No abstract available.
Longitudinal Ligaments*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Electrocardiography, Ambulatory*

Vertebroplasty was introduced in 1987 for painful cervical hemangioma. Since then, there has been an explosion of interest in this remarkable procedure, which can be useful for the majority of vertebral fractures throughout the spinal column. This procedure is indicated for painful vertebral compression fracture(VCF) due to osteoporosis or malignancy, and for painful hemangiomas. Vertebroplasty is the injection of bone cement, generally polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), into a vertebral body (VB). Kyphoplasty is the placement of balloons into the VB, followed by an inflation/deflation sequence to create a cavity prior to the PMMA injection. These procedures are most often performed in a percutaneous fashion under local anesthesia. Although these methods are minimally invasive procedure, numerous complications can occur. The common complications include bleeding at the puncture site, PMMA leakage, local infection, and adjacent vertebral body fracture. A grave complication, which is rarely reported, is pulmonary embolism by PMMA leakage. These procedures can reduce pain in about 90% of patients with osteoporotic VCFs. Additionally, improvements in mobility and in activities of daily living occur. The success rate is slightly less in patients with metastatic VCFs than osteoporotic VCFs. Much evidence favors the use of these procedures for pain associated with the aforementioned disorders. The risk/benefit ratio appears to be favorable in carefully selected patients. This article summarizes the indications, techniques, complications and outcomes for the vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty.
Activities of Daily Living ; Anesthesia, Local ; Explosions ; Hemangioma ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Kyphoplasty ; Osteoporosis ; Polymethyl Methacrylate ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Punctures ; Spine ; Vertebroplasty

No abstract available.
Fatigue* ; Sciatica*

No abstract available.
Spondylolisthesis*

No abstract available.

The following is our report a series of 220 patients who visited the neurosurgical out-patient department from January 1994 to June 1994 complaining of low back pain. We investigated how they were treated and what was the outcome on December 1995. Three certified neurosurgeons had managed these patients. Although the patients were not significantly different in terms of age, sex, and the duration of pain, the diagnostic methods(p<0.005), impression(p<0.01), and the methods of treatment(p<0.01) differred from doctor to doctor. The rates of admission and operation were 11.8% and 7.3%, respectively, and found to be consistent among doctors. We conducted telephonic interviews of 123 patients during December 1995 with the following outcome : improved in 69.1%, unchanged in 22.0%, and aggravated in 4.1%, together with six(4.9%) deaths. The cause of death was cancer in four cases, respiratory failure in one, and unknown in one. Sixteen patients underwent surgery in this hospital, while the other 12 patients were operated on in other hospitals. The outcome was favorable when 1) the patients were female, 2) the age was 21-40 years old, 3) presence of sciatica, 4) the duration was 1 week to 3 months, 5) the diagnostic impression was herniated lumbar disc, 6) drugs were not prescribed, and finally 7) managed by senior doctor. However, these differences were statistically not significant(p>0.1). Although low back pain is a very common complaint, there was enormous ambiguity with respect to its diagnosis and management. Neverthless, the outcomes were not significantly different. Despite the above, we still feel that low back pains should be more systematically classified and precisely dignosed. Also the therapeutic efficacies of different modalities of treatment should be critically reviewed.
Cause of Death ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Low Back Pain* ; Outpatients* ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Sciatica

OBJECTIVE: Serotonin transporter(5-hydroxytryptamine transporter, 5-HTT) plays a critical role in the termination of serotonergic neurotransmission into the presynaptic neuron and represents an initial site of uptake inhibiting antidepressants, including tricyclic antidepressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. We investigated the possible association between the 5-HTT gene and major depression, and examined whether there are genotypic characteristics in 5-HTT gene that result in treatment nonresponsiveness to uptake inhibiting antidepressants. METHODS: 5-HTT gene polymorphisms are analyzed with the primers flanking the second intron and regulatory region from genomic DNA. We genotyped 142 patients with major depression and dysthymia, and 252 age and sex matched normal subjects. All individuals were Korean. RESULTS: We found no significant differences in the allele frequency(2 nd intron, p=0.941 : promoter, p=0.122) between patients and controls. However, in association studies between antidepressant responsiveness in depressive patients and allele frequencies of 5-HTT gene polymorphism in intron2 and promoter regions, there was shown significant differences in both(p<0.0001, p=0.0028, respectively by Fisher exact test). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that there is no major effect of 5-HTT gene polymorphisms on the susceptibility to major depressions, while antidepressant nonresponding is related with genotypic alteration in 5-HTT gene.
Alleles ; Antidepressive Agents ; Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic ; Depression* ; DNA ; Gene Frequency ; Humans ; Introns ; Neurons ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid ; Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins* ; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors ; Serotonin* ; Synaptic Transmission

No abstract available.
Blast Crisis* ; Leukemia*