Usefulness of full spine computed tomography in cases of high-energy trauma: a prospective study.

Introduction: At this hospital, computed tomography (CT) of the full spine is performed on all patients who have sustained high-energy trauma because spinal fractures can be overlooked by referring only to clinical findings and plain X-rays of the spine. The goal of this study is to prospectively detect the occurrence of spinal fractures in cases of high-energy trauma using full spine CT and to evaluate the usefulness of it.

Materials And Methods: Subjects were 179 patients (134 male, 45 female) who were deemed to have sustained high-energy trauma in the 21-month period starting in September 2007.

A minimally invasive surgery combining temporary percutaneous pedicle screw fixation without fusion and vertebroplasty with transpedicular intracorporeal hydroxyapatite blocks grafting for fresh thoracolumbar burst fractures: prospective study.

Background: The conventional surgical treatment for thoracolumbar burst fractures is physically invasive for the patient and also causes problems such as the sacrifice of healthy mobile segments to stabilize the fracture site. We performed a procedure for the treatment of fresh thoracolumbar burst fractures by combining percutaneous short pedicle screw fixation and vertebroplasty with transpedicular intracorporeal hydroxyapatite blocks grafting.

Methods: Patients with type A3 fresh thoracolumbar burst fractures with no or mild neurological symptoms were treated using temporary posterior fixation without fusion.

Adenosine modulates excitatory synaptic transmission and suppresses neuronal death induced by ischaemia in rat spinal motoneurones.

Although adenosine is an important neuromodulator, its role in modulating motor functions at the level of the spinal cord is poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the effects of adenosine on excitatory synaptic transmission and neuronal death induced by experimental ischaemia by using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from lamina IX neurones in spinal cord slices. Adenosine significantly decreased the frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) in almost all neurones examined that could be mimicked by an A(1) receptor agonist, N (6)-cyclopentyladenosine (CPA), and inhibited by an A(1) receptor antagonist, 8-cyclopentyl-1, 3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX).

Selective vulnerability to ischemia in the rat spinal cord: a comparison between ventral and dorsal horn neurons.

Study Design: Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were performed from ventral horn (VH) and dorsal horn (DH) neurons obtained from the rat spinal cord slices.

Objective: This study investigated which is more vulnerable to ischemia, spinal VH neurons or DH neurons.

Summary Of Background Data: Spinal cord ischemia or injury sometimes causes a greater loss of motor function than of sensory function in patients.