A comparison of patient-reported outcome measures after spinal surgery.

Minimal clinically important differences (MCID) in the scores of patient-reported outcome measures allow clinicians to assess the outcome of intervention from the perspective of the patient. There has been significant variation in their absolute values in previous publications and a lack of consistency in their calculation. The purpose of this study was first, to establish whether these values, following spinal surgery, vary depending on the surgical intervention and their method of calculation and secondly, to assess whether there is any correlation between the two external anchors most frequently used to calculate the MCID.

Dural tears in primary decompressive lumbar surgery. Is primary repair necessary for a good outcome?

Study Design: Case control series with prospective data collection.

Objective: To establish whether incidental durotomy treated without primary suture repair adversely affects the outcome following lumbar surgery in the longer term.

Method: Outcome scores from a prospective database were used for an audit of dural tears in primary lumbar decompressive surgery.

Characterizing the rheology of fluidized granular matter.

In this study we characterize the rheology of fluidized granular matter subject to secondary forcing. Our approach consists of first fluidizing granular matter in a drum half filled with grains via simple rotation and then superimposing oscillatory shear perpendicular to the downhill flow direction. The response of the system is mostly linear, with a phase lag between the grain motion and the oscillatory forcing.

Variations in selective nerve root block technique.

Introduction: Much literature reports on selective nerve root blocks (SNRBs) in cases of lumbosacral radiculopathy. Unfortunately, authors only inconsistently reveal the exact needle tip position relative to the causative pathology at the time of injection. Different injection sites may provide different symptomatic benefits.