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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Transpedicular fixation can be challenging in the osteoporotic spine as reduced bone mineral density compromises the mechanical stability of the pedicle screw. Here, we sought to investigate the biomechanical and histological properties of stabilization of expandable pedicle screw (EPS) in the osteoporotic spine in sheep. EPSs and standard pedicle screws, SINO screws, were inserted on the vertebral bodies in four female ovariectomized sheep. ⋯ Histologically, newly formed bone tissues grew into the center of EPS and were in close contact with the EPS. Our results show that the EPS demonstrates improved biomechanical and histological properties over the standard screw in the osteoporotic spine. The EPS may be of value in treating patients with osteoporosis and warrants further clinical studies.
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Early postoperative MRI after spinal surgery is difficult to interpret because of confounding postoperative mass effects and frequent occurrence of epidural hematomas. Purpose of this prospective study is to evaluate prevalence, extent and significance of hematoma in the first postoperative week in asymptomatic patients after decompression for lumbar stenosis and to determine the degree of clinically significant dura compression by comparing with the patients with postoperative symptoms. MRI was performed in 30 asymptomatic patients (47 levels) in the first week after lumbar spine decompression for degenerative stenosis. ⋯ In the symptomatic group 75% of the patients had a maximal postoperative dural sac area of 58.5 mm(2) or less, whereas in the asymptomatic group 75% of patients with epidural hematoma had an area of 75 mm(2) or more. The size of hematoma and the degree of dural sac compression were significantly larger in patients with symptoms needing surgical revision. Dural sac area of less than 75 mm(2) in early postoperative MRI was found to be the threshold for clinical significance.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Dynamic stabilization adjacent to single-level fusion: part II. No clinical benefit for asymptomatic, initially degenerated adjacent segments after 6 years follow-up.
Progression of degeneration is often described in patients with initially degenerated segment adjacent to fusion (iASD) at the time of surgery. The aim of the present study was to compare dynamic fixation of a clinically asymptomatic iASD, with circumferential lumbar fusion alone. 60 patients with symptomatic degeneration of L5/S1 or L4/L5 (Modic ≥ 2°) and asymptomatic iASD (Modic = 1°, confirmed by discography) were divided into two groups. 30 patients were treated with circumferential single-level fusion (SLF). In dynamic fixation transition (DFT) patients, additional posterior dynamic fixation of iASD was performed. ⋯ Clinical scores were equal in patients with PASD and/or radiologically adverse events. We do not recommend dynamically fixating the adjacent segment in patients with clinically asymptomatic iASD. The lower number of PASD with dynamic fixation was accompanied by a high number of implant failures and a shift of PASD to the superior segment.
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Comparative Study
Benchmarking in the SWISSspine registry: results of 52 Dynardi lumbar total disc replacements compared with the data pool of 431 other lumbar disc prostheses.
The SWISSspine registry is the first mandatory registry of its kind in the history of Swiss orthopaedics and it follows the principle of "coverage with evidence development". Its goal is the generation of evidence for a decision by the Swiss federal office of health about reimbursement of the concerned technologies and treatments by the basic health insurance of Switzerland. Recently, developed and clinically implemented, the Dynardi total disc arthroplasty (TDA) accounted for 10% of the implanted lumbar TDAs in the registry. ⋯ The patients with Dynardi prosthesis showed a similar outcome to patients receiving the other TDAs in terms of postoperative low back and leg pain, complications, and revision procedures. A higher likelihood for achieving a minimum clinically relevant improvement of low back pain and quality of life in Dynardi patients was observed. This difference might be due to the large number of surgeons using other TDAs compared to only two surgeons using the Dynardi TDA, with corresponding variations in patient selection, patient-physician interaction and other factors, which cannot be assessed in a registry study.
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Clinical studies reported frequent failure with anterior instrumented multilevel cervical corpectomies. Hence, posterior augmentation was recommended but necessitates a second approach. Thus, an author group evaluated the feasibility, pull-out characteristics, and accuracy of anterior transpedicular screw (ATPS) fixation. ⋯ We showed that primary stability after 2-level corpectomy reconstruction using ATPS prototypes compared favorably to posterior systems and superior to anterior plates. From the biomechanical point, the 360° instrumentation was shown the most efficient for reconstruction of 2-level corpectomies. Further studies will elucidate whether fatigue testing will enhance the benefit of transpedicular anchorage with posterior constructs and ATPS.