A comprehensive finite element model of surgical treatment for cervical myelopathy.

Background: Cervical myelopathy is a common and debilitating chronic spinal cord dysfunction. Treatment includes anterior and/or posterior surgical intervention to decompress the spinal cord and stabilize the spine, but no consensus has been made as to the preferable surgical intervention. The objective of this study was to develop an finite element model of the healthy and myelopathic C2-T1 cervical spine and common anterior and posterior decompression techniques to determine how spinal cord stress and strain is altered in healthy and diseased states.

Implantation Time Has No Effect on the Morphology and Extent of Previously Reported "Degradation" of Prolene Pelvic Mesh.

Objectives: Prolene polypropylene ("Prolene") meshes demonstrate no in vivo degradation, yet some claim degradation continues until no more Prolene polypropylene can be oxidized. We studied whether implantation time affects the morphology/extent of previously reported as cracking/degradation of completely cleaned Prolene explants.

Methods: Urogynecological explants (248 patients) were collected.

Measurement of in vivo spinal cord displacement and strain fields of healthy and myelopathic cervical spinal cord.

Objective: Cervical myelopathy (CM) is a common and debilitating form of spinal cord injury caused by chronic compression; however, little is known about the in vivo mechanics of the healthy spinal cord during motion and how these mechanics are altered in CM. The authors sought to measure 3D in vivo spinal cord displacement and strain fields from MR images obtained during physiological motion of healthy individuals and cervical myelopathic patients.

Methods: Nineteen study participants, 9 healthy controls and 10 CM patients, were enrolled in the study.

Volume of Brain Herniation After Decompressive Craniectomy in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury.

Background: The decompressive hemicraniectomy operation is highly effective in relieving refractory intracranial hypertension. However, one limitation of this treatment strategy is the requirement to perform a subsequent cranioplasty operation to reconstruct the skull defect-an expensive procedure with high complication rates. An implant that is capable of accommodated post-hemicraniectomy brain swelling, but also provides acceptable skull defect coverage after brain swelling abates, would theoretically eliminate the need for the cranioplasty operation.

Baseline and postfusion opioid burden for patients with low back pain.

Objectives: To evaluate opioid usage patterns for patients with low back pain (LBP) with and without spinal fusion surgery (fusion patients and nonfusion patients, respectively), including long-term prescriptions post fusion.

Study Design: Claims data of outpatient pharmaceutical prescriptions from privately insured patients.

Methods: The 3-year utilization, cost, and morphine milligram equivalents (MME) of opioid prescriptions were evaluated for patients with LBP with and without lumbar fusion.

Effect of Surgery on Gait and Sensory Motor Performance in Patients With Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy.

Background: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is a common disease of aging that leads to gait instability resulting from loss of leg sensory and motor functions. The results of surgical intervention have been studied using a variety of methods, but no test has been reported that objectively measures integrative leg motor sensory functions in CSM patients.

Objective: To determine the feasibility of using a novel single leg squat (SLS) test to measure integrative motor sensory functions in patients with CSM before and after surgery.

Volume of Brain Herniation in Patients with Ischemic Stroke After Decompressive Craniectomy.

Background: Decompressive craniectomy procedures are performed in patients with malignant intracranial hypertension. A bone flap is removed to relieve pressure. Later, a second operation is performed to reconstruct the skull after brain swelling has resolved.

Effects of brain derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is the leading cause of spinal cord related disability in the elderly. It results from degenerative narrowing of the spinal canal, which causes spinal cord compression. This leads to gait instability, loss of dexterity, weakness, numbness and urinary dysfunction.

Laser scanning as a useful tool in implant retrieval analysis: a demonstration using rotating platform and fixed bearing tibial inserts.

Objective methods for analyzing arthroplasty retrieval implants are needed. To address this, we used a readily available laser scanner to analyze damage deviations between cohorts of rotating platform and fixed bearing inserts previously analyzed using traditional, subjective retrieval analysis methods. We asked the following research questions: 1) Do articular surface deviations measured by the scanner correlate with the subjective damage scores? 2) Do articular surface deviations differ between inserts due to design differences? Correlations between deviations and damage scores were present in RP but not FB inserts.