Clinical Effects of Upper Facet Joint En Bloc Resection in the Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion Surgery-Two Layers and Two Tunnels Strategy.

Objective: The upper facet joint en bloc resection is the key step to open the intervertebral foramina for achieving the intervertebral fusion in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery. Our purpose is to introduce a upper facet joint resection technique which can avoid injuring the nerve root termed "two layers and two tunnels strategy" in TLIF surgery and to evaluate its clinical effects and neurological safety.

Methods: All 108 patients who underwent TLIF surgery using two layers and two tunnels strategy between December 2015 and January 2019 were analyzed for postoperative clinical treatment parameter.

Enhanced Information Flow From Cerebellum to Secondary Visual Cortices Leads to Better Surgery Outcome in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy Patients: A Stochastic Dynamic Causal Modeling Study With Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) damages the spinal cord, resulting in long-term neurological impairment including motor and visual deficits. Given that visual feedback is crucial in guiding movements, the visual disorder may be a cause of motor deficits in patients with DCM. It has been shown that increased functional connectivity between secondary visual cortices and cerebellum, which are functionally related to the visually guided movements, was correlated with motor function in patients with DCM.