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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There is a wide selection of instruments and questionnaires available, but many are time consuming in their administration, for patients, practitioners and researchers alike. The Core Outcome Measures Index (COMI) is a short, self-administrated, multidimensional instrument translated into several languages that covers five domains recommended in the assessment of outcome in patients with low-back pain. The purpose of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the COMI from English to Swedish and to test the face and construct validity and reproducibility of its results in patients with low-back pain. ⋯ The Swedish COMI shows acceptable psychometric properties and is thus suitable to use as a short instrument for measuring important domains in patients with low-back pain. A future study should investigate the instrument's sensitivity to measure change after treatment. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
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Clinical registries are used for quality management and clinical research. Due to the importance and implications of both aims, completeness and high quality of data are of paramount importance. However, this remains uncertain, as none of these registries have implemented independent monitoring. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and completeness of registry data o the example of the German Spine Society (DWG) registry. ⋯ Due to the high inaccuracy, the high number of centers lacking mandatory entries at all and the number of false entries, these data alert us to advocate unannounced audits and further measures to improve the situation. Data should not be used for the time being, since wrong conclusion will be drawn. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
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To investigate the psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the Core Outcome Measures Index-Back (COMI-Back), only recently published according to the established linguistic and cultural conversion guidelines, in patients undergoing spine surgery. ⋯ The Japanese COMI-Back was a reliable and responsive questionnaire in our Japanese patients undergoing thoracic/lumbar spine surgery. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
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Utility of MRI for predicting neurological outcomes in acute cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) is well established but its value in thoracolumbar (TL) SCI needs to be evaluated. ⋯ Greater the rostrocaudal LOE, worse is the neurology at presentation, and it is associated with poor neurological recovery at follow-up. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
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Injury to the cervical spinal cord has been suggested as a mechanism that may underpin chronic whiplash-associated disorder (WAD). This study aimed to assess metabolite concentrations indicative of neuronal injury or pathology in the cervical cord in people with chronic WAD. ⋯ Findings are consistent with major metabolic changes not being present in chronic WAD.