The Use of Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenic Protein in Posterior Interbody Fusions of the Lumbar Spine, J Spinal Disord Tech 2009;22:315–320. Anterior, posterolateral and transforaminal approaches have shown good outcomes with this stuff, and this paper adds posterior interbody fusion to the list.
Clinical Usefulness of CT-myelogram Comparing With the MRI in Degenerative Cervical Spinal Disorders. Is CTM Still Useful for Primary Diagnostic Tool? J Spinal Disord Tech 2009;22:353–357 No surprise here, the answer is yes.
Cavernous malformations of the basal ganglia and thalamus, Neurosurgery 65:7–19, 2009. Nice review of the literature, showing a 2.8-4.1% annual bleed rate. 10% of patients show long term morbidity from surgery for these lesions.
Developmental venous anomalies: current concepts and implications for management, Neurosurgery 65:20–30, 2009. Very thorough review of DVA’s and there associations.
Clinical Significance and Prognosis of Idiopathic Syringomyelia. J Spinal Disord Tech 2009;22:372–375 Localized type is less than 3 vertebral segments and typically benign course. Extended syrinx involved 4 or more segments in length and went to surgery.
Removal of the Charite Lumbar Artificial Disc Prosthesis. J Spinal Disord Tech 2009; 22: 334-339. 29 Charite prostheses removed. Operative morbidity included 4 major vessel lesions, colon and ureter “lesions”.
Retrieval Analysis of a ProDisc-L Total Disc Replacement. J Spinal Disord Tech 2009; 22: 290-296. Removal of a posteriorly malpositioned L5-S1 implant with PEEK anterior interbody fusion.
Prevalence of Degenerative Imaging Findings in Lumbar Magnetic Resonance Imaging Among Young Adults. Spine 2009; 34:1716–1721 Almost ½ young Finnish adults have one degenerated disc, although degenerative endplate changes are very uncommon.
Intra-Arterial Injection in the Rat Brain: Evaluation of Steroids Used for Transforaminal Epidurals. Spine 2009;34:1638–1643 The depo stuff gives BBB injury, while Decadron does not. I thought the whole point of the injection was to give the depo version. This just makes me worry more about something I can’t change. We don’t do cervical selective roots anyway, and I don’t think I’m going to change practice on lumbar transformational injections based on this. I probably will fret more on left L1 transforaminals.
Vertical mobile and reducible atlantoaxial dislocation. J Neurosurg Spine 11:9–14, 2009 8 patients with congenital CVJ abnormality, with several exacerbated by more recent trauma. Main thing is reducibility with extension, and dynamic flex-ext CT was recommended.
Prevalence and clinical features of intraspinal facet cysts after decompression surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis. J Neurosurg Spine 10:000–000, 2009 Instablity, either preop or postop leads to cysts. However, a large percentage show spontaneous regression.
