The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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Traditional focal debridement involves clearing of cold abscesses, caseous necrosis, residual intervertebral disc tissue, sinus tracts, bony sequestration, and inflammatory granulation. Reports have demonstrated that approximately 13% to 26% of patients were not better or relapsed after traditional focal debridement; these patients required a second surgery or prolonged antituberculous therapy. The presence of retained and diseased focal tissues requiring removal remains poorly understood. The contents of these retained tuberculous foci, improvement of surgical strategies, and improvement in spinal tuberculosis success rate are key subjects for discussion. ⋯ Sclerotic bone, multiple cavities, and bony bridges are foci in spinal tuberculosis. Clearing tuberculous foci, sclerotic bone, multiple cavities, and bony bridges to increase the curative effect is an effective treatment method.
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Knowing the side of the dominant vertebral artery (VA) may be of utmost importance if the VAs are at risk during spine surgery. Determination of the size of VAs is obtained by using Doppler ultrasonography or angiography. Because VA is the main anatomic structure occupying the transverse foramina (TF), it may be assumed that size of TF and blood flow of VAs should be proportional. ⋯ There was strong correlation between TF diameters and VA blood volume. Our results suggest that TF diameter of C6 level can be used to predict the side of the dominant VA reliably.
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A large percentage of back pain can be attributed to degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD). Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) is known to play an important role in chondrogenesis of the IVD. Simvastatin is known to upregulate expression of BMP-2. Thus, we hypothesized that intradiscal injection of simvastatin in a rat model of degenerative disc disease (DDD) would result in retardation of DDD. ⋯ Degenerate discs treated with 5 mg/mL of simvastatin in a hydrogel carrier demonstrated radiographic and histologic features resembling normal noninjured IVDs. In addition, the gene expression of aggrecan and collagen type II (important constituents of the IVD extracellular matrix) was upregulated in treated discs. Injection of simvastatin into degenerate IVDs may result in retardation of disc degeneration and represents a promising investigational therapy for conservative treatment of DDD.
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Review Case Reports
Thoracic disc herniation leads to anterior spinal artery syndrome demonstrated by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI): a case report and literature review.
Thoracic disc herniation rarely causes acute ischemic events involving the spinal cord. Few reports have suggested this as a mechanism leading to anterior spinal artery syndrome, and none with illustration through diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI). ⋯ Acute thoracic disc herniation with cord contact but without canal stenosis is able to disrupt blood flow to the cord leading to anterior spinal artery distribution ischemia. This case represents the first demonstrated use of DWI in diagnosing this rare cause of anterior spinal artery ischemia.