BACKGROUND:Recently, minimal y invasive techniques obtained more attention. Some new minimal y invasive methods have been used in the treatment of spine fracture and provide new chal enges for conventional open surgery. OBJECTIVE:To discuss the clinical efficacy of conventional posterior open pedicle screw fixation versus minimal y invasive operation (using Mast Quadrant System and Sextant percutaneous pedicle screw fixation) for treating single-segment thoracolumbar fractures without neurological damages. METHODS:A total of 94 cases of single-segment thoracolumbar fracture without neurological damages, who were treated in Department of Spine Surgery, Liuzhou Worker’s Hospital in China from January 2012 to January 2013, were enrol ed in this study. According to patients’ conditions and wil ing, they were divided into open fixation group, Quadrant fixation group and percutaneous Sextant fixation group. Perioperative index, clinical efficacy, and imaging results were observed and compared among different groups. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Intraoperative blood loss, incision length and length of stay were better in the Quadrant fixation group and percutaneous Sextant fixation group than in the posterior open fixation group (P<0.05). A total of 94 patients were fol owed up for 6 months. No cases of nerve damage, slippage or breakage of implants were found. The anterior vertebral body height, Cobb’s angle, and sagittal index were significantly improved postoperatively compared to pre-operation in al three groups (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the three groups (P>0.05). Postoperative Visual Analog Scale scores and Oswestry Disability Index were better in the two minimal y invasive groups than in the conventional open fixation group (P<0.05). These results suggested that compared with conventional open operation, minimal y invasive operation (Mast Quadrant System and Sextant percutaneous pedicle screw fixation) in the treatment of thoracolumbar fractures not only can achieve similar imaging result, but has smal incision, less blood loss, quick recovery, high safety, and obtains good clinical therapeutic outcomes. In the case of strict surgical indications, minimal y invasive method is an ideal choice in treating thoracolumbar fractures without neurological damages.

Objective To observe the clinic efficacy of open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) compared with minimally invasive operation in treating lumbar spinal stenosis and instability among obese and non‐obese patients .Methods A ret‐rospective analysis was performed in these cases of mono‐segmental lumbar spinal stenosis and instability between January 2011 and January 2013 .Perioperative index ,clinical efficacy ,and imaging results were observed and compared between different groups .Re‐sults Thirty‐four obese cases and 105 non‐obese cases were divided into two groups ,including conventional posterior open TLIF and minimally invasive TLIF operation ,to compare the results .Perioperative indexes of obese patients were more than non‐obese patients undergone open TLIF operation way and there was significant difference(P<0 .01);while by minimally invasiveTLIF oper‐ation way ,comparing the results of the surgical blood loss and incision size between obese and non‐obese group ,there was signifi‐cant difference(P<0 .05) .However ,there was not significant difference in the operative time between two groups(P>0 .05) .No cases of slippage or breakage of implants were found among all these patients after 6 months of follow up .Postoperative VAS and ODI among these four groups were better than before(P<0 .01) .Undergoing open postoperative VAS in obese group and in non‐obese group ,there was significant difference(P< 0 .05);undergoing minimally invasive postoperative ODI in obese group and in non‐obese group ,there was significant difference(P< 0 .05) .But ,undergoing open postoperative ODI in obese group and in non‐obese group ,there was not significant difference(P>0 .05);undergoing minimally invasive postoperative VAS in obese group and in non‐obese group ,there was not significant difference(P>0 .05) .Conclusion Therefore ,obese may be risk factor in treating lumbar spinal stenosis and instability .

The morbidity and mortality of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are primarily caused by arterial and venous complications, progression to myelofibrosis, and transformation to acute leukemia. However, identifying molecular-based biomarkers for risk stratification of patients with MPNs remains a challenge. We have previously shown that interferon regulatory factor-8 (IRF8) and IRF4 serve as tumor suppressors in myeloid cells. In this study, we evaluated the expression of IRF4 and IRF8 and the JAK2V617F mutant allele burden in patients with MPNs. Patients with decreased IRF4 expression were correlated with a more developed MPN phenotype in myelofibrosis (MF) and secondary AML (sAML) transformed from MPNs versus essential thrombocythemia (ET). Negative correlations between the JAK2V617F allele burden and the expression of IRF8 (P < 0.05) and IRF4 (P < 0.001) and between white blood cell (WBC) count and IRF4 expression (P < 0.05) were found in ET patients. IRF8 expression was negatively correlated with the JAK2V617F allele burden (P < 0.05) in polycythemia vera patients. Complete response (CR), partial response (PR), and no response (NR) were observed in 67.5%,10%, and 22.5% of ET patients treated with hydroxyurea (HU), respectively, in 12 months. At 3 months, patients in the CR group showed high IRF4 and IRF8 expression compared with patients in the PR and NR groups. In the 12-month therapy period, low IRF4 and IRF8 expression were independently associated with the unfavorable response to HU and high WBC count. Our data indicate that the expression of IRF4 and IRF8 was associated with the MPN phenotype, which may serve as biomarkers for the response to HU in ET.
Biomarkers ; Humans ; Hydroxyurea/therapeutic use* ; Interferon Regulatory Factors/genetics* ; Janus Kinase 2/genetics* ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics* ; Mutation ; Phenotype ; Primary Myelofibrosis/genetics* ; Thrombocythemia, Essential/genetics*