Minimally invasive intraoperative stiffness measurement of lumbar spinal motion segments.

Objective: To test a new tiny-tipped intraoperative diagnostic tool that was designed to provide the surgeon with reliable stiffness data on the motion segment during microdiscectomy. A decrease in stiffness after nuclectomy and a measurable influence of muscle tension were assumed. If the influence of muscle tension on the motion segment could at least be ruled out, there should be no difference with regard to stiffness between women and men.

Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy in combination with PET-CT and rapid on-site cytopathologic examination for diagnosis of peripheral lung lesions.

Background: The combination of electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB), PET-CT, and rapid on-site cytopathologic examination (ROSE) for the routine diagnostic work-up of peripheral lung lesions has not been evaluated previously.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and safety of ENB in combination with PET-CT and ROSE in subjects with endobronchially invisible peripheral lung lesions.

Methods: ENB was performed in 13 subjects with radiologically suspected lung cancer who were referred to our tertiary-care hospital between October 2005 and November 2006.

Non-reversible airway obstruction in never smokers: results from the Austrian BOLD study.

Background: The presence of non-reversible airway obstruction (AO) in never smokers has only received limited attention until now.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Austrian Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study. We defined non-reversible AO as post-bronchodilator FEV(1)/FVC <0.

Influence of thread design on pedicle screw fixation. Laboratory investigation.

Object: The authors conducted a study to determine the thread properties that provide optimal screw fixation in cancellous bone, when screws of the same external screw diameter are used.

Methods: Three compliance engineering-certified screws in clinical use, all of the same external diameter and length, were compared in an axial pullout experiment with respect to advantageous thread properties. As test material, standardized Sawbone blocks with 3 different densities (0.