Cervical spondylotic myelopathy: functional and radiographic long-term outcome after laminectomy and posterior fusion.

Objective: To evaluate the long-term efficacy of cervical laminectomy with posterior lateral mass fusion/fixation in the treatment of patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM).

Method: Twenty-five patients treated for CSM by laminectomy and lateral mass fusion at the Division of Neurosurgery at The Ohio State University between 1989 and 1994 were studied retrospectively. Only patients with longer than 2-year postoperative follow-up durations were included.

Lessons from atypical groin pain: presentation and treatment of a schwannoma.

A 16-year-old boy presented with pain in the right knee, groin, and hip after a touch football game. He was initially diagnosed as having a medial collateral ligament sprain of the right knee and an adductor muscle strain. Despite standard conservative therapy, he had persistent hip pain and migratory pain to the right lower abdomen and flank.

Interpretive risks: the use of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL 90-R) with brain tumour patients.

Patients with brain tumours often report distress. Interpretive problems ensue when measures normed on healthy persons are utilized to quantify distress. This study investigated potentially spurious elevations on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL 90-R).

Quantitative outcome and radiographic comparisons between laminectomy and laminotomy in the treatment of acquired lumbar stenosis.

Objective: The objective of this study was to conduct a comparative quantitative analysis of outcomes, radiographic findings, and magnetic resonance imaging results after laminectomy or laminotomy was performed for patients with lumbar stenosis. Such as analysis had not previously been conducted.

Methods: Twenty-six patients with no exclusion criteria who were treated surgically for acquired stenosis at the Division of Neurological Surgery at The Ohio State University from 1990 to 1993 were studied retrospectively.

Occipitocervical fixation in nontraumatic upper cervical spine instability.

Ten patients requiring occipitocervical fixation were reviewed: five were unstable secondary to rheumatoid arthritis, one had Klippel-Feil, and four had neoplastic disease. Patients with nonneoplastic disease improved, having decreased pain, decreased paresthesias, and increased ambulation. Patients with neoplastic disease improved significantly after the surgery, but eventually died from different tumors.