World Neurosurg
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Prescription opioid medications negatively affect postoperative outcomes after lumbar spine surgery. Furthermore, opioid-related overdose death rates in the United States increased by 200% between 2000 and 2014. Thus, alternatives are imperative. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a mind-body therapy, has been associated with improved activity and mood in opioid-using patients with chronic pain. This study assessed whether preoperative MBSR is an effective adjunct to standard postoperative care in adult patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery for degenerative disease. ⋯ During hospital admission, no significant dose-response effect of mindfulness techniques was found. At 30 days postoperatively, MBSR use was associated with less back pain. Further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of preoperative MBSR on postoperative outcomes in lumbar spine surgery for degenerative disease.
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Coagulation is an important aspect of the vascular microenvironment in which brain tumors evolve. Patients with tumor often show aberrant coagulation and fibrinolysis activation. In particular, glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive primary brain tumor, is associated with a state of hypercoagulability, and venous thromboembolism is a common complication of this cancer and its treatment. Our study aims to investigate the clinical and prognostic significance of routine laboratory tests to assess the coagulative state of patients with brain tumors, to identify potential new prognostic factors and targets for personalized therapy. ⋯ Our data support the assumption that patients with GBM show a plasma hypercoagulable profile and that coagulation profile is related to adverse outcome in patients with GBM. If confirmed, hypercoagulability could play an important role as a prognostic factor of the disease and in the decision of an antithrombotic prophylaxis.
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Spasticity and muscle weakness are common severe neurologic sequelae after stroke. Contralateral peripheral neurotization has been applied successfully to promote motor function of the hemiplegic upper extremity in patients with central neurological injury. To our knowledge, we present the first report of contralateral lumbar to sacral nerve transfer for the lower extremities in hemiplegic patients after stroke. ⋯ Although long-term follow-up and a randomized controlled trial are required, this study demonstrates the safety and possible benefits of contralateral lumbar-to-sacral nerve transfer for hemiplegic patients after stroke. This novel surgical approach could provide a new means for lower-limb motor functional recovery.
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To determine if there is a difference in reoperation rates for symptomatic nonunions in atlantoaxial (C1-C2) fusions with or without bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) using data from a national spine registry and to analyze the different types of bone grafts used in the non-BMP group. ⋯ Using one of the largest retrospective studies on C1-C2 fusions with and without BMP, we found no difference in reoperation rates for symptomatic nonunions. For the non-BMP group, we found that lamina (+/- allograft) or allograft alone may also be just as effective as iliac crest graft (+/- allograft) in having no reoperations for symptomatic nonunions.
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Pupillary light reflex examinations are intrinsic to any good neurological examination. Consistent evidence has shown that automated pupillometry assessments provide superior accuracy and interrater correlation compared with bedside eye examinations. Pupillary indexes such as the neurological pupil index (NPI) can also provide several hours of warning before the advent of herniation syndromes or third nerve palsy. ⋯ The NPI seems to reliably correlate with third nerve function and appears to possess predictive temporal properties that could allow practitioners to anticipate neurological injury and recovery. These findings could affect the fields of neurosciences, trauma, military medicine, critical care, and ophthalmology.