Rate of Unexpected Malignancy in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Vertebroplasty after Implementing a New Scanning Protocol.

Study Design: Retrospective quality improvement study.

Objective: To investigate if the rate of unsuspected malignancy in biopsies in patients with VCF who underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) at the same orthopedic department has changed after the implementation of a new MRI scanning protocol.

Summary Of Background Data: Discrimination between benign and malign vertebral compression fracture (VCF) can be difficult.

Diagnostic Screening for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis.

Purpose: To develop a self-administered diagnostic screening questionnaire for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) consisting of items with high content validity and to investigate the diagnostic value of the questionnaire and the items.

Patients And Methods: A self-reported diagnostic LSS screening questionnaire was developed based on items from the existing literature describing key symptoms of LSS. The screening questionnaire (index test) was to be tested in a cohort of patients with persistent lumbar and/or leg pain recruited from a Danish publicly funded outpatient secondary care spine clinic with clinicians performing the reference test.

Does Systemic Administration of Parathyroid Hormone After Noninstrumented Spinal Fusion Surgery Improve Fusion Rates and Fusion Mass in Elderly Patients Compared to Placebo in Patients With Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis?

Study Design: Prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Objective: To evaluate whether 90-day subcutaneous injections with 20 μg teriparatide increases the volume and quality of the fusion mass compared to placebo based on 12-month postop fine cut computed tomography scans. The secondary objective is to evaluate whether parathyroid hormone (PTH) increases fusion rates compared to placebo.