Publications by authors named "Ames C"

Background Context: Correcting sagittal malalignment in adult spinal deformity (ASD) is a challenging task, often requiring complex surgical interventions like pedicle subtraction osteotomies (PSOs). Different types of three-column osteotomies (3COs), including Schwab 3, Schwab 4, Schwab 4 with interbody cages, and the "sandwich" technique, aim to optimize alignment and fusion outcomes. The role of interbody cages in enhancing fusion and segmental correction remains unclear.

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Patients with proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) or failure (PJF) may demonstrate disparate outcomes and recovery when fused to the upper (UT) versus lower (LT) thoracic spine. Few studies have distinguished the reoperation and recovery abilities of patients with PJK or PJF when fused to the upper (UT) versus lower (LT) thoracic spine. Adult spine deformity patients ≥ 18 yrs with preoperative and 5-year (5Y) data fused to the sacrum/pelvis were included.

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High-energy nuclear collisions create a quark-gluon plasma, whose initial condition and subsequent expansion vary from event to event, impacting the distribution of the eventwise average transverse momentum [P([p_{T}])]. Disentangling the contributions from fluctuations in the nuclear overlap size (geometrical component) and other sources at a fixed size (intrinsic component) remains a challenge. This problem is addressed by measuring the mean, variance, and skewness of P([p_{T}]) in ^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb and ^{129}Xe+^{129}Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.

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Objective: Malalignment following cervical spine deformity (CSD) surgery can negatively impact outcomes and increase complications. Despite the growing ability to plan alignment, it remains unclear whether preoperative goals are achieved with surgery. The objective of this study was to assess how good surgeons are at achieving their preoperative goal alignment following CSD surgery.

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Study Design: Retrospective analysis of prospectively-collected data.

Objective: This study aims to define clinically relevant blood loss in adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery.

Background: Current definitions of excessive blood loss following spine surgery are highly variable and may be suboptimal in predicting adverse events (AE).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how different reasons for revision surgery in adult spinal deformity (ASD) patients affect their postoperative outcomes, revealing a high incidence of reoperations.
  • A sample of 891 ASD patients was analyzed retrospectively, categorizing their revisions by cause, and assessing complications, radiographic results, and disability metrics.
  • Findings suggest that different etiologies (mechanical, infection, wound, and SI pain) lead to varying outcomes, with mechanical issues showing less improvement over time compared to others.
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Background And Objectives: The spectrum of patients requiring adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery is highly variable in baseline (BL) risk such as age, frailty, and deformity severity. Although improvements have been realized in ASD surgery over the past decade, it is unknown whether these carry over to high-risk patients. We aim to determine temporal differences in outcomes at 2 years after ASD surgery in patients stratified by BL risk.

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Objective: The objective of this study was to identify baseline patient and surgical factors predictive of optimal outcomes in staged versus same-day combined-approach surgery.

Methods: Adult spinal deformity (ASD) patients with baseline and perioperative (by 6 weeks) data were stratified based on single-stage (same-day) or multistage (staged) surgery, excluding planned multiple hospitalizations. Means comparison analyses were used to assess baseline demographic, radiographic, and surgical differences between cohorts.

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Objective: The goal of this study was to assess the impact of fractional curve (FC) severity on curve progression and postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing adult idiopathic scoliosis (AdIS) correction.

Methods: Patients with AdIS who had preoperative coronal plane deformity and who had undergone thoracolumbar fusion with a lowermost instrumented vertebra (LIV) between L1 and L4 were included. Patients were stratified by 6-week postoperative FC severity (small FC, ≤ 40th percentile, large FC, ≥ 60th percentile of the entire cohort; calculated as the Cobb angle between LIV and S1) and age groups.

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Study Design: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.

Objective: This study evaluates the impact of knee osteoarthritis (OA) and knee arthroplasty on alignments and patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMS) of patients undergoing adult spinal deformity (ASD) corrective surgery.

Background: The relationship between knee OA and spinal alignment in patients with ASD is incompletely understood.

