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
-
This study retrospectively reviews 20 sequential patients with thoracolumbar burst fractures without neurologic deficit. All patients were treated by indirect reduction, bisegmental posterior transpedicular instrumentation and monosegmental fusion. Clinical and radiological outcome was analyzed after an average follow-up of 6.4 years. ⋯ Therefore, posterolateral fusion alone does not prevent disc space collapse. Nevertheless, clinical long-term results are favorable. However, if disc space collapse has to prevented, an interbody disc clearance and fusion is recommended.
-
Fracture of a spinal segment with minimal or no compression of the vertebral body can be highly unstable. Screening for such an injury in the lumbar spine is often obstructed in a multi-injured patient, because of difficulty in obtaining adequate sagittal radiographs. The position of the spinous processes in relation to each other is the key for proper evaluation of the status of the posterior stabilising structures. ⋯ The mean values and 99% confidence limits for changes in the interspinal process distances between adjacent spinal levels were determined and analysed in relation to age, gender and spinal segment level. An upper limit of a normal difference in distance between the spinous processes at two adjacent levels was determined to be 7-10 mm, depending on age and location in the lumbar spine. A difference in interspinal process distance exceeding 7 mm between two adjacent lumbar levels should alert a surgeon to severe and unstable injury.
-
A CT study of normal atlanto-axial (C1-C2) rotary mobility was carried out on ten normal immature subjects. In order to determine the limits of normality, the ten children underwent clinical and radiological examination. The clinical study included checking for objective signs of joint laxity and measurement of rotational neck mobility. ⋯ Our results lead us to conclude that, except for complete C1-C2 rotational dislocation with facet interlocking, a CT scan showing a wide - but incomplete - rotational facet displacement is not sufficient to define a status of subluxation. This leads us to perceive that there is a risk of overdiagnosis when evaluating upper cervical spine rotational problems in children. The concept of both rotary C1-C2 fixation and subluxation should be revised.
-
Review Case Reports
Hypoglossal nerve injury as a complication of anterior surgery to the upper cervical spine.
Injury to the hypoglossal nerve is a recognised complication after soft tissue surgery in the upper part of the anterior aspect of the neck, e.g. branchial cyst or carotid body tumour excision. However, this complication has been rarely reported following surgery of the upper cervical spine. We report the case of a 35-year-old woman with tuberculosis of C2-3. ⋯ The hypoglossal palsy persisted, although with minimal functional disability. The only other reported case of hypoglossal lesion after anterior cervical spine surgery in the literature also failed to recover. It is concluded that hypoglossal nerve palsy following anterior cervical spine surgery is unlikely to recover spontaneously and it should be carefully identified.