Postoperative comparison of the results from use of antibiotic prophylaxis for one and five days among patients undergoing lumbar arthrodesis.

Objective: To compare the postoperative results from use of antibiotic prophylaxis for one and five days among patients undergoing lumbar arthrodesis at up to three levels.

Methods: Forty-three patients who all underwent lumbar arthrodesis due to degenerative disc disease at one, two or three levels were evaluated. They were divided randomly into two groups: one received antibiotic prophylaxis with cefalotin (1 g) and the other received the same antibiotic for five days.

Comparison of the efficacy of transforaminal and interlaminar radicular block techniques for treating lumbar disk hernia.

Objective: To compare the interlaminar and transforaminal block techniques with regard to the state of pain and presence or absence of complications.

Method: This was a randomized double-blind prospective study of descriptive and comparative nature, on 40 patients of both sexes who presented lumbar sciatic pain due to central-lateral or foraminal disk hernias. The patients had failed to respond to 20 physiotherapy sessions, but did not present instability, as diagnosed in dynamic radiographic examinations.

Bone mineral density evaluation among patients with neuromuscular scoliosis secondary to cerebral palsy.

Objective: To evaluate bone mineral density among patients with neuromuscular scoliosis secondary to quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

Methods: This was a descriptive prospective study in which both bone densitometric and anthropometric data were evaluated. The inclusion criteria used were that the patients should present quadriplegic cerebral palsy, be confined to a wheelchair, be between 10 and 20 years of age and present neuromuscular scoliosis.

Evaluation of spinopelvic balance among patients undergoing surgical treatment for lumbar disk hernia.

Objective: to evaluate spinopelvic balance using the pelvic incidence, sacral slope and pelvic tilt among patients with lumbar disk hernias who underwent surgical treatment.

Methods: thirty patients at the spinal services of Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória and Hospital Vila Velha were evaluated by measuring their spinopelvic balance from the angles of pelvic tilt, sacral slope and pelvic incidence, with their respective means, on simple lateral-view lumbopelvic radiographs that needed to encompass the lumbar spine, sacrum and proximal third of the femur.

Results: the spinopelvic balance measurements obtained from the mean angles of the population studied, for pelvic incidence, sacral slope and pelvic tilt, were 45°, 36.

Correlation between the clinic and the index of cervical myelopathy Torg.

Objective: Cervical myelopathy is a spinal cord dysfunction related to degeneration typical of aging. Its primary pathology is related to ischemia and spinal cord compression. Patients with myelopathy present many clinical problems; more severe cases may lead to quadriplegia if not treated in a timely manner.