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
-
Swespine, the Swedish National Spine Register, has existed for 20 years and is in general use within the country since over 10 years regarding degenerative lumbar spine disorders. Today there are protocols for registering all disorders of the entire spinal column. ⋯ Results of spine surgery as documented on a national basis can be utilized for quality assurance and quality improvement as well as for research purposes, documenting changes over time and bench marking when introducing new surgical techniques. A basis for international comparisons is also laid.
-
Comparative Study
Tandem age-related lumbar and cervical intervertebral disc changes in asymptomatic subjects.
To investigate the frequency of tandem lumbar and cervical intervertebral disc degeneration in asymptomatic subjects. ⋯ Degenerative findings in both the lumbar and cervical spine, suggesting tandem disc degeneration, was common in asymptomatic subjects. These results provide normative data for evaluating patients with degenerative lumbar and cervical disc diseases.
-
The objective of this prospective innovative treatment is to section the pain pathways carried by sympathetic lumbar rami communicantes to achieve lasting pain relief of refractory low back pain. ⋯ Section the pain pathways carried by sympathetic lumbar rami communicantes for refractory low back pain improved 22 % of patients at the last follow-up of 29 months.
-
To present a new model derived from Ross's model for the assessment of the total amount of epidural fibrosis and to present inter- and intravariability study. ⋯ The proposed model enables estimation of the amount of epidural fibrosis in postoperative lumbar spine and does not require any additional software or hardware. It is designed for multi-centered clinical studies where it is necessary to compare the values of epidural fibrosis between the tested and control group. The use of the proposed model is fast and practical and helps to avoid complications arising from image format, calibration and software, which are often encountered in multi-centered studies.
-
To report the learning curve of full-endoscopic lumbar discectomy for a surgeon naive to endoscopic surgery but trained in open microdiscectomy. ⋯ The learning curve of the transforaminal approach was steep and easy to learn, while the learning curve of the interlaminar approach was flat and hard to master.