Neurosurgery
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Surgery for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is generally safe and effective. Nonetheless, complications occur in 11% to 38% of patients. Knowledge of important predictors of complications will help clinicians identify high-risk patients and institute prevention and management strategies. ⋯ BMI, body mass indexCSM, cervical spondylotic myelopathymJOA, modified Japanese Orthopaedic AssociationOPLL, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament.
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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for psychiatric disorders needs to be investigated in proper research trials. However, there are rare circumstances in which DBS could be offered to psychiatric patients as a form of surgical innovation, therefore potentially blurring the lines between these research trials and health care. In this article, we discuss the conditions under which surgical innovation may be accepted as a practice falling at the frontiers of standard clinical care and research per se. However, recognizing this distinction does not settle all ethical issues. Our article offers ethical guideposts to allow clinicians, surgical teams, institutions, and institutional review boards to deliberate about some of the fundamental issues that should be considered before surgical innovation with psychiatric DBS is undertaken. We provide key guiding questions to sustain this deliberation. Then we review the normative and empirical literature that exists to guide reflection about the ethics of surgical innovation and psychiatric DBS with respect to general ethical questions pertinent to psychiatric DBS, multidisciplinary team perspectives in psychiatric DBS, mechanisms for oversight in psychiatric DBS, and capacity and consent in psychiatric DBS. The considerations presented here are to recognize the very specific nature of surgical innovation and to ensure that surgical innovation in the context of psychiatric DBS remains a limited, special category of activity that does not replace appropriate surgical research or become the standard of care based on limited evidence. ⋯ DBS, deep brain stimulationIRB, institutional review boardOCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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Multicenter Study
Treatment of Distal Anterior Circulation Aneurysms With the Pipeline Embolization Device: A US Multicenter Experience.
Utilization of the Pipeline embolization device (PED) to treat distal carotid circulation aneurysms has not been well studied. ⋯ ACA, anterior cerebral arteryAcomA, anterior communicating arteryDSA, digital subtraction angiographyMCA, middle cerebral arterymRS, modified Rankin scalePED, Pipeline embolization device.
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Recent studies have demonstrated diffusion tensor imaging tractography of cranial nerves (CNs). Spatial and angular resolution, however, is limited with this modality. A substantial improvement in image resolution can be achieved with high-angle diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and atlas-based fiber tracking to provide detailed trajectories of CNs. ⋯ CN, cranial nerveDSI, diffusion spectrum imagingDTI, diffusion tensor imagingHCP, Human Connectome ProjectHDFT, high-definition fiber tractographyMLF, medial longitudinal fasciculusODF, orientation distribution functionROI, region of interest.
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The cervical total disc replacement (cTDR) was developed to treat cervical degenerative disc disease while preserving motion. ⋯ ACDF, anterior cervical discectomy and fusionAWP, average wholesale priceCE, cost-effectivenessCEA, cost-effectiveness analysisCPT, Current Procedural TerminologycTDR, cervical total disc replacementCUA, cost-utility analysisDDD, degenerative disc diseaseDRG, diagnosis-related groupFDA, US Food and Drug AdministrationICER, incremental cost-effectiveness ratioIDE, Investigational Device ExemptionNDI, neck disability indexQALY, quality-adjusted life yearsRCT, randomized controlled trialRTW, return-to-workSF-12, 12-Item Short Form Health SurveyVAS, visual analog scaleWTP, willingness-to-pay.