Spine
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Prospective cohort study. ⋯ Low back pain was a dynamic process with high rates for incidence, recurrence, and recovery. General health and work-related physical and psychosocial factors influenced both the incidence and recurrence of low back pain. The incidence and recurrence of low back pain depend strongly on the recall period of low back pain and the time-window of investigation.
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A dissection-based study of 18 embalmed cadavers (7 male, 11 female), mean age 84 (+/-8.4) years. ⋯ Hofmann ligaments are present at most levels between C7 and L5; although most ligaments were limited to a single vertebral segment, some were observed to cross several segments.
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Retrospective analysis of a prospectively accrued series of 213 consecutive patients who underwent intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring with electromyography and somatosensory-evoked potentials during thoracolumbar spine surgery. ⋯ Intraoperative electromyographic activation has a high sensitivity for the detection of a newpostoperative neurologic deficit but a low specificity. In contrast, somatosensory-evoked potentials have low sensitivity but high specificity. Combined intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring with electromyography and somatosensory-evoked potentials is helpful for predicting and possibly preventing neurologic injury during thoracolumbar spine surgery.
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Retrospective review. ⋯ Pediatric sacral fractures are rare (0.16% of pediatric trauma). As is the case in adults, most fractures are not associated with neurologic injury. Diagnosing pediatric sacral fractures requires high clinical suspicion and thorough radiographic evaluation. Correlation of neurologic injury with certain fracture types may be possible, but will require larger studies to be confirmed.
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A 10+-year longitudinal study of 100 adult volunteers. ⋯ Our study substantiates previous results showing that the strongest determinant of lumbar lordosis is sacral alignment. Appropriate lumbar lordosis was estimated to be 80% of sacral inclination using standing radiographs, and the proposed lumbopelvic congruity could measure stability in sagittal spinal alignment. This study provides practical data for the assessment of sagittal spinal alignment in the aging spine.