Spinal cord
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Pott's disease may cause late neurological involvement due to development of sharp kyphosis. Anterior decompression and fusion is the treatment of choice for this disorder. ⋯ Anterior decompression and grafting is an effective procedure for the treatment of late onset paraplegia in Pott's disease.
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We have applied conventional histochemical and morphometric techniques to study the changes within the human spinal 'hand' motor neuron pool after spinal cord injury in patients who presented with acute traumatic central cord syndrome (ATCCS). ⋯ We hypothesize that hand dysfunction in ATCCS can be observed after spinal cord injury without any apparent loss in the number of motor neurons supplying the hand musculature as seen in our acute/sub-acute (n=2) and our chronic high injury (n=1) groups. The motor neuron loss seen in the chronic low level injury was felt to be secondary to the loss of C7, C8, and T1 neurons adjacent to the injury epicenter.
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Analysis of the computed recruitment order of an ensemble of ventral and dorsal root fibers should enlighten the relation between the position of a bipolar electrode and the observed order of muscle twitches. ⋯ Our simulations demonstrate a strong relation between electrode position and the order of muscle twitches which is based on the segmental arrangement of innervation of lower limb muscles. The proposed strategy allows the identification of the position of the electrode relative to spinal cord segments.
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To describe an electrophysiological method for determining the relation between lumbar cord dorsal roots and cathode of epidural electrode for spinal cord stimulation (SCS). ⋯ pEMG recording of muscle twitches enables us to accurately differentiate between upper and lower lumbar cord segments. Furthermore, our findings regarding amplitude, latency and recruitment order strongly suggest that we stimulate posterior roots not posterior columns of the lumbar spinal cord.
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To investigate the clinical and functional correlates of megacolon in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). ⋯ This work was supported by a grant from the Claude D Pepper Geriatric Research and Training Center from the National Institute of Ageing-AG08812-05, and a grant from the Education and Training Foundation of the Paralyzed Veterans Association in the USA. Dr Harari is currently recipient of a grant from Action Research (UK). Spinal Cord (2000) 38, 331 - 339.