Articles: back-pain.
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Some patients will experience post-operative back pain following lumbar discectomy, and the potential sources for that pain are poorly understood. One potential source is the vertebral endplates. The goal of this study was to document the changes that occur in lumbar endplates following discectomies, and to assess associations between endplate changes and clinical outcomes. ⋯ This study documents lesion characteristics in detail and supports that osseous defects in the endplates at the level of a lumbar discectomy may be a relatively common finding following surgery, along with disc height loss, loss of disc signal intensity, and Modic changes. The clinical significance of these imaging findings could not be conclusively determined in this study.
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Retrospective cohort study. ⋯ 3.
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J Spinal Disord Tech · Nov 2015
Clinical TrialProspective Clinical and Radiographic Results of Activ L Total Disk Replacement at 1- to 3-Year Follow-up.
A prospective clinical study. ⋯ The 1- to 3-year follow-up of this cohort of patients showed satisfactory clinical outcomes. The IDHs at index and adjacent segments were well maintained after the surgery. The ROM at the lower adjacent segment remained unchanged, but the ROM at the index and upper adjacent segments showed a slight increase. The long-term results of activ L TDR was to be investigated.
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To examine the association between COMT and OPRM1 gene polymorphisms and pain and disability at baseline and long-term follow-up in patients treated for chronic low back pain (LBP). ⋯ Results suggest that genetic factors are partly responsible for the variation in disability levels in patients presenting with chronic LBP being considered for surgery; in contrast, genetics has no influence on the long-term outcome of treatment.
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Lumbar diskography (LD) is frequently used in the evaluation of patients with degenerative disk disease and diskogenic low back pain. Its safety and diagnostic accuracy are a topic of debate. No study has evaluated the efficacy of LD within the clinically distinct workers' compensation population. ⋯ Additional predictors of FBSS included the ability to remain at work within 1 week of index fusion (P=.02; odds ratio, 0.54), male sex (P=.03; odds ratio, 1.51), preoperative narcotic use for more than 1 year (P=.02; odds ratio, 1.53), and fusion technique (P=.03). Diskography should ideally help identify good candidates for lumbar fusion. However, the authors' study raises significant concerns regarding LD's current role within the workers' compensation population.