Radiologic and clinical outcome of the cement augmented pedicle screws after a minimum 2-year follow-up.

T55 patients with cement-augmented pedicle screw were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent computed tomography at a minimum of 2 years after index operation. Computed tomography scans were analyzed to determine pedicle screw loosening, cement leakage, and fusion rates at augmented levels.

Does It Make a Difference to Stop Fusion at L3 Versus L4 in Terms of Disc and Facet Joint Degeneration: An MRI Study With Minimum 5 Years Follow-up.

Objectives: To compare the functional outcomes of patients with idiopathic scoliosis who had surgical correction and fusion with all pedicle screw construct down to L3 or L4 and to evaluate whether saving a mobile lumbar motion segment distally would demonstrate any difference in terms of disc degeneration (DD) and facet joint degeneration (FJD) after minimum 5 years follow-up.

Summary Of Background Data: Selection of lowest instrumented vertebra (LIV) is often difficult when lumbar curve was included into the fusion (L3 vs L4). Saving L4 is believed to be beneficial for preserving motion and preventing degeneration of unfused lumbar spine.

Does pedicle screw fixation under age 5 cause spinal canal narrowing? A CT study with minimum 5 years follow-up.

Purpose: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the changes in the vertebral body and spinal canal area in a group of patients who had pedicle screw fixation under age 5 for the treatment of congenital spinal deformity at least 5 year follow-up.

Methods: 11 patients who had been operated due to spinal deformity under age 5 with who had a CT examination at least 5 years after the initial operation were included in the study. All patients underwent hemivertebrectomy and transpedicular fixation procedures at an average age of 3.

Selective Thoracic Fusion Provides Similar Health-Related Quality of Life but Can Cause More Lumbar Disc and Facet Joint Degeneration: A Comparison of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Patients With Normal Population 10 Years After Surgery.

Objectives: To evaluate the long-term behavior of the lumbar curve in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis treated with selective thoracic fusion and to assess the clinical and radiologic outcomes in this fusion group compared with an age- and gender-matched group.

Summary Of Background Data: Selective thoracic fusion for the treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) preserves lumbar motion segments but leaves a residual deformity. By avoiding fusion of the lumbar spine, a greater mobility may be preserved, which may be an advantage in long-term follow-up in terms of degenerative changes in unfused segments.

Ratio of remnant to total liver volume or remnant to body weight: which one is more predictive on donor outcomes?

Background: Right lobe donations are known to expose the donors to more surgical risks than left lobe donations. In the present study, the effects of remnant volume on donor outcomes after right lobe living donor hepatectomies were investigated.

Methods: The data on 262 consecutive living liver donors who had undergone a right hepatectomy from January 2004 to June 2011 were retrospectively analysed.

A fish bone causing ileal perforation in the terminal ileum.

Foreign body perforation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract has diverse clinical manifestations, and the correct preoperative diagnosis is seldom made. We report the case of a 69-year-old woman who experienced severe pain in the right iliac fossa. The presumptive diagnosis was acute purulent appendicitis or diverticulitis.

Short-term X-ray results of posterior vertebral column resection in severe congenital kyphosis, scoliosis, and kyphoscoliosis.

Study Design: Retrospective case series.

Objective: To analyze the efficacy and safety of posterior vertebral column resection performed on a consecutive series of patients with severe congenital spinal deformity.

Summary Of Background Data: The treatment of severe congenital spinal deformities is a demanding and difficult surgical challenge.

The role of DTI in early detection of cervical spondylotic myelopathy: a preliminary study with 3-T MRI.

Introduction: The radiological diagnosis of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) has to be made as soon as possible, since surgery performed in earlier stages during the course of CSM was reported to be more successful when compared with later stages. We hypothesized that diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) may detect CSM in earlier stages, before the appearance of signal increase in T2-weighted sequences.

Methods: A total of 16 patients with neurological signs and symptoms of CSM but without hyperintensity in spinal cord on T2-weighted sequences enrolled in the study.

Concomitant fracture of bilateral occipital condyle and inferior clivus: what is the mechanism of injury?

With the routine use of multi-slice high resolution computed tomography, increasing number of occipital condyle fractures have been reported in the last decade. The authors report a very rare case of bilateral occipital condyle fracture complicated by the fracture of the inferior clivus and discuss the possible mechanisms of injury.

Pedicular stress fracture in lumbar spine.

The purpose of this article is to report two cases of pedicular stress fracture of the lumbar spine, which is an uncommon cause of low back and leg pain. The relevant literature is reviewed and features of the cases that differ from those already reported are highlighted. One of our cases of pediculolysis is the first in the literature for that is caused by rotational instability induced by laminectomy.