Percutaneous Pedicle Screw Fixation with Bone Cement Augmentation Under Epidural Anesthesia for Treatment of Kümmell Disease in Extremely Old Age.

Background: In cases of Kümmell disease without neurologic deficit, percutaneous vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty has achieved short-term favorable outcomes. In the long term, recollapse of the augmented vertebral body and aggravation of kyphosis at the index level is often reported. Owing to medical comorbidities, elderly patients are often unsuited for extensive open spine surgery under general anesthesia.

The clinical significance of the mini-nutritional assessment and the scored patient-generated subjective global assessment in elderly patients with stroke.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical usefulness of the subjective assessments of nutritional status (Mini-Nutritional Assessment [MNA] and scored patient-generated subjective global assessment [PG-SGA]), compared with the objective (hematological, biochemical, and anthropometric) assessments, and to identify the correlation between the MNA and the scored PG-SGA in elderly patients with stroke.

Methods: Thirty-five stroke patients, aged 60 to 89 years old, participated in our study. The MNA, the scored PG-SGA and objective factors were evaluated.

Fear of falling in subacute hemiplegic stroke patients: associating factors and correlations with quality of life.

Objective: To determine the associating factors of fear of falling (FOF) and the correlations between FOF and quality of life (QOL) on subacute stroke patients in Korea.

Method: Fifty hemiplegic subacute stroke patients in our clinic were recruited. We directly asked patients with their fear of falling and interviewed them with the Korean version of falls efficacy scale-international (KFES-I).

The influence of sour taste on Dysphagia in brain injury: blind study.

Objective: To verify the influence of sour taste on swallowing and the presence of reflex cough when sour material was swallowed in patients with dysphagia secondary to brain injury.

Method: Fifty dysphagic brain injury patients who underwent videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) were recruited. The patients who had shown severe aspiration at 2 ml of liquid were excluded.

Treatment of Dysphagia with pyridostigmine bromide in a patient with the pharyngeal-cervical-brachial variant of guillain-barré syndrome.

A 24-year-old male developed bulbar palsy, ophthalmoplegia, ptosis, and shoulder weakness bilaterally 2 weeks after he had experienced an upper respiratory infection. The electrodiagnostic study demonstrated axonal polyradiculoneuropathy. The repetitive nerve stimulation study (RNS) showed no significant decrement of the compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs).

Cyclic vomiting syndrome developed after stroke.

Cyclic vomiting syndrome is characterized by recurrent episodes of stereotyped vomiting separated by regular symptom-free periods. We describe a case of cyclic vomiting syndrome developed after stroke, which has not been reported to date. A 69-year-old woman experienced recurrent vomiting following left cerebral infarct.

Is swallowing of all mixed consistencies dangerous for penetration-aspiration?

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether the risk and severity of penetration-aspiration with mixed consistency (MIX), which consists of cooked rice and thin liquid barium (LIQUID), are different from the risks and severities with each single consistency (cooked rice or LIQUID) in dysphagic patients.

Design: Dysphagic patients (N = 29) performed a videofluoroscopic swallowing study with the following foods: cooked rice, LIQUID, and MIX. Several components were analyzed using recorded videotapes.

Acute transverse myelitis associated with scrub typhus: case report and a review of literatures.

We describe a rare case of acute transverse myelitis associated with scrub typhus. Magnetic resonance imaging scans, clinical characteristics, skin biopsy, and cerebrospinal fluid cytology confirmed a diagnosis of acute transverse myelitis associated with scrub typhus. To our knowledge, this was not seen in a prior publication.