The role of Osteocel Plus as a fusion substrate in minimally invasive instrumented transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.

Background: Instrumented lumbar fusion has become an accepted and effective surgical technique used to address a wide variety of conditions of the lumbar spine. Iliac crest autograft remains the gold standard with regards to bony fusion substrate. Unfortunately there are significant potential disadvantages associated with autograft harvest, including pain, infection, iatrogenic fracture and bleeding.

Wrong-sided surgery.

Object: Perhaps the single greatest error that a surgeon hopes to avoid is operating at the wrong site. In this report, the authors describe the incidence and possible determinants of incorrect-site surgery (ICSS) among neurosurgeons.

Methods: The authors asked neurosurgeons to complete an anonymous survey.

A prospective evaluation of the role for intraoperative x-ray in lumbar discectomy. Predictors of incorrect level exposure.

Background: Lumbar discectomy is among the most frequently performed procedures by spine surgeons. Among the potential difficulties encountered during this procedure, incorrect spinal level surgery remains a significant concern for surgeons and patients. Multiple groups have advocated the use of intraoperative x-ray to reduce the incidence of incorrect level surgery; however, this technique has not been prospectively evaluated.

Functional outcomes and survival in patients with high-grade gliomas in dominant and nondominant hemispheres.

Object: The goal of this study was to investigate survival and functional outcomes in patients with high-grade intracranial astrocytomas as a function of the location of the lesion in the dominant or nondominant hemisphere (DH and NDH, respectively), and to suggest management strategies for such patients based on these data.

Methods: Data were collected from the Glioma Outcomes Project database, a longitudinal database of demographic, clinical, and outcome data for patients with high-grade intracranial gliomas. From the entire database of 788 patients, a subset of all 280 right-handed patients with newly diagnosed, unilateral gliomas involving potentially eloquent cortex was selected as the sample population.

Role of estrogen receptor-related antigen in initiating the growth of human glioma cells.

Object: The expression of estrogen receptor-related antigen (ER-D5) has been demonstrated in many tumors, including those of the brain, but the actual role of ER-D5 in cell growth is unknown. The authors evaluated the role of ER-D5 in the growth of gliomas in vitro.

Methods: Human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cell lines A172, T98G, U87MG, and U118MG; rat C6 glioma and 9L gliosarcoma; AS human astrocytoma; GBM in primary culture and tumor tissues; and normal brain tissues were examined for ER-D5 by using immunohistochemical, Western immunoblot, flow cytometry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.