No abstract available.
Lipomatosis*

The pathological lesion in spinal injury is usually more severe in the central gray matter and spreads centrifugally to surrounding white matter. Opiate antagonists, naloxone, by blocking the pathophysiologic effect of endorphins, should increase both mean arterial pressure and spinal cord blood flow and limit neurologic injury. Naloxone produce increase of lateral column blood flow and ameliorate the central gray matter ischemia. We have investigated the effects of naloxone on histopathological change in cats subjected to thoracic cord contusion. The histopathological evaluation of the injured spinal cords in naloxone-treated cats had less tissue damage than would be observed in time-matched standards. The acute histopathology in saline-treated cats had lesions typical of what we would expect in untreated cats, but the chronic histopathology had slightly better than typical that.
Animals ; Arterial Pressure ; Cats ; Contusions ; Endorphins ; Ischemia ; Naloxone* ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Spinal Injuries

No abstract available.
Meningioma* ; Paragonimiasis*

OBJECTIVE: Anterior wedge compression fractures and burst fractures have different clinical features, treatment methods and risks of neurologic deficits. The aim of this study was to evaluate the radiological differences and postoperative risk due to cement leakage after vertebroplasty. METHODS: From January 2007 to December 2008, we retrospectively analyzed the radiological features of 43 patients. We divided the patients into three groups by the degree of the displaced bony fragments into the spinal canal. The change of the compression ratio, the kyphotic angle, the presence of cement leakage and the occurrence of major complications were investigated. RESULTS: The immediately postoperative improvement of the compression ratio was significantly better in the anterior wedge compression fracture group than that in the burst compression group (p-value: 0.022). Cement leakage was more common in the burst fracture group even though this was not statistically significant (p-value: 0.114), but cement leakage into spinal canal did not occur. There was no major complication, including embolism and additional neurologic deficit, after vertebroplasty in all the patients. CONCLUSION: Vertebroplasty was the more effective method for treating an anterior wedge fracture than a burst fracture, and especially for achieving an improved compression ratio. Even though the risk of cement leakage may be higher for a burst fracture, vertebroplasty may be also carefully applied to burst fracture patients with no neurologic deficits at admission.
Embolism ; Fractures, Compression ; Humans ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Canal ; Spinal Cord Compression ; Vertebroplasty

A case of endodermal sinus tumor in the pineal region of a 12-year-old boy is presented. Preponderance of this tumor occurs in the boys, usually in their second decade. The tumor is characterized by perivascular structure(Schiller-Duval body) which simulate endodermal diverticula of yolk sac origin. His serum alpha-fetoprotein levels was abnormally high(over 400ng/ml) He was treated with operation and irradiation of 4500rad to the whole brain and spinal axis. But he died 6 month later after operation. The authors report a case of endodermal sinus tumor arising from pineal gland and briefly review literature.
alpha-Fetoproteins ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Brain ; Child ; Diverticulum ; Endoderm* ; Endodermal Sinus Tumor* ; Humans ; Male ; Pineal Gland ; Yolk Sac

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of microdecompression (MD) with microscope and tubular retractor in lumbar foraminal stenosis (FS) and to analyze the clinical outcomes. METHODS: From January 2006 to December 2007, 22 patients with symptomatic lumbar FS underwent conventional decompressive surgery (CDS) and MD was performed in other 20 patients. Clinical outcome was measured using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Macnab?fs criteria. Spinal instability was determined by radiologic assessment of flexion-extension radiographs. RESULTS: The CDS group included 14 men and 8 women. The MD group included 14 men and 6 women. The mean age was 66.2 years (range, 46-80 yrs) in the CDS group and 65.4 years (range, 59-74 yrs) in the MD group. Average follow-up periods were 18.6 months in the CDS group and 16.5 months in the MD group. Mean operating time was 126 minutes in the CDS group and 168 minutes in the MD group. The mean VAS of back pain decreased from 2.68 to 1.36 in the CDS group and from 2.85 to 1.25 in the MD group. The mean VAS score of leg pain decrea- sed from 6.68 to 1.48 in the CDS group and from 6.65 to 1.40 in the MD group. The success rate of CDS group was 86.3 % (19/22), compared with 85.0% (17/20) for MD group. Radiologically, there was no spinal instability. CONCLUSION:MD could achieve neural decompression and offer an effective treatment of lumbar FS. However it was a technically demanding procedure and effective in limited operative indications. We need to consider long-term follow-up.
Back Pain ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Decompression ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leg ; Male

