Virtual reality improves embodiment and neuropathic pain caused by spinal cord injury.

Objective: To investigate changes in body ownership and chronic neuropathic pain in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) using multisensory own body illusions and virtual reality (VR).

Methods: Twenty patients with SCI with paraplegia and 20 healthy control participants (HC) participated in 2 factorial, randomized, repeated-measures design studies. In the virtual leg illusion (VLI), we applied asynchronous or synchronous visuotactile stimulation to the participant's back (either immediately above the lesion level or at the shoulder) and to the virtual legs as seen on a VR head-mounted display.

Sacral neuromodulation for refractory lower urinary tract dysfunction: results of a nationwide registry in Switzerland.

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of sacral neuromodulation (SNM) in patients with refractory lower urinary tract dysfunction in Switzerland based on a nationwide registry.

Patients And Methods: A total of 209 patients (181 females, 28 males) underwent SNM testing between July 2000 and December 2005 in Switzerland. Subjective symptom improvement, bladder/pain diary variables, adverse events, and their management were prospectively registered.

Sciatica in the female patient: anatomical considerations, aetiology and review of the literature.

The principal author was confronted few years ago with the case of a 38-year-old woman with a 5-month history of ill-defined L5 sciatic pain that was referred to an orthopaedic department for investigation and eventual surgical treatment for what was suspected to be herniated disc-related sciatica. Removal of her enlarged uterus found unexpectedly close to the sacroiliac joint upon lumbar MRI abolished her symptoms. Review of the literature showed that the lumbosacral trunk is vulnerable to pressure from any abdominal mass originating from the uterus and the ovaries.