Development and validation of clinical scores for visual outcomes after cataract surgery.

Purpose: To develop and validate a clinical score to predict visual acuity (VA) and functional changes after phacoemulsification on the basis of readily obtainable preoperative history data and patient assessment.

Design: Prospective follow-up study.

Participants: A sample of 5512 patients on waiting lists for phacoemulsification at 17 hospitals in Spain.

Variability in the prioritization of patients for cataract extraction.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare time spent waiting for cataract extraction across various hospitals and to determine if it was influenced by severity of disease or patient characteristics.

Design: Ambispective cohort study. Clinical, sociodemographic, and health-related quality of life data were collected along with time spent on the waiting list.

Solitary osteochondroma long-term follow-up.

A series of 113 osteochondromas were treated in our institution with a long-term follow-up. A retrospective study of the cases of solitary osteochondroma diagnosed and treated in our center from 1970 to 2002 was done. A diagnosis for clinical findings in 73% of the patients was made.

Metal levels in corrosion of spinal implants.

Corrosion affects spinal instrumentations and may cause local and systemic complications. Diagnosis of corrosion is difficult, and nowadays it is performed almost exclusively by the examination of retrieved instrumentations. We conducted this study to determine whether it is possible to detect corrosion by measuring metal levels on patients with posterior instrumented spinal fusion.

Corrosion and late infection causing delayed paraparesis after spinal instrumentation.

A 28-year-old female patient came to our hospital 14 years after surgical correction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis with a 316L stainless-steel instrumentation. She presented progressive paraparesis during the last 2 months. Plain radiography, computed tomography scan and computed tomography-scan-guided needle biopsy revealed that a metallotic mass penetrated into the spinal canal, causing compression of the spinal cord at the T5-T6 level.