The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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Comparative Study
Effects of scoliosis on respiratory muscle strength in patients with neuromuscular disorders.
Neuromuscular disorders (NMD) are characterized by loss of lung volume and respiratory muscle weakness, but the effects of scoliosis on lung function are unclear. ⋯ Both inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength were diminished in patients with NMD compared with healthy controls. Significant differences were also noted in pulmonary function in patients with NMD with or without scoliosis. This suggests that NMD may impact respiratory function independently of the effects of scoliosis. Clinicians treating patients with NMD should be aware of the possibility of compromised respiratory function in these patients to address possible complications.
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Anterior corpectomy and reconstruction with bone graft and a rigid screw-plate construct is an established procedure for treatment of cervical neural compression. Despite its reliability in relieving symptoms, there is a high rate of construct failure, especially in multilevel cases. ⋯ This study suggests that screw divergence from the end plates not only increases load transmission to the graft but also predisposes the screws to higher shear forces after corpectomy reconstruction. In particular, the inferior screw demonstrated larger stress than the upper-level screws. In the proposed hybrid fusion model, lower stresses on the bone graft, end plates, and bone-screw interface were recorded, inferring lower construct failure (end-plate fractures and screw pullout) potential at the inferior construct end.
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Review Case Reports
En bloc resection of primary tumors of the cervical spine: report of two cases and systematic review of the literature.
Survival data and rates of recurrence after en bloc resection for cervical spinal tumors are limited to single case reports and small case series, making the true risk of recurrence after this procedure unknown. ⋯ In this systematic review of the literature, en bloc resection provided good disease-free survival rates in patients with primary tumors of the cervical spine. However, there are insufficient data on long-term subjective outcomes in these patients, and larger series are needed to determine the efficacy compared with piecemeal resection techniques. Other investigators should be encouraged to publish their results so that combined analyses like these may be performed with larger sample sizes.
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Low back pain (LBP) is associated with high health-care utilization and lost productivity. Numerous interventions are routinely used, although few are supported by strong evidence. Cost utility analyses (CUAs) may be helpful to inform decision makers. ⋯ Few CUAs were identified for LBP, and there was heterogeneity in the interventions compared, direct cost components measured, indirect costs, other methods, and results. Reporting quality was mixed. Currently published CUAs do not provide sufficient information to assist decision makers. Future CUAs should attempt to measure all known direct cost components relevant to LBP, estimate indirect costs such as lost productivity, have a follow-up period sufficient to capture meaningful changes, and clearly report methods and results to facilitate interpretation and comparison.
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Multicenter Study
Two-year fusion and clinical outcomes in 224 patients treated with a single-level instrumented posterolateral fusion with iliac crest bone graft.
Reported fusion rates for spine fusions using iliac crest bone graft (ICBG) vary between 40% and 100% because of different fusion techniques, patient comorbidity, diagnosis and assessment criteria. ⋯ In a large series of patients who had primary single-level instrumented posterolateral fusion with ICBG, evidence of bridging bone on fine-cut CT scans improved with time to 83.9% at 24 months. Significant improvement from baseline was noted in all clinical outcome measures at all time intervals with 75% achieving minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for ODI and 66% achieving MCID for SF-36 PCS.