Do Children With Spinal Deformity Who Have Metal Implants and Frequent Exposure to X-Rays Increase Their Risk of Cancer?

Study Design: Spinal surgery cohort.

Objective: The authors assess the risk of cancer in children who have undergone frequent radiographs and have metal implants for the treatment of spinal deformity.

Summary Of Background Data: Concerns have been raised regarding the cancer risk to children exposed to repeated radiological examinations as part of routine surveillance to monitor progression of spinal deformity.

Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion YouTube Videos as a Source of Patient Education.

Study Design: Cross sectional study.

Purpose: To assess the quality of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) videos available on YouTube and identify factors associated with video quality.

Overview Of Literature: Patients commonly use the internet as a source of information regarding their surgeries.

Degenerative spondylolisthesis: a prospective cross-sectional cohort study on the role of weakened anterior abdominal musculature on causation.

Purpose: Degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) is a degenerative condition of the spine which, unlike others, is more common in a female population. Previous studies have highlighted possible causative factors such as facet tropism and pregnancy as reasons for this. This study sets out to assess the possible link between abdominal musculature and DS.

Minimally invasive stabilization of the fractured ankylosed spine: a comparative case series study.

Background: To compare the outcome of minimally invasive fracture stabilization to traditional open methods in the thoracolumbar region in patients with an ankylosing disorder of the spine.

Methods: A prospective, ethics-approved database (Spine Tango) at a tertiary referral center was retrospectively reviewed for results of surgery on fractures of the ankylosed thoracolumbar spine. These were then split by surgical technique into two cohorts: minimally invasive surgical fixation (MIS group) or standard open surgery (open group).

Most Cited Publications in Cervical Spine Surgery.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to perform a citation analysis on the most frequently cited articles in the topic of cervical spine surgery and report on the top 100 most cited publication in this topic.

Methods: We used the Thomson Reuters Web of Science to search citations of all articles from 1945 to 2015 relevant to cervical spine surgery and ranked them according to the number of citations. The 100 most cited articles that matched the search criteria were further analyzed by number of citations, first author, journal, year of publication, country and institution of origin.

Should a Lumbar MRI for back pain routinely include the sacro-iliac joint?

Background: Back pain is a common problem and has been shown to affect approximately 85% of the adult population at any one time. The source of this pain can be difficult to identify and the sacroiliac joint (SIJ) has been proposed as a possible pain source. Its percentage contribution to lower back pain is controversial.

A multi-centred audit of secondary spinal assessments in a trauma setting: are we ATLS compliant?

Purpose: The global incidence of spinal cord injuries varies with the developed world having improved survival and 1 year mortality in a poly-trauma setting. This improved survival has been estimated at 20 % in a recent Cochrane review of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS).The aim of this audit is to evaluate the management of patients with suspected spinal cord injury by the trauma and orthopaedic team in three centres in South Wales.

The rheumatoid forefoot.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) manifests itself in a variety of ways, with its effect being seen in around 90 % of sufferers' feet. The foot has been found to be the most common reason for incapacity in patients with RA, with the forefoot the most common area. The foot is second, behind only the hand, as the most common place for manifestation of RA.

Patient estimates of healthcare costs in trauma and orthopaedics.

Aim: The cost of treating trauma and musculoskeletal conditions per head of population in Wales in 2007-2010 increased from £183 to £236, representing an increase in National Health Service total expenditure of 13.11 %. This study was set up to determine whether the public is aware of the general costs of treatment within the trauma and orthopaedic department.

Early results with a patient specific interpositional knee device.

The iForma ConforMIS Interpositional knee device is a recently developed patient specific implant used for the treatment of mild to moderate uni-compartmental osteoarthritis. The benefits over traditional methods of surgical management are: it is less invasive, can be performed as a day procedure and does not limit future options. Bespoke implants are produced from data extracted from MRIs.

Surfers ankle: a bony spur of the talar neck.

A 27-year-old competitive surfer presented with a history of a painful right ankle. He was able to recall an injury to his right ankle 4-5 years previously, sustained while surfing. The mechanism described was that he had dropped a considerable height during take-off, sustaining an impact injury from the board.