Posterior Spinal Fixation Using a Patient-Specific 3D-Printed Guide for a Sixth Thoracic Vertebral Fracture With Ankylosis and Severe Bone Sclerosis Due to Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia Congenita.

Vertebral fractures with ankylosing spinal disorder (ASD) are often painful due to the high level of instability and can lead to false joints and delayed paralysis; therefore, surgery is often required. Fixation using percutaneous pedicle screw (PPS) allows for minimally invasive fixation of the spine and is considered useful for ASD cases, but there is a risk of nerve damage during surgery and implant-related complications. Using a patient-specific 3D-printed guide, we were able to perform posterior spinal fixation without intraoperative complications in a patient with vertebral fractures with ASD, which was considered difficult to fix with PPS due to the person's past surgical experience.

Clinical features and outcomes of spine surgery in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

Objectives: The study aimed to comprehend the clinical features and outcomes of surgical treatments for spinal disorders in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods: This retrospective study enrolled patients with AS who underwent spine surgery between 2000 and 2019 in our facility.

Results: Thirteen patients with AS underwent spine surgeries.

Isolated trochlea osteochondral fracture of the distal humerus in a 6-year-old patient surgically fixed using biodegradable pins: A case study with over 3 years of follow-up.

Isolated humeral trochlea fracture, particularly in skeletally immature children, is extremely rare. The exact mechanism of this injury remains unknown because the humeral trochlea is embraced within the olecranon fossa without any muscular or ligamentous attachment. We report the treatment of a 6-year-old boy who sustained an isolated trochlea osteochondral fracture when he fell with his elbow in a flexed position while skateboarding.

Long-term outcomes of spinal meningioma resection with outer layer of dura preservation technique.

Spinal meningioma is a common benign intradural spinal tumor. It has been reported that the local recurrence rate after surgical resection increases with longer follow-up duration. Simpson grade 1 resection could reduce the risk of recurrence, but this procedure needs dural reconstruction, which would cause cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage or iatrogenic spinal cord injury.

Use of an inertial measurement unit sensor in pedicle screw placement improves trajectory accuracy.

Ascertaining the accuracy of the pedicle screw (PS) trajectories is important as PS malpositioning can cause critical complications. We aimed to determine the angle range over which estimation is unreliable; build a low-cost PS placement support system that uses an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to enable the monitoring of surgical tools and PS trajectories, and determine the situations where IMU support would be most beneficial. In PS insertion experiments, we used cadaver samples that included lumbar porcine spines.

GRK5 Inhibition Attenuates Cartilage Degradation via Decreased NF-κB Signaling.

Objective: NF-κB-dependent signaling is an important modulator in osteoarthritis (OA), and G protein-coupled receptor kinase 5 (GRK5) regulates the NF-κB pathway. This study was undertaken to investigate the functional involvement of GRK5 in OA pathogenesis.

Methods: GRK5 expression in normal and OA human knee joints was analyzed immunohistochemically.

FOXO1 transcription factor regulates chondrogenic differentiation through transforming growth factor β1 signaling.

The forkhead box O (FOXO) proteins are transcription factors involved in the differentiation of many cell types. () Cre--knockout and -Cre- triple-knockout mice exhibit growth plate malformation. Moreover, recent studies have reported that in some cells, the expressions and activities of FOXOs are promoted by transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1), a growth factor playing a key role in chondrogenic differentiation.

Prone position surgery for a professional sumo wrestler with thoracic ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament resulting in intraoperative brachial plexus injury by hypertrophic pectoral muscles.

Surgery in the prone position is associated with a variety of complications due to the positioning, including the widely recognized peripheral nerve compression injuries and brachial plexus neuropathy. Previous studies have reported that thin body habitus is a predisposing risk factor for the compressive peripheral nerve injuries due to the prone position surgery. However, prone-position-related brachial plexus injury in patients who are overweight due to hypertrophic muscles have never been reported.

Which Side-Bending X-ray Position is Better to Evaluate the Preoperative Curve Flexibility in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Patients, Supine or Prone?

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Purpose: The present study aimed to evaluate the difference in the preoperative curve flexibility between the supine and prone positions in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).

Overview Of Literature: In AIS, a side-bending view is necessary to differentiate a structural curve from a nonstructural curve using the Lenke classification system.

Clinical Outcome and Prognostic Factors of Malignant Spinal Dumbbell Tumors.

Introduction: To investigate the clinical outcome and prognostic factors of malignant spinal dumbbell tumors (m-SDTs).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical outcome of 22 consecutive cases of m-SDTs and analyzed the prognostic factors associated with worse outcome.

Results: Nineteen of the 22 cases were managed with surgery (86%), and gross total resection (GTR) was achieved in four cases (21%).

Effect of cartilaginous endplates on extruded disc resorption in lumbar disc herniation.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathologic features of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) with endplate degeneration and the association between cartilaginous fragments and inflammatory response to the herniated disc.

Summary Of Background Data: LDH often involves hyaline cartilage fragments pulled from the vertebral endplates. Modic changes are closely associated with LDH that contains hyaline cartilage, and cartilaginous endplates seem to affect resorption of the herniated disc.

Radiological Examination of Postoperative Cervical Alignment and Stability in Patients with Dialysis-Associated Spondylosis Excluding Destructive Spondyloarthropathy: Comparison with Patients with Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy.

Introduction: Several reports have demonstrated the surgical treatment strategy for patients with dialysis-associated spondylosis in the cervical spine (CDAS) with destructive spondyloarthropathy (DSA). However, studies focusing on the clinical outcome of patients with CDAS without DSA remain scarce. We aimed to review the treatment strategy of patients with CDAS but without DSA.

The neurological outcome of radiotherapy versus surgery in patients with metastatic spinal cord compression presenting with myelopathy.

Purpose: While radiotherapy is generally an acceptable treatment for metastatic spinal cord compression, surgical intervention is controversial due to the invasiveness and diversity of diseases in the patients being considered. The ideal treatment, therefore, depends on the situation, and the most acute treatment possible is necessary in patients presenting with myelopathy. We compared the neurological outcomes between radiotherapy and surgery in patients with metastatic spinal cord compression presenting with myelopathy.

Macrophage Infiltration Is a Causative Factor for Ligamentum Flavum Hypertrophy through the Activation of Collagen Production in Fibroblasts.

Ligamentum flavum (LF) hypertrophy causes lumbar spinal canal stenosis, leading to leg pain and disability in activities of daily living in elderly individuals. Although previous studies have been performed on LF hypertrophy, its pathomechanisms have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that infiltrating macrophages were a causative factor for LF hypertrophy.

Incidental Cerebral Acute Subdural Hematoma After Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion: A Case Report.

We present a 68-year-old woman who developed acute cerebral subdural hematoma (SDH) early after transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. Four hours postoperatively, the patient complained of headache and nausea. Enhanced cranial computed tomography showed cerebral SDH.

[A case of superficial siderosis ameliorated after closure of dural deficit detected by MRI-CISS (constructive interference in steady state) imaging].

A 64-year-old male developed headache, dizziness, and difficulty hearing, two years after an operation for chronic subdural hematoma due to head injury. These symptoms gradually worsened over the following 15 years. As he showed bloody cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and marginal hypointensity on the surface of the brain and spinal cord on T/T*-weighted MRI, he was diagnosed with superficial siderosis (SS), although the source of the bleeding was unclear and anti-hemorrhagic drugs were ineffective.

Experimental Mouse Model of Lumbar Ligamentum Flavum Hypertrophy.

Lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS) is one of the most common spinal disorders in elderly people, with the number of LSCS patients increasing due to the aging of the population. The ligamentum flavum (LF) is a spinal ligament located in the interior of the vertebral canal, and hypertrophy of the LF, which causes the direct compression of the nerve roots and/or cauda equine, is a major cause of LSCS. Although there have been previous studies on LF hypertrophy, its pathomechanism remains unclear.

Bone and soft tissue tumors presenting as sciatic notch dumbbell masses: A critical differential diagnosis of sciatica.

Aim: To study the clinical findings and characteristic features in sciatic notch dumbbell tumors (SNDTs).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical outcomes and characteristic features of consecutive cases of SNDTs ( = 8).

Results: Buttock masses occurred in three patients with SNDT (37.

Dumbbell Scoring System: A New Method for the Differential Diagnosis of Malignant and Benign Spinal Dumbbell Tumors.

Study Design: Retrospective diagnostic analysis.

Objective: The aim of the study was to establish a new scoring system, the dumbbell scoring system (DSS), for preoperative evaluation of the malignant potential of spinal dumbbell tumors (SDTs).

Summary Of Background Data: Among SDTs, benign tumors such as schwannomas occur frequently, whereas malignant SDTs, including malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, are uncommon.

The Position of the Aorta Relative to the Vertebrae in Patients With Lenke Type 1 Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis.

Study Design: A computed tomography study.

Objective: The aim of the study was to clarify the position of the aorta relative to the spine in patients with Lenke type 1 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Summary Of Background Data: Several authors have examined the position of the aorta in patients with scoliosis; however, their analysis included several types of curve.

A new sagittal parameter to estimate pelvic tilt using the iliac cortical density line and iliac tilt: a retrospective X-ray measurement study.

Background: When spinal kyphosis increases, the compensatory mechanism activates and the pelvic position changes. Increasing the pelvic tilt, which is the orientation of the pelvis with respect to the femoral head, is known to associate with the clinical symptoms in kyphosis in the aging population. It is often difficult to detect the femoral head on radiographs, limiting the ability to determine the pelvic tilt.

Sequential changes of ascending myelopathy after spinal cord injury on magnetic resonance imaging: a case report of neurologic deterioration from paraplegia to tetraplegia.

Background Context: Marked neurologic deterioration within a few days of traumatic spinal cord injury, known as subacute posttraumatic ascending myelopathy, is rare. Although several hypotheses regarding the pathogenesis of this condition have been proposed, the details remain elusive.

Purpose: To report a case of ascending myelopathy in which a series of magnetic resonance images (MRIs) taken through the course of the illness helped follow the course of the disease and discuss possible pathogenesis.