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A search for the exclusive hadronic decays W^{±}→π^{±}γ, W^{±}→K^{±}γ, and W^{±}→ρ^{±}γ is performed using up to 140  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]=13  TeV. If observed, these rare processes would provide a unique test bench for the quantum chromodynamics factorization formalism used to calculate cross sections at colliders. Additionally, at future colliders, these decays could offer a new way to measure the W boson mass through fully reconstructed decay products.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The ATLAS experiment at the LHC conducted a search for long-lived particles (LLPs) using a large dataset (140 fb^{-1}) from proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV, focusing on LLPs with masses from 5 to 55 GeV that decay within the inner detector.
  • - The study considered scenarios where LLPs are produced from exotic Higgs boson decays and models involving axionlike particles (ALPs).
  • - No significant findings above expected background levels were detected, leading to the establishment of upper limits on various production rates involving the Higgs boson and the top quark related to LLPs and ALPs.
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  • Understanding preoperative deformity in lumbar spine revisions can help improve outcomes and prevent failures in future surgeries.
  • A study compared patients with no prior surgery (PRIMARY) and those with short (SHORT) or long (LONG) fusions, highlighting how different failure modes correlate with shorter fusions.
  • Results showed that revision patients experienced significant alignment issues and often required more invasive correction techniques, indicating a need for better alignment strategies in future operations.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study is a retrospective cohort analysis aimed at assessing the surgical outcomes of adult spinal deformity using AI-based clustering to categorize patients into different deformity types, including Moderate Sagittal, Severe Sagittal, Coronal, and Hyper-Thoracic Kyphosis.
  • A total of 1062 patients were analyzed, showing that while all deformity clusters experienced similar improvements in health-related quality of life after surgery, those in the Severe Sagittal cluster had notably higher complication rates, especially regarding major complications, reoperations, and implant failures.
  • Despite varying complication rates among clusters, the types of complications did not show significant differences, indicating that all clusters benefit equally from surgical interventions, achieving comparable rates of minimal clinically important difference in quality
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Purpose: Spine deformity surgery is a complex multi-step procedure that has a relatively high complication rate. The use of surgical safety checklists has been shown to reduce perioperative adverse events, but existing lists are varied and non-specific for spinal deformity surgery. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive surgical checklist for complex spinal corrective surgery.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the associated production of Higgs and W bosons, focusing on how the relative signs of the Higgs couplings to W and Z bosons impact the process.
  • Two specific searches were conducted using large amounts of collision data from the LHC to analyze different coupling scenarios: one for opposite-sign couplings and another for same-sign (standard model-like) couplings.
  • The results significantly exclude the opposite-sign coupling hypothesis and set a strict upper limit on the production rate of this process compared to standard model predictions.
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  • - The study is a secondary data analysis of an NIH-sponsored research focusing on cost-effectiveness between surgical and non-surgical treatments for Adult Symptomatic Lumbar Scoliosis (ASLS) eight years post-enrollment.
  • - Previous analyses at the five-year mark showed a cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $44,033 (As-Treated) and $27,480 (Intent-to-treat), while the current eight-year data suggests that surgical treatment is more economically favorable, with an ICER of $20,569 per Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) gained.
  • - The conclusion highlights that operative treatment for ASLS presents a more cost-effective option compared to non-operative treatment, as indicated
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  • Tranexamic acid (TXA) is used in adult spinal deformity surgery to reduce blood loss, but there's no agreed-upon dosing method.
  • A study analyzed data from 265 complex ASD patients, categorizing them into low, medium, and high TXA dose groups and measuring blood loss, complications, and RBC transfusions.
  • Findings revealed that lower TXA doses resulted in significantly higher blood loss and increased RBC transfusions compared to high doses, suggesting that higher TXA dosing may be more effective in minimizing blood loss during surgery.
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  • This multicentric retrospective study aimed to establish normative values for proximal junctional angles (PJA) in adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery patients, using data from healthy volunteers for comparison.
  • The study analyzed data from 721 healthy individuals and 824 ASD surgery patients, assessing the rates of abnormal PJA values and comparing them with the rates of proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) using different definitions.
  • Findings revealed significant differences in PJK rates based on the criteria used, highlighting the need for more precise level-adjusted assessments of PJA values to better define abnormalities and challenge traditional definitions of PJK.
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Summary Of Background Data: Yilgor et al developed the lumbar Lordosis Distribution Index to individualize the pelvic mismatch to each patient's pelvic incidence. The cervical lordosis distribution in relation to its apex has not been characterized.

Objective: Tailor correction of cervical deformity by incorporating the cervical apex into a distribution index(CLDI) to maximize clinical outcomes while lowering rates of junctional failure.

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This Letter presents results from a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair production using 126-140  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data at sqrt[s]=13  TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector. At 95% confidence level (CL), the upper limit on the production rate is 2.9 times the standard model (SM) prediction, with an expected limit of 2.

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This Letter presents the first study of the energy dependence of diboson polarization fractions in WZ→ℓνℓ^{'}ℓ^{'}(ℓ,ℓ^{'}=e,μ) production. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector. Two fiducial regions with an enhanced presence of events featuring two longitudinally polarized bosons are defined.

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Background: Our understanding of the relationship between sagittal alignment and mechanical complications is evolving. In normal spines, the L1-pelvic angle (L1PA) accounts for the magnitude and distribution of lordosis and is strongly associated with pelvic incidence (PI), and the T4-pelvic angle (T4PA) is within 4° of the L1PA. We aimed to examine the clinical implications of realignment to a normal L1PA and T4-L1PA mismatch.

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Objective: Correction of mild flexible cervical deformity (CD) via the posterior approach has been described with and without the use of posterior osteotomies (POs), despite a lack of clarity regarding their necessity or risks. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of POs when correcting mild flexible CD leads to improved clinical or radiographic outcomes, as well as defining the relative risks in utilizing them.

Methods: A prospective multicenter registry of operative CD patients was analyzed.

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