Success and failure after surgery of degenerative disease of the lumbar spine: an operational definition based on satisfaction, pain, and disability from a prospective cohort.

Background: To describe success and failure (S&F) after lumbar spine surgery in terms equally understandable across the entire health ecosystem.

Methods: Back and leg pain and disability were prospectively recorded before and up to 12 months after the procedure. Satisfaction was recorded using a Likert scale.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Collected by Lumbar Puncture Has a Higher Diagnostic Accuracy than Collected by Ventriculostomy.

Background: Patients harboring an external ventricular drain (EVD) who develop signs of infection require screening for infection in the central nervous system (CNS). The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can be collected by the EVD or by lumbar puncture (LP). If only one sample is analyzed, the diagnosis might be dubious or false-negative.

Double-blind randomized clinical trial of vancomycin in spinal arthrodesis: no effects on surgical site infection.

Objective: Surgical site infection (SSI) results in high morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing spinal fusion. Using intravenous antibiotics in anesthesia induction reduces the rate of postoperative infection, but it is not common practice to use them topically, despite recent reports that this procedure helps reduce infection. The objective of this study was to determine whether the topical use of vancomycin reduces the rate of postoperative SSI in patients undergoing thoracolumbar fusion.

Acute Spontaneous Subdural Hematoma in Posterior Fossa: Great Outcome.

Background: Acute subdural hematomas are frequently seen in brain trauma-injured patients. However, spontaneous subdural hematomas are uncommon, especially those localized in the posterior fossa, where fewer than 10 case reports have been described in the medical literature.

Case Description: We describe a patient who suddenly had a headache and progressed rapidly to coma and signs of brainstem compression.

Polymethylmethacrylate imbedded with antibiotics cranioplasty: An infection solution for moderate and large defects reconstruction?

Background: In cases where autologous bone graft reconstruction is not possible (such as comminuted fractures, bone graft reabsorption, or infection) and the use of synthetic material is required, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) use is a safe and efficient solution. Studies comparing the incidence of postoperative complications between autologous and synthetic cranioplasty are heterogeneous, not allowing a conclusion of which is the best material for skull defects reconstruction. Current medical literature lacks prospective well-delineated studies with long-term follow-up that analyze the impact of antibiotic use in PMMA cranial reconstruction of moderate and large defects.