Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
-
Bertolotti's syndrome consists of low-back pain caused by lumbosacral transitional vertebrae (LSTVs) and LSTV-associated biomechanical spinal changes. There is a lack of consensus regarding the cause, clinical significance, and treatment of this condition. The authors aim to characterize the clinical presentation of patients with Bertolotti's syndrome and describe a minimally invasive surgical treatment for this condition. ⋯ Diagnosis of Bertolotti's syndrome should be considered with adequate patient history, imaging studies, and diagnostic injections. A minimally invasive surgical approach for resection of the LSTV is presented here for symptomatic treatment of select patients with Bertolotti's syndrome whose conditions are refractory to conventional therapy and who have pain that can be attributed to the LSTV. Several short-term complications were noted with this procedure, but overall this procedure is effective for treating symptoms related to Bertolotti's syndrome.
-
Fractures of the axis are considered to be one of the most common injuries to the cervical spine, accounting for more than 20% of all cervical spine fractures. Multiple fractures of the axis are much rarer, accounting for 1% of all cervical fractures. Management of such complex fractures is still challenging, and there is no strong consensus for the treatment. ⋯ Therefore, the authors performed surgery confined to the axis by concurrently inserting an anterior odontoid screw and posterior bilateral pedicle screws without arthrodesis of C2-3. This was followed with cervical soft collar fixation for only 1-2 weeks. The outcomes were favorable, including good osteosynthesis, high primary stability, early patient mobilization, and preserved range of motion of the cervical spine at C2-3 as well as at C1-2.
-
Case Reports Comparative Study
Comparative effectiveness of surgical versus nonoperative management of unilateral, nondisplaced, subaxial cervical spine facet fractures without evidence of spinal cord injury: clinical article.
Facet joints are major stabilizers of cervical motion allowing for effortless and pain-free multidimensional cervical spine movements without significant linear or rotational translation, thus minimizing any chance for spinal cord or nerve root impingement. Unilateral, nondisplaced subaxial facet fractures do not meet the conventional criteria for spinal instability under physiological loads. Limited evidence indicates that even with no or minimal displacement, 20%-80% of these fractures fail nonoperative management. The risk factors for instability in isolated nondisplaced subaxial facet fractures remain uncertain. In this retrospective study of prospectively collected data, the authors attempted to identify the predictors of failure in the management of isolated, nondisplaced subaxial facet fractures admitted to their Level I trauma center over a 10-year period. ⋯ In this study, surgery was superior to nonoperative management of isolated, nondisplaced, or minimally displaced subaxial cervical spine facet fractures.
-
Comparative Study
Use of artificial neural networks to predict surgical satisfaction in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis: clinical article.
The purpose of this study was to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model for predicting 2-year surgical satisfaction, and to compare the new model with traditional predictive tools in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis. ⋯ The findings show that an ANN can predict 2-year surgical satisfaction for use in clinical application and is more accurate compared with an LR model.
-
The authors previously reported a case of complex arteriovenous fistula (AVF) at C-1 with multiple dural and spinal feeders that were linked with a common medullary venous channel. The purpose of the present study was to collect similar cases and analyze their angioarchitecture to gain a better understanding of this malformation. ⋯ A high cervical complex AVF has unique angioarchitectural characteristics different from those seen in the other spinal regions.