Cryptococcosis with thoracic spine involvement is extremely rare, with most cases occurring in immunosuppressed patients. We report a case of cryptococcosis of the thoracic vertebrae confirmed by histopathology. The immunocompetence of the patient is a most interesting feature of this case. Laboratory investigations were normal, but the erythrocyte sedimentation rate was raised. A computed tomography scan showed an eccentric lytic lesion with a clear boundary at T2-T3. Magnetic resonance imaging showed the endplates of the T2 and T3 vertebral bodies to be involved, but without significant loss of the intervertebral disk height. A prespinal and large paraspinal soft tissue component was spreading along T1-T4, and the pleura and dural sac at the level of T2-T3 had thickened abnormally. (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography showed abnormal uptake in the lesion. The above-mentioned clinical and imaging information will help improve our understanding of this rare disease.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2014.07.013 | DOI Listing |
J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect
January 2025
Internal Medicine Residency Program, Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center, Annapolis, MD, USA.
Nitrous oxide (NO) has been increasingly used for recreational purposes due to its dissociative and euphoric properties. Exposure to NO results in the deactivation of in vivo vitamin B, leading to subsequent neurological sequelae due to vitamin B deficiency.7 Current management focuses on cessation of exposure and replacement therapy, yet patients may continue to suffer from permanent neurological damage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLife Sci Space Res (Amst)
February 2025
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Injury Biomechanics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. 575 N. Patterson Avenue, Suite 530. Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA. Electronic address:
Muscle atrophy occurs with extended exposure to microgravity. This study quantified the overall muscle size, lean muscle area and fat infiltration changes pre- to post-flight that occur in the thoracic and lumbar spine with long-duration spaceflight. Pre- and post-flight magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were obtained from 9 crewmembers on long-duration (≥6 months) International Space Station (ISS) missions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMult Scler Relat Disord
January 2025
Department of Neurology and Center of Clinical Neuroscience, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic. Electronic address:
Background: Back pain is a common but often underestimated symptom of patients with MS that can negatively influence their quality of life. However there are only limited number of studies comparing the effect of different types of exercise and use of telerehabilitation on back pain in MS. Therefore, the aim of the study is to compare whether telerehabilitation alone is as effective as conventional outpatient physiotherapy followed by online exercise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadiol Med
January 2025
Department of Radiology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany.
Purpose: To develop an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm for automated measurements of spinopelvic parameters on lateral radiographs and compare its performance to multiple experienced radiologists and surgeons.
Methods: On lateral full-spine radiographs of 295 consecutive patients, a two-staged region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) was trained to detect anatomical landmarks and calculate thoracic kyphosis (TK), lumbar lordosis (LL), sacral slope (SS), and sagittal vertical axis (SVA). Performance was evaluated on 65 radiographs not used for training, which were measured independently by 6 readers (3 radiologists, 3 surgeons), and the median per measurement was set as the reference standard.
Spine Deform
January 2025
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Purpose: Vertebral body tethering (VBT) is a non-fusion surgical option for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) that requires a postoperative (PO) chest tube. This study evaluates whether 48 h of PO TXA reduces chest tube (CT) drainage and retention compared to 24 h of TXA following VBT for AIS.
Methods: Consecutively treated patients with a diagnosis of AIS who underwent VBT were assessed.
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