undergone decompression and an Occiput-T2 instrumented fusion for cranio-cervical and sub-axial cervical spine instability. ⋯ Removal of the instrumentation, decompression (T2 corpectomy) and construct revision down to T10 was safely performed from a posterior approach. Severe osteoporosis, some pre-existing screw loosening and hyperextension of the neck were the predisposing factors of this near catastrophic event. By staying directly posterior to the rod and following the fibrous tract already created, the instrumentation was safely removed from the mediastinum.
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With an official life time of over 5 years, Spine Tango can meanwhile be considered the first international spine registry. In this paper we present an overview of frequency statistics of Spine Tango for demonstrating the genesis of questionnaire development and the constantly increasing activity in the registry. Results from two exemplar studies serve for showing concepts of data analysis applied to a spine registry. ⋯ Current limitations of Spine Tango include the low number and short duration of follow-ups and the lack of sufficiently detailed patient data on subgroup levels. Although the number of participants is steadily growing, no country is yet represented with a sufficient number of hospitals. Nevertheless, the benefits of the project for the whole spine community become increasingly visible.
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Walking is impaired in Pregnancy-related Pelvic girdle Pain (PPP). Walking velocity is reduced, and in postpartum PPP relative phase between horizontal pelvis and thorax rotations was found to be lower at higher velocities, and rotational amplitudes tended to be larger. While attempting to confirm these findings for PPP during pregnancy, we wanted to identify underlying mechanisms. ⋯ The earlier results on postpartum PPP were confirmed for PPP during pregnancy. Spinal rotations remained unaffected, while at higher velocities the peak of thorax rotations occurred earlier in the stride cycle. The latter change may serve to avoid excessive spine rotations caused by the larger segmental rotations.
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Comparative Study
Radiographic versus ultrasound evaluation of the Risser Grade in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a prospective study of 46 patients.
The determination of skeletal age is essential in the management of patients with scoliosis. One of the most frequently used techniques to determine skeletal maturity is the method described by Risser. However, repeated X-ray exposure in the follow-up examinations of scoliosis patients may increase the risk of cancer. ⋯ Overall, the Kappa value showed very good agreement between the two diagnostic methods. Our findings suggest that ultrasound can be applied as an alternative method to X-ray evaluation in Risser Grade determination. It should be routinely used in clinical practice to reduce the patients exposure to radiation.