Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
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Cervical spine osteotomies are powerful techniques to correct rigid cervical spine deformity. Many variations exist, however, and there is no current standardized system with which to describe and classify cervical osteotomies. This complicates the ability to compare outcomes across procedures and studies. The authors' objective was to establish a universal nomenclature for cervical spine osteotomies to provide a common language among spine surgeons. ⋯ The proposed cervical spine osteotomy nomenclature provides the surgeon with a simple, standard description of the various cervical osteotomies. The reliability analysis demonstrated that this system is consistent and directly applicable. Future work will evaluate the relationship between this system and health-related quality of life metrics.
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The authors comprehensively studied the recovery of individual patients undergoing treatment for lumbar disc herniation. The primary goal was to gain insight into the variability of individual patient utility scores within a treatment cohort. The secondary goal was to determine how the rates and variability of patient recovery over time, represented by improvement in utility scores, affected long-term patient outcomes. ⋯ This study is the first to comprehensively consider the utility recovery of individual patients within a treatment cohort for lumbar disc herniation. The results suggest that most utility is recovered during the early treatment period. Moreover, the findings suggest that initial improvement is critical to a patient's long-term outcome: patients who do not experience significant initial recovery appear unlikely to do so at a later time under the same treatment protocol.
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Proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) is a common and significant complication after corrective spinal deformity surgery. The object of this study was to compare-based on clinical outcomes, postoperative proximal junctional kyphosis rates, and prevalence of revision surgery-proximal thoracic (PT) and distal thoracic (DT) upper instrumented vertebra (UIV) in adults who underwent spine fusion to the sacrum for the treatment of spinal deformity. ⋯ Both PT and DT UIVs improve segmental and global sagittal plane alignment as well as patient-reported quality of life in those treated for adult spinal deformity. The prevalence of PJK was not different in the PT and DT groups. However, compression fracture was the mechanism more frequently observed with DT PJK, and subluxation was the mechanism more frequently observed in PT PJK. Strategies to avoid PJK may include vertebral augmentation to prevent fracture at the DT spine and mechanical means to prevent vertebral subluxation at the PT spine.
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The authors undertook this study to investigate the relationships between low-back pain (LBP) and spinal bone density. Low-back pain is a major health issue and contributes to increases in medical and economic costs. Epidemiological studies have identified individual, sociodemographic, psychosocial, and occupational risk factors for LBP. However, there have been limited studies addressing the relationships between LBP and spinal bone density. ⋯ Higher bone density in the lumbar spine is associated with LBP, independent of confounding factors such as sociodemographic status, education, and medical-psychiatric disorders. Cause and effect relationship between higher bone density and LBP, such as degenerative changes in spine, requires further investigation.
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The goal of this prospective study was to investigate somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) during dynamic motion of the cervical spine and to evaluate the efficacy of analyzing dynamic SSEPs for predicting dynamic effects on the spinal cord in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). ⋯ This study suggests the potential of dynamic SSEPs as a useful neurophysiological technique to detect the effect of dynamic factors on the pathogenesis of CSM.