The literacy barrier in clinical trial consents: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Historically, the readability of consent forms in medicine have been above the average reading level of patients. This can create challenges in obtaining truly informed consent, but the implications on clinical trial participant retention are not fully explored. To address this gap, we seek to analyze clinical trial consent forms by determining their readability and relationship with the associated trial's participant dropout rate.

Clinical and radiographic outcomes after index anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with interbody spacer with integrated anchor fixation: a single-surgeon case study.

Background: The use of plate-cage systems in anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has been shown to produce fusion and good clinical outcomes though it has been associated with complications such as dysphagia at higher rates than stand-alone implant devices. This study aimed to assess the incidence of dysphagia and radiographic outcomes in adult patients who have undergone ACDF with interbody spacer with integrated anchor fixation (ISa).

Methods: Patients who underwent index ACDF with a commercially available ISa by a fellowship-trained spine surgeon between January 2018 and December 2021 were retrospectively included.

Challenges in Contemporary Spine Surgery: A Comprehensive Review of Surgical, Technological, and Patient-Specific Issues.

Spine surgery has significantly progressed due to innovations in surgical techniques, technology, and a deeper understanding of spinal pathology. However, numerous challenges persist, complicating successful outcomes. Anatomical intricacies at transitional junctions demand precise surgical expertise to avoid complications.

Disparities in Surgical Intervention and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Racial/Ethnic Groups With Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis.

Background And Objectives: Racial and socioeconomic disparities in spine surgery for degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis persist in the United States, potentially contributing to unequal health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes. This is important as lumbar spondylolisthesis is one of the most common causes of surgical low back pain, and low back pain is the largest disabler of individuals worldwide. Our objective was to assess the relationship between race, socioeconomic factors, treatment utilization, and outcomes in patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis.

Bridging the literacy gap for surgical consents: an AI-human expert collaborative approach.

Despite the importance of informed consent in healthcare, the readability and specificity of consent forms often impede patients' comprehension. This study investigates the use of GPT-4 to simplify surgical consent forms and introduces an AI-human expert collaborative approach to validate content appropriateness. Consent forms from multiple institutions were assessed for readability and simplified using GPT-4, with pre- and post-simplification readability metrics compared using nonparametric tests.

Demographic Representation in 3 Leading Artificial Intelligence Text-to-Image Generators.

Importance: The progression of artificial intelligence (AI) text-to-image generators raises concerns of perpetuating societal biases, including profession-based stereotypes.

Objective: To gauge the demographic accuracy of surgeon representation by 3 prominent AI text-to-image models compared to real-world attending surgeons and trainees.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The study used a cross-sectional design, assessing the latest release of 3 leading publicly available AI text-to-image generators.

Geriatric Surgery Produces a Hypoactive Molecular Phenotype in the Monocyte Immune Gene Transcriptome.

Surgery is a major challenge for the immune system, but little is known about the immune response of geriatric patients to surgery. We therefore investigated the impact of surgery on the molecular signature of circulating CD14 monocytes, cells implicated in clinical recovery from surgery, in older patients. We enrolled older patients having elective joint replacement (N = 19) or spine (N = 16) surgery and investigated pre- to postoperative expression changes in 784 immune-related genes in monocytes.

Clinical and Radiographic Outcomes for Patients with Cervical Adjacent Segment Disease Treated with Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion with Integrated Interbody Spacers.

Introduction: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is among the most common spine procedures. Adjacent segment disease (ASD), characterized by degenerative disease at an adjacent spinal level to a prior fusion, is a well-recognized and significant sequela following ACDF. Adjacent segment ACDF may be considered after the failure of non-surgical options for patients with symptomatic ASD.

Evaluation of interdisciplinary care pathway implementation in older elective surgery patients.

Background: The American College of Surgeons Geriatric Surgery Verification Program outlines best practices for surgical care in older adults. These recommendations have guided institutions to create workflows to better support needs specific to older surgical patients. This qualitative study explored clinician experiences to understand influences on implementation of frailty screening and an interdisciplinary care pathway in older elective colorectal surgery and neurosurgery patients.

Impact of Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation awards on subsequent grant funding and career outcomes of neurosurgeon-scientists.

Objective: The Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) provides diverse funding opportunities for in-training and early-career neurosurgeon-scientists. The authors analyzed the impact of NREF funding on the subsequent career success of neurosurgeons in obtaining research funding and academic achievements.

Methods: The NREF database was queried to identify NREF winners from 2000 to 2015.

Prospective, randomized controlled multicenter study of posterior lumbar facet arthroplasty for the treatment of spondylolisthesis.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a posterior facet replacement device, the Total Posterior Spine (TOPS) System, for the treatment of one-level symptomatic lumbar stenosis with grade I degenerative spondylolisthesis. Posterior lumbar arthroplasty with facet replacement is a motion-preserving alternative to lumbar decompression and fusion. The authors report the preliminary results from the TOPS FDA investigational device exemption (IDE) trial.

