Spine
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A mailed survey of 142 practicing physicians (63 orthopedic spine surgeons and 79 family physicians) inquiring about their expertise and experience with chronic low back pain, their pain attitudes and beliefs, and recommendations about the appropriate level of function for chronic back pain patients. ⋯ Physicians' recommendations for activity and work to patients with chronic back pain vary widely and frequently are restrictive. These recommendations reflect personal attitudes of the physicians as well as factors related to the patients' clinical symptoms.
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A case report of an anterior cervical plate and screws that disappeared completely. ⋯ The plate and screws became dislodged, eroded through the posterior wall of the esophagus, then traversed the limit of the gastrointestinal tract, passing with feces without significant morbidity. Whether the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection contributed to this unique circumstance or is coincidentally related to it remained a matter of speculation.
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Prospective case series with historical controls (normative data). ⋯ Levels of aerobic fitness in patients with chronic low back pain are comparable with those in healthy subjects.
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Retrospective review of prospectively maintained institutional spine database. ⋯ The posterolateral transpedicular approach provides a wide surgical exposure to decompress and instrument the anterior and posterior spine. This technique avoids the morbidity associated with anterior approaches and provides immediate stability. Vascular tumors may be removed safely after embolization. Patients can be mobilized early after surgery.
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This comparative study was conducted on 19 patients (13 men and 6 women) with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). The histologic and histochemical differences and changes in the back muscles of the diseased and normal sides were evaluated. ⋯ The present study indicated that there were differences in the characteristics of the multifidus muscle between the diseased and normal sides in patients with lumbar disc herniation. The changes in muscle characteristics primarily were related to the disc protrusion. In addition, different locations of the low back pain seemed to cause different secondary effects on the muscle characteristics.