Publications by authors named "Christoph Albers"

Article Synopsis
  • Fragility and insufficiency fractures of the pelvis and sacrum are on the rise among the elderly due to weakened bones, leading to persistent pain, reduced mobility, and a risk of loss of independence.
  • While conservative treatments are an option, surgery is often preferred for unstable fractures, especially since many patients do not receive adequate preventative care for osteoporosis-related fractures.
  • Diagnostic imaging is crucial for identifying these fractures, with CT scans being the gold standard, but MRI offers the highest sensitivity for detecting complex fractures, guiding treatment based on fracture type and stability.
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Article Synopsis
  • Percutaneous screw fixation is a common treatment for posterior pelvic ring injuries, with transiliac-transsacral screws showing better biomechanical strength than bilateral sacroiliac screws, especially for less displaced bilateral sacral fractures.
  • An anatomical study on human cadaveric pelves identified a safe zone for screw placement in relation to the S1 region, categorizing most pelves as suitable for this technique while highlighting some as high-risk.
  • The research suggests using lateral fluoroscopic images to accurately identify safe entry points for screw placement at the S1 level, emphasizing the need for more studies with CT imaging to further validate these results.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study compared outcomes of two surgical fixation methods—transiliac-transsacral screw fixation (TIS) and lumbopelvic fixation (LPS)—for treating certain sacral fractures in patients with minimal displacement.
  • Both groups showed no significant differences in low back pain and mobility post-surgery at multiple check-in points, indicating similar recovery experiences.
  • However, the TIS group had shorter surgery times, less blood loss, fewer reoperations, and a shorter hospital stay compared to the LPS group, suggesting TIS may be a more efficient option.
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Background Data: Computed Tomography (CT) is the gold standard for cervical spine (c-spine) evaluation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) emerges due to its increasing availability and the lack of radiation exposure. However, MRI is costly and time-consuming, questioning its role in the emergency department (ED).

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Injuries to the rigid spine have a distinguished position in the broad spectrum of spinal injuries due to altered biomechanical properties. The rigid spine is more prone to fractures. Two ossification bone disorders that are of particular interest are Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) and Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH).

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Objectives: To evaluate the clinical 10 year outcome of patients treated with percutaneous vertebroplasty for vertebral compression fractures and to determine the incidence of new fractures in this time interval, as well as the mortality of the patients who underwent this procedure.

Methods: All patients undergoing vertebroplasty for vertebral compression fractures between May 2007 until July 2008 were prospectively followed up at 10 years postoperatively. Patients were assessed for radiologic outcome and self-reported outcome parameters (PROs).

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Introduction: Traumatic thoracolumbar burst fractures are the most common spinal injuries and the proper treatment is controversial. In central Europe in particular, these fractures are often treated with minimally invasive anterior-posterior reduction and fusion, whereas a conservative approach is preferred in the USA. Independent of the treatment strategy, no data exists regarding the outcome related to return to activity level/sport.

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Low back pain (LBP) is associated with the degeneration of human intervertebral discs (IVDs). Despite progress in the treatment of LBP through spinal fusion, some cases still end in non-fusion after the removal of the affected IVD tissue. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that the remaining IVD cells secrete BMP inhibitors that are sufficient to inhibit osteogenesis in autologous osteoblasts (OBs) and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

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Purpose: To evaluate feasibility, internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and prospective validity of AO Spine CROST (Clinician Reported Outcome Spine Trauma) in the clinical setting.

Methods: Patients were included from four trauma centers. Two surgeons with substantial amount of experience in spine trauma care were included from each center.

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Bone morphogenic protein 2 (BMP2) is known to induce osteogenesis and is applied clinically to enhance spinal fusion despite adverse effects. BMP2 needs to be used in high doses to be effective due to the presence of BMP2 inhibitors. L51P is a BMP2 analogue that acts by inhibition of BMP2 inhibitors.

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Purpose: To evaluate the clinical prevalence, characteristics, and relevance of the corona mortis (CM) in anterior approaches to the pelvis and acetabulum.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of 185 theater reports from patients (73 females; mean age 62.8 ± 17.

