Publications by authors named "Daniel K Resnick"

Spinal fractures, spinal cord injuries, and nerve root injuries are commonly encountered entities for spine surgeon. While many cases have well-researched presentations, outcomes, and standards of care there are many patients for which the appropriate clinical management is less clear. Other patients present with injuries with clear treatment preferences that are impossible to implement based on comorbidities or preference.

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Background: Odontoid fractures are common cervical spine fractures; however, significant controversy exists regarding their treatment. Risk factors for failure of conservative therapy have been identified, although no predictive risk score has been developed to aid in decision-making.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of all patients evaluated at a level 1 trauma center.

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Background: Noonan syndrome (NS) is a rare genetic RASopathy with multisystem implications. The disorder is typically characterized by short stature, distinctive facial features, intellectual disability, developmental delay, chest deformity, and congenital heart disease. NS may be inherited or arise secondary to spontaneous mutations of genes in the Ras/mitogen activated protein kinase signaling pathways.

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Objective: Extension fractures in the setting of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) represent highly unstable injuries. As a result, these fractures are most frequently treated with immediate surgical fixation to limit any potential risk of associated neurological injury. Although this represents the standard of care, patients with significant comorbidities, advanced age, or medical instability may not be surgical candidates.

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Objective: Lumbar synovial cysts (LSCs) represent a relatively rare clinical pathology that may result in radiculopathy or neurogenic claudication. Because of the potential for recurrence of these cysts, some authors advocate for segmental fusion, as opposed to decompression alone, as a way to eliminate the risk for recurrence. The objective of this study was to create a predictive score for synovial cyst recurrence following decompression without fusion.

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Spinal fusion is frequently performed for a variety of indications. It is performed to treat instability due to trauma, infection, or neoplasm. It may be used to treat regional or global spinal deformity.

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease that results in demyelination of the central nervous system (CNS). MS affects as many as 350,000 individuals in the United States and commonly presents before the age of 45 years. Patients with MS, as the general population, are likely to encounter degenerative changes of the spine as they age, and this can pose a unique challenge to both patients with MS and physicians, as both conditions can have a great deal of symptomatic overlap despite stark differences in management.

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Background: The presence of symptomatic lumbar facet cysts has been associated with segmental instability. Given this association, decompression versus decompression with fusion is a frequently debated topic. Multiple grading scales have been devised to identify patients at high risk for development of cyst recurrence; however, there exists no external evaluation of these scales.

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Background Context: High quality evidence is difficult to generate, leaving substantial knowledge gaps in the treatment of spinal conditions. Appropriate use criteria (AUC) are a means of determining appropriate recommendations when high quality evidence is lacking.

Purpose: Define appropriate use criteria (AUC) of cervical fusion for treatment of degenerative conditions of the cervical spine.

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Background: The management of lumbar synovial cysts (LSC) has been a controversial topic for many years. Whereas many authors label LSC as markers of instability and thus necessitating fusion, others suggest that decompression alone without fusion is a viable initial treatment option. Our objective was to clarify outcomes in patients undergoing decompression alone and decompression with fusion for symptomatic LSC and identify factors for cyst recurrence.

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The American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS) was incorporated in 1940 in recognition of the need for detailed training in and special qualifications for the practice of neurological surgery and for self-regulation of quality and safety in the field. The ABNS believes it is the duty of neurosurgeons to place a patient's welfare and rights above all other considerations and to provide care with compassion, respect for human dignity, honesty, and integrity. At its inception, the ABNS was the 13th member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), which itself was founded in 1933.

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Background Context: Despite well done randomized clinical trials, the role of fusion as an adjunct to decompression for the treatment of patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis remains controversial. There is substantial variation in the use of fusion as well as the techniques used for fusion for a population of patients all described by a single ICD10 code.

Purpose: We sought to investigate the source of the variation in the perceived role of fusion by looking at surgeon as well as patient-specific factors.

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Background Context: The North American Spine Society's (NASS) Evidence Based Clinical Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Low Back Pain features evidence-based recommendations for diagnosing and treating adult patients with nonspecific low back pain. The guideline is intended to reflect contemporary treatment concepts for nonspecific low back pain as reflected in the highest quality clinical literature available on this subject as of February 2016.

Purpose: The purpose of the guideline is to provide an evidence-based educational tool to assist spine specialists when making clinical decisions for adult patients with nonspecific low back pain.

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Background: Treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI) induced neuropathic pain (NP) proves to be extremely clinically challenging as the mechanism behind SCINP is poorly understood. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) is largely responsible for the early disruption of the blood spinal cord barrier. This system initiates macrophage infiltration and degradation of myelin, which plays a pivotal role in how NP occurs.

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Background: Percutaneous glycerol rhizotomy (PGR) is a well-described treatment for trigeminal neuralgia; however, the technique in using surface landmarks and fluoroscopy has not drastically changed since being first introduced. In this paper, we describe a protocol for PGR using computed tomography (CT) guidance based on an experience of over 7 yr and 200 patients.

Objective: To introduce an approach for PGR using CT guidance and, in doing so, demonstrate possible benefits over the traditional fluoroscopic technique.

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Background: We have been using computed tomography (CT) guidance for percutaneous glycerol rhizotomy (PGR) for the last 7 years. As a quality improvement exercise, we recently began using general anesthesia (GA) with the use of a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) because of our perception that the procedure went faster and that there was less radiation exposure because of less patient movement. We aim to compare PGR radiation exposure and procedural time between patients receiving local anesthetic with sedation and those receiving GA/LMA.

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Background/aims: Spine and spinal cord pathologies and associated neuropathic pain are among the most complex medical disorders to treat. While rodent models are widely used in spine and spinal cord research and have provided valuable insight into pathophysiological mechanisms, these models offer limited translatability. Thus, studies in rodent models have not led to the development of clinically effective therapies.

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