Incidence, risk factors, and treatment of incidental durotomy during decompression in degenerative lumbar spine conditions.

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify independent risk factors for incidental durotomy (ID) during decompressive lumbar spine surgery, and to describe its treatment.

Methods: This retrospective review includes 650 patients who underwent lumbar decompression at a tertiary institution between January 2015 and October 2019. Data collection was obtained through one independent researcher.

Clinical outcomes of nonoperatively managed degenerative cervical myelopathy: an ambispective longitudinal cohort study in 117 patients.

Objective: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is among the most common pathologies affecting the spinal cord but its natural history is poorly characterized. The purpose of this study was to investigate functional outcomes in patients with DCM who were managed nonoperatively as well as the utility of quantitative clinical measures and MRI to detect deterioration.

Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed DCM or recurrent myelopathic symptoms after previous surgery who were initially managed nonoperatively were included.

Reliability of coronary computed tomography angiography in acute coronary syndrome in an emergency setting.

Background: Cardiovascular computed tomography (cardiovascular CT) is currently used as a fast non-invasive method for the visualization of coronary plaques and walls and the assessment of lumen stenosis severity. Previous studies demonstrated the high negative predictive value of CT for the exclusion of coronary lumen stenoses. In this study we hypothesize that coronary CT angiography (CTA) represents a reliable method as diagnostic procedure in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) even in emergency settings.

Inter-rater Reliability of the Modified Japanese Orthopedic Association Score in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: A Cross-sectional Study.

Study Design: Prospective cross-sectional blinded-assessor cohort study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the inter-rater reliability of the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) score in a large cohort of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) patients.

Summary Of Background Data: The mJOA score is widely accepted as the primary outcome measure in DCM; it has been utilized in clinical practice guidelines and directly influences treatment recommendations, but its reliability has not been established.

Quantitative Assessment of Gait Characteristics in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: A Prospective Clinical Study.

It is challenging to discriminate the early presentation of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM) as well as sensitively and accurately distinguishing between mild, moderate, and severe levels of impairment. As gait dysfunction is one of the cardinal symptoms of DCM, we hypothesized that spatiotemporal gait parameters, including the enhanced gait variability index (eGVI), could be used to sensitively discriminate between different severities of DCM. A total of 153 patients recently diagnosed with DCM were recruited and stratified on the basis of DCM severity grades, as measured using the modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) scale.

Predicting medical complications in spine surgery: evaluation of a novel online risk calculator.

Purpose: The preoperative prediction of medical complications is essential to optimize perioperative management. SpineSage™ is a free of charge online calculator to predict medical complications in spine surgery. The current study utilizes it in patients undergoing spine surgery to assess whether the predicted risks would correlate with the actual complication rate in clinical practice.

Reconstruction of the human visual system based on DTI fiber tracking.

Purpose: To apply and to evaluate the newly developed advanced fast marching algorithm (aFM) in vivo by reconstructing the human visual pathway, which is characterized by areas of extensive fiber crossing and branching, i.e., the optic chiasm and the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN).