Electrical status epilepticus during sleep (ESES) is an electrographic pattern associated with specific genetic disorders, brain malformations, and use of some antiseizure medications. This case report aims to present the management of ESES in Sotos syndrome (SoS) on carbamazepine. A nine-year-old Filipino male with clinical features suggestive of overgrowth syndrome presented with febrile seizure at one year old. Cranial imaging showed cavum septum pellucidum, corpus callosal dysgenesis, and ventriculomegaly. He was on carbamazepine monotherapy starting at three years old. A near continuous diffuse spike–wave discharges in slow wave sleep was recorded at nine years old hence shifted to valproic acid. Follow-up study showed focal epileptiform discharges during sleep with disappearance of ESES. Next generation sequencing tested positive for rare nonsense mutation of nuclear receptor binding set-domain protein 1 confirming the diagnosis of SoS. Advanced molecular genetics contributed to determination of ESES etiologies. To date, this is the first documented case of SoS developing ESES. Whether an inherent genetic predisposition or drug-induced, we recommend the avoidance of carbamazepine and use of valproic acid as first-line therapy.
Sotos Syndrome ; Carbamazepine

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe utilization, demographics, complications, and revisions for patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) with stenosis undergoing decompression or decompression with fusion in the United States. Methods: A national insurance database was used to identify patients who underwent either decompression and fusion or decompression alone for management of DS from 2010–2022. Utilization trends, demographics, and complications for each procedure were compared. Results: A total of 162,878 patients were identified, of which 78,043 patients underwent combined single-level lumbar decompression and fusion and 84,835 underwent single-level lumbar decompression alone. Between 2010–2021, lumbar decompression and fusion became the predominant surgical intervention for DS in 2016 and continued to account for more than half of all procedures during the remainder of the study period. Factors such as age, sex, comorbidities, geographic region, and physician specialty training were associated with procedure choice. Decompression with fusion was associated with a lower risk of revision surgery up to 5 years postoperatively and an overall lower incidence of 30-day complications. Conclusion Decompression with fusion has become the most common treatment for lumbar DS over the past decade despite a lack of compelling evidence supporting its use compared to decompression alone. A variety of patient and surgeon-specific factors is associated with procedure choice. After accounting for cofounders, we identified treatment-specific complications that may be valuable when counseling patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe utilization, demographics, complications, and revisions for patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) with stenosis undergoing decompression or decompression with fusion in the United States. Methods: A national insurance database was used to identify patients who underwent either decompression and fusion or decompression alone for management of DS from 2010–2022. Utilization trends, demographics, and complications for each procedure were compared. Results: A total of 162,878 patients were identified, of which 78,043 patients underwent combined single-level lumbar decompression and fusion and 84,835 underwent single-level lumbar decompression alone. Between 2010–2021, lumbar decompression and fusion became the predominant surgical intervention for DS in 2016 and continued to account for more than half of all procedures during the remainder of the study period. Factors such as age, sex, comorbidities, geographic region, and physician specialty training were associated with procedure choice. Decompression with fusion was associated with a lower risk of revision surgery up to 5 years postoperatively and an overall lower incidence of 30-day complications. Conclusion Decompression with fusion has become the most common treatment for lumbar DS over the past decade despite a lack of compelling evidence supporting its use compared to decompression alone. A variety of patient and surgeon-specific factors is associated with procedure choice. After accounting for cofounders, we identified treatment-specific complications that may be valuable when counseling patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe utilization, demographics, complications, and revisions for patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) with stenosis undergoing decompression or decompression with fusion in the United States. Methods: A national insurance database was used to identify patients who underwent either decompression and fusion or decompression alone for management of DS from 2010–2022. Utilization trends, demographics, and complications for each procedure were compared. Results: A total of 162,878 patients were identified, of which 78,043 patients underwent combined single-level lumbar decompression and fusion and 84,835 underwent single-level lumbar decompression alone. Between 2010–2021, lumbar decompression and fusion became the predominant surgical intervention for DS in 2016 and continued to account for more than half of all procedures during the remainder of the study period. Factors such as age, sex, comorbidities, geographic region, and physician specialty training were associated with procedure choice. Decompression with fusion was associated with a lower risk of revision surgery up to 5 years postoperatively and an overall lower incidence of 30-day complications. Conclusion Decompression with fusion has become the most common treatment for lumbar DS over the past decade despite a lack of compelling evidence supporting its use compared to decompression alone. A variety of patient and surgeon-specific factors is associated with procedure choice. After accounting for cofounders, we identified treatment-specific complications that may be valuable when counseling patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe utilization, demographics, complications, and revisions for patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) with stenosis undergoing decompression or decompression with fusion in the United States. Methods: A national insurance database was used to identify patients who underwent either decompression and fusion or decompression alone for management of DS from 2010–2022. Utilization trends, demographics, and complications for each procedure were compared. Results: A total of 162,878 patients were identified, of which 78,043 patients underwent combined single-level lumbar decompression and fusion and 84,835 underwent single-level lumbar decompression alone. Between 2010–2021, lumbar decompression and fusion became the predominant surgical intervention for DS in 2016 and continued to account for more than half of all procedures during the remainder of the study period. Factors such as age, sex, comorbidities, geographic region, and physician specialty training were associated with procedure choice. Decompression with fusion was associated with a lower risk of revision surgery up to 5 years postoperatively and an overall lower incidence of 30-day complications. Conclusion Decompression with fusion has become the most common treatment for lumbar DS over the past decade despite a lack of compelling evidence supporting its use compared to decompression alone. A variety of patient and surgeon-specific factors is associated with procedure choice. After accounting for cofounders, we identified treatment-specific complications that may be valuable when counseling patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe utilization, demographics, complications, and revisions for patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) with stenosis undergoing decompression or decompression with fusion in the United States. Methods: A national insurance database was used to identify patients who underwent either decompression and fusion or decompression alone for management of DS from 2010–2022. Utilization trends, demographics, and complications for each procedure were compared. Results: A total of 162,878 patients were identified, of which 78,043 patients underwent combined single-level lumbar decompression and fusion and 84,835 underwent single-level lumbar decompression alone. Between 2010–2021, lumbar decompression and fusion became the predominant surgical intervention for DS in 2016 and continued to account for more than half of all procedures during the remainder of the study period. Factors such as age, sex, comorbidities, geographic region, and physician specialty training were associated with procedure choice. Decompression with fusion was associated with a lower risk of revision surgery up to 5 years postoperatively and an overall lower incidence of 30-day complications. Conclusion Decompression with fusion has become the most common treatment for lumbar DS over the past decade despite a lack of compelling evidence supporting its use compared to decompression alone. A variety of patient and surgeon-specific factors is associated with procedure choice. After accounting for cofounders, we identified treatment-specific complications that may be valuable when counseling patients.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis were identified from a hospital’s medical records. Demographic and surgical characteristics were collected through a structured query language search and manual chart review. Radiographic measurements were made on preoperative MRIs for all vertebral levels diagnosed with spondylolisthesis and adjacent undiagnosed levels between C3 and C6. The facet fluid index was calculated by dividing the facet fluid measurement by the width of the facet. Bivariate analysis was conducted to compare facet characteristics based on radiographic spondylolisthesis and spondylolisthesis stability. Results: We included 154 patients, for whom 149 levels were classified as having spondylolisthesis and 206 levels did not. The average facet fluid index was significantly higher in patients with spondylolisthesis (0.26±0.07 vs. 0.23±0.08, p <0.001). In addition, both fluid width and facet width were significantly larger in patients with spondylolisthesis (p <0.001 each). Cervical levels in the fusion construct demonstrated a greater facet fluid index and were more likely to have unstable spondylolisthesis than stable spondylolisthesis (p <0.001 each). Conclusions Facet fluid index is associated with cervical spondylolisthesis and an increased facet size and fluid width are associated with unstable spondylolisthesis. While cervical spondylolisthesis continues to be an inconclusive finding, vertebral levels with spondylolisthesis, especially the unstable ones, were more likely to be included in the fusion procedure than those without spondylolisthesis.

Background: There is considerable heterogeneity in findings and a lack of consensus regarding the interplay between osteoporosis and outcomes in patients with lumbar degenerative spine disease. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to gather and analyze existing data on the effect of osteoporosis on radiographic, surgical, and clinical outcomes following surgery for lumbar degenerative spinal disease. Methods: A systematic review was performed to determine the effect of osteoporosis on the incidence of adverse outcomes after surgical intervention for lumbar degenerative spinal diseases. The approach focused on the radiographic outcomes, reoperation rates, and other medical and surgical complications. Subsequently, a meta-analysis was performed on the eligible studies. Results: The results of the meta-analysis suggested that osteoporotic patients experienced increased rates of adjacent segment disease (ASD; p=0.015) and cage subsidence (p=0.001) while demonstrating lower reoperation rates than non-osteoporotic patients (7.4% vs. 13.1%; p=0.038). The systematic review also indicated that the length of stay, overall costs, rates of screw loosening, and rates of wound and other medical complications may increase in patients with a lower bone mineral density. Fusion rates, as well as patient-reported and clinical outcomes, did not differ significantly between osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic patients. Conclusions Osteoporosis was associated with an increased risk of ASD, cage migration, and possibly postoperative screw loosening, as well as longer hospital stays, incurring higher costs and an increased likelihood of postoperative complications. However, a link was not established between osteoporosis and poor clinical outcomes.

Purpose: To assess the quality and readability of online health information on vasectomy using validated readability and quality assessment tools. Materials and Methods: The top 50 search results for "vasectomy" on Google, Bing, and Yahoo were selected. Duplicate links, advertisements, blog posts, paid webpages, and information intended for healthcare providers were excluded. Flesch Reading Ease score, Flesch–Kincaid Grade level, Gunning Fog Index, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) index were used to assess readability, with optimal readability level for online health information established as being at sixth grade reading level. DISCERN Instrument and JAMA Benchmark were used to assess the quality of selected webpages. Inter-assessment score correlation and results by webpage type were analyzed. Results: We analyzed 44 webpages, including 16 academic, 5 hospital-affiliated, 6 commercial, 13 non-profit health advocacy, and 4 uncategorized sources. The average readability of the evaluated webpages was at a 10th grade reading level as measured by the Flesch Kincaid Assessment tool, and an undergraduate reading level per the SMOG and Gunning Fog indices. Non-profit health advocacy webpages had the best reading level but still was not at the recommended level of grade 6 to 7. The overall DISCERN quality of the webpages was “fair”, with non-profit health advocacy pages performing best. Conclusions The assessed webpages offer education on vasectomy in a language that is too complex for the general population to understand. Furthermore, several sources for online health information, such as non-profits, outperformed webpages by academic institutions. Increased healthcare collaboration and dedication to producing quality online patient resources is necessary to address these shortcomings and build trust among patients to increase utilization of vasectomy and decrease decisional regret.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the psychological and mental health of seafarers and maritime workers, and a considerable proportion have experienced depression. Cognizant of the different work-related factors and pandemic-related factors which may contribute to depression, it is imperative to determine the prevalence of depression among seafarers and maritime workers to develop appropriate intervention and management Objective: To determine the prevalence of depression among seafarers and maritime workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This is a random-effects meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies estimating the prevalence of depression among seafarer and maritime workers during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The proportion of respondents with depression, using standardized depression assessment tools, and the sample sizes of each study were extracted and recorded in an abstraction form. Pooled estimate of depression was analyzed using the metaprop command of STATA MP Results: The search yielded a total of 555 articles, with only 4 eligible articles included for analyses. From the included studies, 75% had good quality of evidence while 25% had fair quality. Analysis showed that the overall pooled prevalence of depression at 28% (ES=0.28, z=4.69, p=0.001, 95% CI=0.16–0.39) was statistically significant during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there was a substantially high heterogeneity among the included the studies (χ2=125.41, p=0.001, I2=97.61%, τ2=0.01). Conclusion Depression is a real-life, yet underreported and underdiagnosed problem among seafarers and maritime workers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This result stresses the need for policy and practice changes such as implementation of screening programs to determine and evaluate depression or depressive symptoms; modification of existing protocols in performing pre-employment medical examinations with additional focus on the psychological health and well-being; and, provision of appropriate intervention such as psychological health education, counseling, and appropriate referral.
Depression ; COVID-19