Conservative versus early surgical treatment in the management of pyogenic spondylodiscitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Spondylodiscitis is the commonest spine infection, and pyogenic spondylodiscitis is the most common subtype. Whilst antibiotic therapy is the mainstay of treatment, some advocate that early surgery can improve mortality, relapse rates, and length of stay. Given that the condition carries a high mortality rate of up to 20%, the most effective treatment must be identified.

Radiological predictors of shunt response in the diagnosis and treatment of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Patients with the dementia subtype idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) may improve clinically following cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion (shunt) surgery, though the predictors of shunt response remain debated. Currently, radiological features play an important role in the diagnosis of iNPH, but it is not well established which radiological markers most precisely predict shunt responsive iNPH.

Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify radiological predictors of shunt responsiveness, evaluate their diagnostic effectiveness, and recommend the most predictive radiological features.

Cerebrospinal fluid and venous biomarkers of shunt-responsive idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a neurodegenerative disease and dementia subtype involving disturbed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) homeostasis. Patients with iNPH may improve clinically following CSF diversion through shunt surgery, but it remains a challenge to predict which patients respond to shunting. It has been proposed that CSF and blood biomarkers may be used to predict shunt response in iNPH.

Registry Studies Use Inconsistent Methods to Account for Patients Lost to Follow-up, and Rates of Patients LTFU Are High.

Purpose: To determine methods described in the literature to account for patients lost to follow-up (LTFU) in registry studies and whether rates of patient LTFU are within acceptable margins.

Methods: A scoping review, where a literature search is conducted for studies from 9 arthroscopy registries, was performed on EMBASE, MEDLINE, and the annual reports of each registry. Inclusion criteria included studies with information on patient-reported outcome measures and being based on 9 national registries identified.