Melorheostosis involving the cervical and upper thoracic spine: radiographic, CT, and MR imaging findings.

Melorheostosis, an uncommon mesenchymal dysplasia, rarely affects the axial skeleton. We describe the imaging findings of melorheostosis involving the cervical and upper thoracic spine. Radiographs and CT showed unilateral well-marginated undulating zones of cortical hyperostosis involving multiple vertebrae that were contiguous with a coalescent ossified right paravertebral mass.

Diagnostic value of cervical discography in the management of cervical discogenic pain.

We did a retrospective analysis of patients who had a total of 46 cervical discs examined by cervical discography and then evaluated the postoperative results of 14 of the 16 patients who underwent cervical spine fusion at those levels in accordance with the results of our discograms. The average symptomatic period prior to discography was 12 months, and cervical discogenic pain was successfully localized in all 16 patients. Immediately post-cervical discectomy and anterior fusion, subjectively, all 14 patients had good to excellent results, and after a mean follow-up of 6.

Sympathetic schwannoma: a case report.

Schwannomas (also known as Neurilemomas or Neurinomas) are benign tumors of the nervous system that originate in the neural sheath and most commonly occur as solitary encapsulated subcutaneous tumors in otherwise healthy individuals. When they present as multiple tumors, they are histologically indistinguishable from the solitary tumors and, in such a case, they may be associated with neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) in which the sensory roots of the cranial and spinal nerves are affected more often than the motor roots and the hallmark tumor of which is a vestibular schwannoma (also known as acoustic neuroma). They also may exist as a distinct clinical entity without any stigmata of neurofibromatosis known as schwannomatosis.

Evaluation of the genotoxic potential of selected anti-AIDS treatment drugs at clinical doses in vivo in mice.

Six anti-AIDS drugs were assessed for in vivo genotoxicity and cytotoxicity at human clinical doses with the mouse bone marrow micronucleus assay. These included four dideoxynucleosides (azidothymidine, dideoxycytidine, dideoxyadenosine, and dideoxyinosine), an anthracycline antibiotic (doxorubicin), and a chelating agent (D-penicillamine). Cytological analysis of the mouse bone marrow cells revealed: (i) The dideoxynucleosides and D-penicillamine failed to induce significant number of micronuclei, and except for one of the five doses of dideoxyinosine, none of the dideoxynucleosides were cytotoxic at the doses tested.