Comparison of Different Hybrid Techniques for the Treatment of Multilevel Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease-Analysis of Prospectively Collected Clinical, Radiologic, and Psychological Parameters.

Objective: Conventional surgical treatment of multilevel cervical disc disease is based on anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). However, fusion alters the biomechanics of the spine, potentially resulting in accelerated adjacent segment degeneration. To improve clinical outcomes, hybrid surgery, combining cervical disc arthroplasty with fusion, has been developed.

New insights into the natural course and clinical relevance of Modic changes over 2 years following lumbar limited discectomy: analysis of prospective collected data.

Purpose: Few retrospective studies have addressed Modic changes (MC) following lumbar spine surgery, though it is usually assumed that MC increase in grade and incidence. To test this conventional wisdom, we investigated the natural course of MC following primary lumbar limited discectomy with two-year follow-up. In addition, a possible clinical relevance to those changes was assessed.

Value of delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage for the pre-operative assessment of cervical intervertebral discs.

The study was performed to preoperatively assess the cartilage integrity of cervical intervertebral discs (IVDs) using Delayed Gadolinium-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cartilage (dGEMRIC). Therefore, 53 cervical intervertebral discs of nine preoperative patients with neck and shoulder/arm pain scheduled for discectomy (five females, four males; mean age: 47.1 ± 8.

Biochemical validity of imaging techniques (X-ray, MRI, and dGEMRIC) in degenerative disc disease of the human cervical spine-an in vivo study.

Background Context: On a molecular level, maturation or degeneration of human intervertebral disc is among others expressed by the content of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). According to the degenerative status, the disc content can differ in nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF), respectively. Research in this area was conducted mostly on postmortem samples.