Evaluation of Load-To-Strength Ratios in Metastatic Vertebrae and Comparison With Age- and Sex-Matched Healthy Individuals.

Vertebrae containing osteolytic and osteosclerotic bone metastases undergo pathologic vertebral fracture (PVF) when the lesioned vertebrae fail to carry daily loads. We hypothesize that task-specific spinal loading patterns amplify the risk of PVF, with a higher degree of risk in osteolytic than in osteosclerotic vertebrae. To test this hypothesis, we obtained clinical CT images of 11 cadaveric spines with bone metastases, estimated the individual vertebral strength from the CT data, and created spine-specific musculoskeletal models from the CT data.

The New England Neurosurgical Society: growth and evolution over 70 years.

The New England Neurosurgical Society (NENS) was founded in 1951 under the leadership of its first President (Dr. William Beecher Scoville) and Secretary-Treasurer (Dr. Henry Thomas Ballantine).

Adult sports-related traumatic spinal injuries: do different activities predispose to certain injuries?

Objective: Sports injuries are known to present a high risk of spinal trauma. The authors hypothesized that different sports predispose participants to different injuries and injury severities.

Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of adult patients who experienced a sports-related traumatic spinal injury (TSI), including spinal fractures and spinal cord injuries (SCIs), encoded within the National Trauma Data Bank from 2011 through 2014.

Predictors of thoracic and lumbar spine injuries in patients with TBI: A nationwide analysis.

Objective: Cervical spine injury screening is common practice for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. However, risk factors for concomitant thoracolumbar trauma remain unknown. We characterized epidemiology and clinical risk for concomitant thoracolumbar trauma in TBI.

Deep Learning for Adjacent Segment Disease at Preoperative MRI for Cervical Radiculopathy.

Background Patients who undergo surgery for cervical radiculopathy are at risk for developing adjacent segment disease (ASD). Identifying patients who will develop ASD remains challenging for clinicians. Purpose To develop and validate a deep learning algorithm capable of predicting ASD by using only preoperative cervical MRI in patients undergoing single-level anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion (ACDF).

Improved estimates of strength and stiffness in pathologic vertebrae with bone metastases using CT-derived bone density compared with radiographic bone lesion quality classification.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the ability of 1) CT-derived bone lesion quality (classification of vertebral bone metastases [BM]) and 2) computed CT-measured volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) for evaluating the strength and stiffness of cadaver vertebrae from donors with metastatic spinal disease.

Methods: Forty-five thoracic and lumbar vertebrae were obtained from cadaver spines of 11 donors with breast, esophageal, kidney, lung, or prostate cancer. Each vertebra was imaged using microCT (21.

Smartphone GPS signatures of patients undergoing spine surgery correlate with mobility and current gold standard outcome measures.

Objective: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are currently the gold standard to evaluate patient physical performance and ability to recover after spine surgery. However, PROMs have significant limitations due to the qualitative and subjective nature of the information reported as well as the impossibility of using this method in a continuous manner. The smartphone global positioning system (GPS) can be used to provide continuous, quantitative, and objective information on patient mobility.

Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation funding conversion to National Institutes of Health funding.

Objective: The Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) provides research support for in-training and early career neurosurgeon-scientists. To define the impact of this funding, the authors assessed the success of NREF awardees in obtaining subsequent National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.

Methods: NREF in-training (Research Fellowship [RF] for residents) and early career awards/awardees (Van Wagenen Fellowship [VW] and Young Clinician Investigator [YCI] award for neurosurgery faculty) were analyzed.

Expandable Versus Static Cages in Minimally Invasive Lumbar Interbody Fusion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Expandable cages for interbody fusion allow for in situ expansion optimizing fit while mitigating endplate damage. Studies comparing outcomes after using expandable or static cages have been conflicting.

Methods: This was a meta-analysis A systematic search was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines identifying studies reporting outcomes among patients who underwent minimally invasive lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-LIF).

Brief Preoperative Screening for Frailty and Cognitive Impairment Predicts Delirium after Spine Surgery.

Background: Frailty and cognitive impairment are associated with postoperative delirium, but are rarely assessed preoperatively. The study was designed to test the hypothesis that preoperative screening for frailty or cognitive impairment identifies patients at risk for postoperative delirium (primary outcome).

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, the authors administered frailty and cognitive screening instruments to 229 patients greater than or equal to 70 yr old presenting for elective spine surgery.

Improved Dysphagia Outcomes in Anchored Spacers Versus Plate-Screw Systems in Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion: A Systematic Review.

Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To perform a systematic review of clinical outcomes between stand-alone anchored spacers and traditional cages with plate fixation for dysphagia and pseudoarthrosis using data from clinical trials.

Methods: Our search protocol was added to PROSPERO register and systematic review using PRISMA method was performed.