Spine
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Case report. ⋯ A rare case of anterior bilateral cervical second root traumatic neuroma with no history of trauma is reported. An unnoticed history of trauma may play an etiologic role in the development of these lesions.
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The failure strength of porcine spinal units was correlated with vertebral size and bone mineralization. The accuracy of the resulting predictive equations was tested with an independent sample of spinal units. ⋯ Measures of BMC/BMD did not enhance predictions of compressive strength and will not reduce errors in compressive load normalization in a porcine model. The poor correlations found between BMC and compressive strength may be due to the non-load-bearing anterior processes of the porcine cervical spine.
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A prospective study using magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) on a consecutive cohort of patients with cervical spine injuries. ⋯ The incidence of traumatically induced vertebral artery occlusion was 17.2%. The potential for blood flow restoration was higher in compressive injuries than in distractive injuries. The mechanism of occlusion in compressive injuries is likely to be vasospasm or minor artery dissection, which may cause reversible occlusion because vessels are subjected to relatively minor stretching in compressive injuries. Vertebral artery occlusion was rarely symptomatic because of sufficient collateral blood supply through not only contralateral vertebral artery but also the circle of Willis.
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This study examines changes in the production of extracellular matrix molecules as well as the induction of tissue degradation in in vitro formed nucleus pulposus (NP) tissues following incubation with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha. ⋯ Because low levels of TNF-alpha, comparable to those present physiologically, induced NP tissue degradation, this suggests that TNF-alpha may contribute to the degenerative changes that occur in disc disease.
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This was an in vivo and in vitro investigation of a minimally invasive posterior tether system for fusionless modulation of sagittal plane growth in an immature sheep model. ⋯ Fusionless modulation of sagittal plane growth in an immature sheep model was successfully performed with changes in the overall sagittal profile of the instrumented segments and vertebral body wedging. Increased stiffness of the instrumented segments posttether release was thought to be related to heterotopic ossification. Results suggest that this may be a potential treatment for adolescents with Scheuermann's disease.