Spine
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Laminectomy was performed on cats to destroy the posterior epidural ligament. Evoked potentials and spinal cord blood flows quantified the spinal cord function before and after cervical flexion. ⋯ The role of the posterior cervical epidural ligaments is to anchor the posterior dura mater to the ligamentum flavum. Loss of the ligaments allows anterior displacement of the posterior dura mater in flexion. Abnormal distribution of or lack of the cervical posterior epidural ligaments may lead to flexion myelopathy.
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Biography Historical Article
The education, training, and evaluation of a spine surgeon.
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Case Reports Clinical Trial
The use of implantable direct current stimulation in multilevel spinal fusion without instrumentation. A prospective clinical and radiographic evaluation with long-term follow-up.
A prospective study with long-term follow-up of 143 patients who underwent spinal fusion with direct current stimulation and no instrumentation. ⋯ Multilevel fusion in this series with long-term follow-up evaluation of direct current stimulated patients without instrumentation showed clinical and radiographic success higher than in recent studies without instrumentation and comparable with recent studies using instrumentation.
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Twenty-nine patients with primary bone tumors and solitary metastases of the thoracolumbar spine treated with en bloc resection are reviewed retrospectively. ⋯ En bloc resection can be performed in selected tumors of the spine; the indication to such major surgery must be based on the oncologic stage, and the procedure must be carefully planned. For this purpose, the Weinstein-Boriani-Biagini system could be a helpful tool. Long-term results must be weighed before a definitive statement of the indications can be made.