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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To evaluate the predictive precision of the Dialogue Support, a tool for additional help in shared decision-making before surgery of the degenerative spine. ⋯ I.
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To investigate the association of spinal anomalies with lumbar spondylolysis and spina bifida occulta (SBO). ⋯ These findings indicate that there is a relationship between spinal anomalies and both spondylolysis and SBO, which may lead to elucidation of the mechanism of onset of spondylolysis and improve its treatment and prognosis. Awareness that patients with SBO involving the lumbar spine have an increased likelihood of a spinal anomaly may help to prevent level errors during spinal surgery.
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Although distraction-based growing rods (GR) are the gold standard for the treatment of early onset scoliosis, they suffer from high failure rates. We have (1) performed a literature search to understand the deficiencies of the current protocols, (2) in vitro evaluation of GRs using our proposed protocol and performed a finite element (FE) model validation, and (3) identified key features which should be considered in mechanical testing setups. ⋯ The two-way approach presented in this study can lead to a robust prediction of the contributing factors to the in vivo failure.
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The literature concerning the effects of scoliosis correction on pulmonary function (PF) is scarce and solely related to spinal fusion. Vertebral body tethering (VBT) represents a new option for scoliosis correction; however, its effects on PF have not yet been investigated. As VBT is a fusion-less technique that does not limit the dynamics of the chest wall, it is expected not to have a negative impact on PF despite the anterior surgical approach. ⋯ VBT does not cause a reduction in PF values at a short-term follow-up.
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In preparation for surgery, patients being treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are recommended to either continue or withhold therapy perioperatively. Some of these drugs have known effects against bone healing, hence the importance of adequately managing them before and after surgery. ⋯ The available published data may suggest a higher risk of wound healing concerns and lower than average bone fusion, although this may be under-reported given the current state of the literature.