European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society
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Piriformis syndrome after percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy via the posterolateral approach.
Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) can be performed under local anesthesia with intravenous analgesics. To define the incidence of piriformis syndrome (PS) after PELD via the posterolateral approach under local anesthesia compared to that of general patients presenting with low back pain with/without lower leg pain. The incidence and time of occurrence of positive FAIR test after PELD within a 3-month follow-up period were evaluated retrospectively, and compared with the prevalence of general patients who visited the pain clinic for LBP with/without lower leg pain. ⋯ The prevalence of PS in general patients was 317/2,320 (13.7%); however, the incidence of PS after PELD within a 3-month follow-up period was 61/151 (40.4%), peaking at 32 days. High anxiety scale scores during operation led to increased incidence of PS after PELD. PELD under local anesthesia with high level of anxiety may increase the incidence of PS after walking, peaking around the first month, compared with the results for general patients with low back pain with/without lower leg pain.
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Review Meta Analysis
Effectiveness of interspinous implant surgery in patients with intermittent neurogenic claudication: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Despite an increasing implantation rate of interspinous process distraction (IPD) devices in the treatment of intermittent neurogenic claudication (INC), definitive evidence on the clinical effectiveness of implants is lacking. The main objective of this review was to perform a meta-analysis of all systematic reviews, randomized clinical trials and prospective cohort series to quantify the effectiveness of IPDs and to evaluate the potential side-effects. ⋯ As the evidence is relatively low and the costs are high, more thorough (cost-) effectiveness studies should be performed before worldwide implementation is introduced.
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Prediction studies testing a thorough range of psychological variables in addition to demographic, work-related and clinical variables are lacking in lumbar fusion surgery research. This prospective cohort study aimed at examining predictions of functional disability, back pain and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) 2-3 years after lumbar fusion by regressing nonlinear relations in a multivariate predictive model of pre-surgical variables. Before and 2-3 years after lumbar fusion surgery, patients completed measures investigating demographics, work-related variables, clinical variables, functional self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, fear of movement/(re)injury, mental health and pain coping. ⋯ Post-operative psychomotor therapy also significantly predicted functional disability while pre-surgical outcome expectations significantly predicted HRQOL. For the median dichotomised classification of functional disability, back pain intensity and HRQOL levels 2-3 years post-surgery, the discriminative ability of the prediction models was of good quality. The results demonstrate the importance of pre-surgical psychological factors, leg pain intensity, straight leg raise and post-operative psychomotor therapy in the predictions of functional disability, back pain and HRQOL-related outcomes.
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Clinical Trial
Vertebral column decancellation for the management of sharp angular spinal deformity.
The management goal of sharp angular spinal deformity is to realign the spinal deformity and safely decompress the neurological elements. However, some shortcomings related to current osteotomy treatment for these deformities are still evident. We have developed a new spinal osteotomy technique-vertebral column decancellation (VCD), including multilevel vertebral decancellation, removal of residual disc, osteoclasis of the concave cortex, compression of the convex cortex accompanied by posterior instrumentation with pedicle screws, with the expectation to decrease surgical-related complications. ⋯ All patients had solid fusion at latest follow-up. Complications were encountered in eight patients (17.8%), including CSF leak (n = 1), deep wound infection (n = 1), epidural hematoma (n = 1), transient neurological deficit (n = 4), and complete paralysis (n = 1). The results of this study show that single-stage posterior VCD is an effective option to manage severe sharp angular spinal deformities.
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There have been several reports on hemivertebra resection via a posterior-only procedure. However, the number of reported cases is small, and various types of instrumentation have been used. In our study, we retrospectively investigated 56 consecutive cases of congenital scoliosis that were treated by posterior hemivertebra resection with transpedicular instrumentation. ⋯ Our results show that one-stage posterior hemivertebra resection with transpedicular instrumentation can achieve excellent correction, 360° decompression and short fusion without neurological complications. Pedicle cutting still remains a challenge in younger children when using bisegmental instrumentation. In addition, the radiolucent gaps in the residual space require further investigation.