Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
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The purpose of this study was to find whether excessive distraction of the disc space for cage insertion was a risk factor for adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) after anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF). One hundred and sixteen consecutive patients who underwent ACDF for single-level cervical disc herniation between June 2006 and November 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. Preoperative, postoperative and final follow-up disc height (DH), sagittal segmental alignment (SSA), and sagittal alignment of the cervical spine (SACS) were measured and compared between the ASD group and non-ASD group. ⋯ The clinical outcomes of ACDF for single-level degenerative cervical disc disease were satisfactory. Postoperative DH (the distracted distance) had the greatest impact on the incidence of ASD. Excessive disc space distraction is a considerable risk factor for the development of radiographic ASD.
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Data on thrombolysis outcomes in patients with primary brain tumors are limited. Our aim was to study stroke outcomes following thrombolysis in these patients in a population-based study. Patients with acute ischemic stroke who received thrombolysis were identified from the 2002-2011 USA Nationwide Inpatient Sample. ⋯ Thrombolytic therapy for acute stroke appears to be safe in patients with primary brain tumors, with similar rates of ICH. Malignant BTS have worse outcomes, while benign BTS have outcomes comparable to NBTS. Careful consideration of tumor pathology may aid selection of patients with poor thrombolysis outcomes.
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The aim of this study was to compare reoperation, complication rates, and healthcare resource utilization of expansile laminectomies with instrumented fusion versus laminoplasty. Using the MarketScan database (Truven Health Analytics, Ann Arbor, MI, USA), we selected patients aged >18 years who underwent either cervical laminoplasty or laminectomy with fusion between 2000-2009. Propensity score modeling produced a matched cohort balanced for age, sex, comorbidities, and other relevant factors. ⋯ They also had lower costs (United States dollars) during index hospitalization ($26,129 versus $35,483, p<0.0004), and overall during the 2 year postoperative period ($77,960 versus $106,453, p<0.0001). Two year reoperation rates were similar between both groups (9.77% versus 7.36%, p=0.20). Our study suggests that cervical laminoplasty has significantly lower complication rates, similar long-term reoperation rates and lower healthcare resource utilization after 2 years than laminectomy with fusion.