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Purpose: Assessing the diagnostic performance and supplementary value of whole-body computed tomography scout view (SV) images in the detection of thoracolumbar spine injuries in early resuscitation phase and identifying frequent image quality confounders.

Methods: In this retrospective database analysis at a tertiary emergency center, three blinded senior experts independently assessed SV to detect thoracolumbar spine injuries. The findings were categorized according to the AO Spine classification system.

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Introduction: There is no international consensus on how to treat thoracolumbar burst fractures (TLBFs) without neurological deficits. The planned systematic review with network meta-analyses (NMA) aims to compare the effects on treatment outcomes, focusing on midterm health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Methods And Analysis: We will conduct a comprehensive and systematic literature search, identifying studies comparing two or more treatment modalities.

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Background: Traumatic cervical spine (c-spine) injuries account for 10% of all spinal injuries. The c-spine is prone to injury by blunt acceleration/deceleration traumas. The Canadian C-Spine rule and NEXUS criteria guide clinical decision-making but lack consensus on imaging modality when necessary.

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess safety and efficacy of vertebral body stenting (VBS) by analyzing (1) radiographic outcome, (2) clinical outcome, and (3) perioperative complications in patients with vertebral compression fractures treated with VBS at minimum 6-month follow-up.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, 78 patients (61 ± 14 [21-90] years; 67% female) who have received a vertebral body stent due to a traumatic, osteoporotic or metastatic thoracolumbar compression fracture at our hospital between 2012 and 2020 were included. Median follow-up was 0.

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Purpose: To compare construct stability of cement augmented sacroiliac screws using two different cementation sites in a biomechanical fragility fracture model of the pelvis.

Methods: A fracture model with an incomplete fracture of the sacral ala and complete fracture of the anterior pelvic ring mimicking a FFP IIB fragility fracture of the pelvis was established in five fresh frozen human cadaveric pelvises. Sacral fracture stabilization was achieved with bilateral 7.

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Low back pain is a clinically highly relevant musculoskeletal burden and is associated with inflammatory as well as degenerative processes of the intervertebral disc. However, the pathophysiology and cellular pathways contributing to this devastating condition are still poorly understood. Based on previous evidence, we hypothesize that tissue renin-angiotensin system (tRAS) components, including the SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), are present in human nucleus pulposus (NP) cells and associated with inflammatory and degenerative processes.

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•Gender trends in authorship showed an increase in female authors from 1976 to 2020.•In 2020, Europe had the highest and Asia the lowest proportion of female authors.•The Netherlands had the highest proportion of women and Japan the lowest.

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Purpose: Implant leakage is the most common complication of vertebral augmentation. Alternative injectable materials must demonstrate intravascular safety comparable to or better than polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). This study assessed the systemic effects of a triphasic calcium-based implant or PMMA injected directly into the femoral vein in a large animal model designed to mimic severe intravascular implant leakage.

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Background: The current standard of care for intervertebral disc (IVD) herniation, surgical discectomy, does not repair annulus fibrosus (AF) defects, which is partly due to the lack of effective methods to do so and is why new repair strategies are widely investigated and tested preclinically. There is a need to develop a standardized IVD injury model in large animals to enable comparison and interpretation across preclinical study results. The purpose of this study was to compare IVD injury models in sheep to determine which annulus fibrosus (AF) defect type combined with partial nucleus pulposus (NP) removal would better mimic degenerative human spinal pathologies.

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Objective: The present study aimed (1) to analyze the relative paraspinal autochthonous intramuscular fat volume before and after radiofrequency neurotomy (RFN) and (2) to compare it to the contralateral non-treated side.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, University of Bern.

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Study Design: Bibliometric review.

Objective: This study aims to understand the worldwide research productivity trends in spine-related research over the past five decades.

Summary Of Background Data: Research productivity in the field of spine surgery has increased tremendously over the past decades.

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Study Design: This is a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: This study aims to determine the proportional incidence, clinical characteristics, treatment patterns with complications and changes in treatment of vertebral fractures over 10 years at a Swiss university hospital.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed.

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