OBJECTIVE: The goal of study is the evaluation of clinicofunctional outcomes and fusion success rates of unilateral posterior lumbar interbody fusion(PLIF) using cages. METHODS: The authors conducted retrospective study of 81 patients who underwent unilateral PLIF using cages. The outpatient notes, standard hospital charts, and pre-and postoperative imaging studies were analyzed. In this study pre-and postoperative back pain, radiating pain, fusion success rates, pseudoarthrosis, clinicofunctional outcome, and complications were evaluated. Follow-up duration ranged from 3 to 8 years. RESULTS: Eighty-one patients underwent unilateral PLIF using 98 cages(TFC:37, CH cage:25, Novus cage 36). Two-level fusion was performed in 17 patients. There were 48 men(59%) and 33 women(41%). Seventh decade was most common(47%). The most common site of PLIF was at L4-5 space(69.4%) and left side(58%) was prevalent. Fusion was successful in 91 out of 98 levels(92.8%) and pseudoarthrosis was observed in five patients(7 level, 7%). The clinicofunctional results by Prolo scale were as follows:good(score 8-10):80.3%, moderate(score 6-7):14.8%, poor(score 5 or less 5):4.9%. Device migration was observed in six cases:5(20%) of 25 CH cages and 1(2.8%) of 36 Novus cages. CONCLUSION: Unilateral PLIF using cage is one of method to decrease the rates of iatrogenic complications in patient of unilateral symptomatic spinal instability while preserving normal anatomic structures with good fusion success rates and clinicofunctional results after surgery.
Back Pain ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Outpatients ; Pseudarthrosis ; Retrospective Studies

Tuberculosis is still remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Calvarial tuberculosis is a rare entity and when the primary lesion is in the calvarium without any detectable pulmonary lesion, it is even exeedingly rare. The authors present a case of a 60-year-old female patient presenting with headache and an area of painful protrusion in the left parietal scalp. Plain skull radiographs, computerized tomography(CT) scan and magnetic resonance(MR) image of the brain revealed an osteolytic lesion in the left parietal bone with an outward growth of the outer table. Chest radiograph was normal. At operation, the osteolytic lesion of the skull and the abnormal soft tissue were removed completely. Histopathological report on the surgical specimen confirmed the tuberculosis of the calvarium.
Brain ; Female ; Headache ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Parietal Bone ; Rabeprazole ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Scalp ; Skull ; Tuberculosis*

Eighty-four patients whose cervical lesions not associated with any trauma or tumor were operated for anterior cervical interbody fusion. The patients were separated into two groups, one group operated with a cervical plate and the other group, without the cervical plate. The mean follow-up duration in anterior cervical interbody fusion with cervical plate cases was 16 months(from 6 months to 30 months), without cervical plate 35 months(from 6 months to 84 months). Retrospective analysis of the two groups were done in order to compare the incidence of postoperative complications, clinical outcome, and radiological changes. The most notable postoperative complications of the group operated without the cervical plate were migration of the bone graft(3.3%) and angulation(3.3%), whereas of the group operated with the cervical plate were screw loosening(4.2%) and infection of the operative wound(4.2%). Comparative analysis of the postoperative clinical outcome and changes in radiological measurement of the intervertebral heights and angles showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The results of this study suggest that whether or not the cervical plate should be used for anterior cervical interbody fusions requires a decision made carefully and meticulously by the operator, so that the possibility of any postoperative complications can be minimized.
Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Postoperative Complications ; Retrospective Studies

A case of nonsecretory multiple myeloma in a 66 year-old-woman is reported. At first, she complained severe neck pain and radiologic finding showed C2 pathologic fracture. She complained severe low back pain 4 month later and L1 compression fracture was found. The lumbar MRI showed a 1.4cm-sized round enhancing lesion in the body of T12. Bone marrow aspiration biopsy at L1 spine showed a few polymorphous and small nests of mononuclear cell. L1 lamina bone biopsy showed many abnormal plasma cells. Pathologic diagnosis was multiple myeloma. However, plasma electrophoresis and protein immunoelectrophoresis of serum and urine of patient were normal. So, it is a nonecretory multiple myeloma case and the incidence of nonsecretory multiple myeloma is known to about 1% of all multiple myeloma.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Needle ; Bone Marrow ; Diagnosis ; Electrophoresis ; Fractures, Compression ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Humans ; Immunoelectrophoresis ; Incidence ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Multiple Myeloma* ; Neck Pain ; Plasma ; Plasma Cells ; Spine*