The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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Reports of Gorham disease of the lumbar spine complicated by abdominal aortic aneurysms are rare. ⋯ The patient was able to walk without right leg or low back pain 1 year after undergoing surgery. No recurrence was demonstrated in the magnetic resonance images taken 1 year and 10 months after surgery.
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Case Reports
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy relieved pain in patients with coccydynia: a report of two cases.
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ECSWT) has been used widely for musculoskeletal conditions; however, no reports are available about its use for coccydynia. ⋯ Extracorporeal shock wave therapy relieved pain of coccydynia in our patients.
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Kyphotic deformities with sagittal imbalance of the spine can be treated with spinal osteotomies. Those procedures are known to have a high incidence of neurological complications, in particular at the thoracic level. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) have been widely used in helping to avoid major neurological deficits postoperatively. Previous reports have shown that a significant proportion of such cases present with important transcranial MEP (Tc-MEP) changes during surgery with some of them being predictive of postoperative deficits. ⋯ Transcranial MEP changes during spinal shortening procedures are common and do not appear to predict severe postoperative deficits. Total loss of Tc-MEP (not witnessed in our series) might require a more drastic approach with possible reversal of the correction and wake-up test.
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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious health issue that may result in high health care costs, with additional social and psychological burdens. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment has been found to be beneficial for neurological recovery; however, the underlying mechanisms are yet to be characterized. ⋯ HBO treatment improved neurological recovery when applied after SCI. The expression level changes of VEGF and CX43 may contribute to the further understanding on the molecular mechanisms of HBO treatment on SCI.
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Multicenter Study
Prognostic factors for return to work in patients with sciatica.
Little is known about the prognostic factors for work-related outcomes of sciatica caused by disc herniation. ⋯ The baseline factors associated with RTW identified in multivariate analysis were age, general health, history of sciatica, duration of the current episode, baseline sciatica bothersomeness, fear-avoidance work, back pain, and the straight-leg-raising test result. Surgical treatment was associated with slower RTW, but surgical patients were more severely affected than patients treated without surgery; so, this finding should be interpreted with caution.