Changes in disc height and posteroanterior displacement after fusion in patients with idiopathic scoliosis: a 9-year follow-up study.

Introduction: In scoliosis patients treated with long segment spinal fusion, degenerative changes like retrolisthesis and disc space narrowing below fusion have been observed. However, there is disagreement concerning their incidence and dependency on the location of the lowest instrumented vertebra.

Materials And Methods: To evaluate temporal changes in disc height and posteroanterior displacement (indicating listhesis) below fusion, 40 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, mainly treated with Cotrel-Dubousset instrumentation, were retrospectively investigated in this longitudinal study with a follow-up of on average 9.

Mobility of lumbar segments instrumented with a ProDisc II prosthesis: a two-year follow-up study.

Study Design: Longitudinal prospective study on a sample of 41 consecutive disc prosthesis patients, covering a postoperative time period of at least 2 years.

Objectives: To document the rotational and translational range of segmental motion of patients instrumented with ProDisc II prostheses in the lumbar spine and to compare motion between instrumented and untreated adjacent segments with respect to a normative database. To discuss potential causes of the low range of rotational motion observed after instrumentation with a Prodisc II prosthesis.

Comparing precision of distortion-compensated and stereophotogrammetric Roentgen analysis when monitoring fusion in the cervical spine.

Two methods to measure sagittal plane segmental motion in the cervical spine are compared. Translational and rotational motion was measured in nine cervical motion segments of nine patients by distortion-compensated (DCRA) as well as by stereophotogrammetric Roentgen analysis (RSA). To compare measurement precision of the new DCRA protocol with the established RSA technique under realistic clinical conditions and to discuss advantages and disadvantages of both methods in clinical studies.

Congenital cervical block vertebrae are associated with caudally adjacent discs.

Background: Knowledge on the time course of changes in cervical disc height and cervical kinematics at motion segments adjacent to congenital block vertebrae is fragmentary. Compared with this, after surgical fusion of cervical spine segments some find increased degenerative processes in combination with hypermobility or instability while others were unable to confirm these changes. This cross sectional study was undertaken to investigate whether congenital block vertebrae are associated with an increased risk of disc degeneration and hypermobility at adjacent motion segments.