The Effects of Noninvasive Traction on SSEPs During Ankle Arthroscopy.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of noninvasive ankle distraction on intraoperative somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) and peripheral nerve sensibility of the foot during ankle arthroscopy.

Methods: Twenty patients undergoing ankle arthroscopy were prospectively evaluated using noninvasive ankle traction. All had preoperative clinical examination with baseline neurologic evaluation and static 2-point discrimination (2PD) test.

Cervical spine hyperextension injuries: MR findings.

Cervical hyperextension injuries are common and often show minimal radiographic abnormalities, even with severe or unstable lesions. Fourteen patients, nine with acceleration hyperextension "whiplash" injuries and five injured by direct frontal head trauma, underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging within 4 months of injury. Five of seven patients with anterior spinal column injuries showed characteristic separation of the disk from the vertebral end plate, lesions still evident as late as 9 months after injury.