Appropriate timing of surgical intervention for the proximal type of cervical spondylotic amyotrophy.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the clinical outcome after surgical treatment of patients with the proximal type of cervical spondylotic amyotrophy (CSA) and to explore the appropriate timing for surgical intervention.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review was performed on a consecutive cohort of 41 patients who underwent surgical treatment for the proximal type of CSA between 1995 and 2011 at the Nagoya Spine Group Hospitals. We collected information regarding age, type of muscle atrophy, preoperative and final manual muscle test, duration of symptoms, high-intensity areas on T2-weighted MRI images, low-intensity areas on T1-weighted MRI images, levels of spinal canal stenosis, the compression lesion site, cervical kyphosis and surgical procedures (laminoplasty, anterior spinal fusion and posterior spinal fusion).

Characteristics and surgical results of the distal type of cervical spondylotic amyotrophy.

Object: Cervical spondylosis that causes upper-extremity muscle atrophy without gait disturbance is called cervical spondylotic amyotrophy (CSA). The distal type of CSA is characterized by weakness of the hand muscles. In this retrospective analysis, the authors describe the clinical features of the distal type of CSA and evaluate the results of surgical treatment.

Risk factors for a poor outcome following surgical treatment of cervical spondylotic amyotrophy: a multicenter study.

Introduction: Cervical spondylotic amyotrophy (CSA) is characterized by muscle atrophy in the upper extremities without gait disturbance. However, the indications and outcomes of surgical treatment for CSA have not been clarified. The purpose of this study was to determine the risk factors for a poor outcome following surgical treatment of CSA.

Primary spinal cord tumors: review of 678 surgically treated patients in Japan. A multicenter study.

Purpose: To clarify the relative frequency of various histopathological primary spinal cord tumors and their features in Japanese people and to compare this data with other reports.

Methods: Primary spinal cord tumor surgical cases from 2000 to 2009, which were registered in our affiliated hospital database were collected. We examined age at surgery, sex, anatomical location, vertebral level of the tumor, and pathological diagnosis in each case.

Comparison of the percutaneous screw placement precision of isocentric C-arm 3-dimensional fluoroscopy-navigated pedicle screw implantation and conventional fluoroscopy method with minimally invasive surgery.

Study Design: Retrospective clinical study to compare the percutaneous screw placement precision of isocentric C-arm (Iso-C) 3-dimensional fluoroscopy-navigated pedicle screw implantation and conventional fluoroscopy.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of clinical percutaneous pedicle screw placement (PPSP) using Iso-C 3-dimensional fluoroscopy navigation.

Summary Of Background Data: The technique of PPSP recently has been applied to internal fixation for segmental lumbar instability as a form of minimally invasive spine surgery.

A histomorphologic study of scoliosis in pinealectomized chickens.

Study Design: Pinealectomy was used to induce scoliosis in Broiler chickens, and a histologic investigation of the pinealectomized chickens was performed.

Objectives: To investigate the incidence of scoliosis in pinealectomized Broiler chickens and to determine histologic changes in vertebrae in the pinealectomized chickens before the occurrence of a secondary vertebral wedging deformity due to scoliosis.

Summary Of Background Data: White Leghorn chickens have previously been used as an experimental model of scoliosis, but the occurrence of scoliosis in these chickens following pinealectomy has varied in different reports and is not always high.

Uni-axial cyclic stretch induces the activation of transcription factor nuclear factor kappaB in human fibroblast cells.

The effect of uni-axial cyclic mechanical stretch on the activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) was investigated in a human fibroblast cell line (TIG-1). In response to uni-axial cyclic stretch, NF-kappaB was found to be translocated into the nucleus. The NF-kappaB was first detectable 2 min after the onset of stretch and then peaked at 4 min and returned to the basal level within 10 min.