Recurrence of fibrous hamartoma of infancy excised 14 years after the primary surgery.

Fibrous hamartoma of infancy is a rare, benign, superficial soft-tissue mass. It usually occurs within the first 2 years of life at the axial regions, upper arms, and external genital areas. There have been some recurrences within the 1st year of the surgery, although no cases have been reported to recur after 1 year.

Clinical usefulness of assessing lumbar somatosensory evoked potentials in lumbar spinal stenosis. Clinical article.

Object: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of assessing lumbar somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) in central lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).

Methods: The latencies of lumbar SSEPs were recorded in 40 patients with central LSS, including 16 men and 24 women. The mean age of the patients was 67.

Clinical value of motor evoked potentials with transcranial magnetic stimulation in the assessment of lumbar spinal stenosis.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of assessing motor evoked potentials (MEP) in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Twenty-three LSS patients were enrolled. The preoperative data of MEP latency (MEPLT), clinical symptoms, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores for low back pain, visual analogue scale (VAS) for back pain, leg pain and numbness, walking distance and the minimal cross-sectional area (mCSA) of the dural sac were evaluated.

Epidemiological study of low back pain and occupational risk factors among taxi drivers.

A survey of taxi drivers was conducted to determine the actual situation of drivers' low back pain (LBP). The survey was carried out in October 2002, the target drivers were asked to complete a questionnaire which contains questions regarding physique of drivers, demographic features, working conditions, office environment, health conditions, the presence of low back pain, the level of low back pain based on Visual Analogue Scale and Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire score. As a result, the total number of valid responses was 1,334 and the response rate was 71 percent, and the 1-wk prevalence of LBP was 20.

A case report of rapidly progressing cauda equina symptoms due to rheumatoid arthritis.

Although rheumatoid involvement of the lumbar spine is relatively rare, we report a patient with rapidly progressing cauda equina symptoms due to rheumatoid diskitis. A 72-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of motor weakness below the iliopsoas muscle and sensory disturbance beneath the level of L2. Plain X-ray films, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated destruction of the L2/3 intervertebral disc and endplates with subluxation of the facet joints.