Conventional Radiotherapy Timing and Wound Complication Avoidance After Surgery for Metastatic Spine Disease. A LatAm Modified Delphi Study.

Background: Combining surgery and radiotherapy is the gold standard in treating spinal metastasis when spinal stabilization or surgical decompression is required. Determining the optimal timing for radiotherapy postsurgery is crucial to balance treatment efficacy minimizing wound complications. The study aimed to identify consensus and nonconsensus areas among Latin American spinal surgeons regarding the use, timing, risks, and surgical approach to conventional external beam radiotherapy (cEBRT) following spinal surgery for metastases, specifically focusing on the risk of radiotherapy-related wound complications.

Understanding the Landscape of Spinal Injections: Insights and Challenges from Latin America.

Background: Low back pain and neck pain are primary causes of disability, with low back pain being a frequent reason for medical consultations. After conservative and pharmacological treatments, spinal injections are considered the next option. Despite multiple guidelines, spinal blocks remain controversial in terms of indication, technique, and operator, leading to considerable interinstitutional variability.

A Novel Marking Technique for Accurate Minimal Invasive Approaches in Spine Tumor Surgeries With Activated Carbon Marking.

Background And Objectives: To describe a novel, practical, reproducible, and effective preoperative marking technique for accurate localization of the spinal level in a series of patients with tumor lesions.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients undergoing minimally invasive (MIS) surgery for spine tumors from 2016 to 2021, in which this marking technique was used. Twenty-one patients, with tumor lesions involving difficult radioscopic visualization (cervicothoracic junction or upper dorsal spine, C6-T8), were included.

Does Minimally Invasive Hemilaminectomy for Intradural Extramedullary Tumor Resection Prevent Postlaminectomy Kyphosis or Lordosis Loss?

Background: Minimally invasive hemilaminectomy is a safe and effective alternative to open laminectomy for treating intradural extramedullary tumors. There are no reports of postoperative kyphosis after this approach. This study aims to determine whether performing minimally invasive spine surgery hemilaminectomy for intradural extramedullary tumors can prevent the development of postlaminectomy kyphosis (PLK) or lordosis loss.

Endoscopic Treatment of Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease: A Narrative Review of Full-Endoscopic and Unilateral Biportal Endoscopic Spine Surgery.

Background: Degenerative lumbar spine disease is the leading cause of disability and work absenteeism worldwide. Lumbar microdiscectomy became the standard treatment for herniated discs and stenotic disease. With the evolution of different techniques, endoscopic spinal surgery emerged to minimize the surgical footprint while providing at least non-inferior results.

Artificial Intelligence Assistance for the Measurement of Full Alignment Parameters in Whole-Spine Lateral Radiographs.

Background: Measuring spinal alignment with radiological parameters is essential in patients with spinal conditions likely to be treated surgically. These evaluations are not usually included in the radiological report. As a result, spinal surgeons commonly perform the measurement, which is time-consuming and subject to errors.

Measuring the Delay in the Referral of Unstable Vertebral Metastasis to the Spine Surgeon: A Retrospective Study in a Latin American Institution.

Background: The delay in the referral of patients with potential surgical vertebral metastasis (VM) to the spine surgeon is strongly associated with a worse outcome. The spinal instability neoplastic score (SINS) allows for determining the risk of instability of a spine segment with VM; however, it is almost exclusively used by specialists or residents in neurosurgery or orthopedics. The objective of this work is to report the delay in surgical consultation of patients with potentially unstable and unstable VM (SINS >6) at our center.

Minimally Invasive Approaches for Lumbosacral Plexus Schwannomas.

Background And Objectives: Lumbosacral plexus schwannomas (LSPSs) are benign, slow-growing tumors that arise from the myelin sheath of the lumbar or sacral plexus nerves. Surgery is the treatment of choice for symptomatic LSPSs. Conventional retroperitoneal or transabdominal approaches provide wide exposure of the lesion but are often associated with complications in the abdominal wall, lumbar or sacral plexus, ureter, and intraperitoneal organs.

Motor cortical stimulation for the treatment of trigeminal neuropathic pain secondary to an arteriovenous malformation. A case report.

Introduction: Trigeminal neuropathic pain (TNP) is a syndrome of severe, disabling, constant facial pain arising from the trigeminal nerve or ganglion. Arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are a rare cause of TNP. The limited choices of intervention of TNP include peripheral nerve stimulation, trigeminal nucleotomy and motor cortex stimulation.

Microsurgical free flaps for skull base reconstruction following tumor resection: Available techniques and complications.

Introduction: Resection of malignant tumors located in the anterior and middle fossae of the skull base requires thorough anatomical knowledge, as well as experience regarding the possible reconstructive options to resolve the resulting defects. The anatomical and functional relevance of the region, the complexity of the defects requiring reconstruction and the potential complications that can occur, represent a true challenge for the surgical team. The goal of this study is to describe the microsurgical reconstructive techniques available, their usefulness and postoperative complications, in patients with malignant tumors involving the skull base.

Surgical Management of a Superior Orbital Fissure Cavernous Hemangioma.

Background: Cavernous sinus hemangiomas (CSHs) are intracranial extradural benign, well-demarcated neoplasms arising within dural sinuses. The orbital apex and superior orbital fissure (SOF) are common locations for these lesions. Because of the complex anatomy of this area and potential morbidity, SOF CSH surgical management is challenging.

[Collision sellar lesions: pituitary adenoma and Rathke cleft cyst].

Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC) are a slow-growing, benign, cystic lesions that arises from the remnants of the primitive ectoderm and Rathke's pouch. They present a common origin with pituitary adenomas (PA), however, the concomitant presentation of a PA and a RCC rarely occur. We present a case of a 41-year-old female with Cushing's disease.