Spine
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Review article. ⋯ Cervical disc replacement is an innovative technology that preserves motion at the instrumented level/s and will potentially improve load transfer to the adjacent levels compared with fusion. Clinical reports of success of cervical total disc replacement are encouraging but are also quite preliminary. As the U.S. IDE studies are completed, a clearer role for the place of cervical disc replacement in the spine surgeon's armamentarium should emerge.
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Retrospective review of current literature regarding neuroprotection and axonal regeneration therapies for acute spinal cord injury. ⋯ The initiation of human clinical trials for spinal cord-injured patients heralds great hope that effective therapies will be forthcoming, although a great deal remains to be learned. Clinicians must provide leadership in the epidemiologic design and rigor of these initial forays into human evaluation.
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Multicenter Study
Dual growing rod technique for the treatment of progressive early-onset scoliosis: a multicenter study.
A retrospective case review of children treated with dual growing rod technique at our institutions. Patients included had no previous surgery and a minimum of 2 years follow-up from initial surgery. ⋯ The dual growing rod technique is safe and effective. It maintains correction obtained at initial surgery while allowing spinal growth to continue. It provides adequate stability, increases the duration of treatment period, and has an acceptable rate of complication compared with previous reports using the single rod technique.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Vertebroplasty by use of a strontium-containing bioactive bone cement.
A review of the laboratory and clinical data for a new strontium-containing hydroxyapatite bioactive bone cement. ⋯ Oral strontium has been shown to induce new bone formation and is effective in reducing fracture risk in osteoporosis. Our data suggest that strontium delivered locally has the same effect; thus, the combination of strontium with HA in a cement with a low setting temperature, adequate stiffness, and low viscosity makes this a good bioactive cement for vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty.