OBJECTIVE: To provide basic data for clinical application and individualized design of lumbar disc prostheses by measuring the anatomical parameters of lumbar intervertebral discs and endplates in healthy adults with CT three-dimensional reconstruction technology. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 200 males and 200 females with normal lumbar spine who were admitted to the imaging center or outpatient department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from September 2019 to December 2020. The age ranged from 20 to 60 years old, with an average of (40.61±11.22) years old. The measurement segment was L₁-S₁ intervertebral disc, and the measurement indicators included the axial anteroposterior diameter and transverse diameter of the intervertebral disc, sagittal anterior, middle and posterior height, coronal left and right height, intervertebral space angle, and transverse and anteroposterior diameters of the upper and lower endplates of each vertebral body. RESULTS: ①In terms of gender, the anatomical parameters of L₁-S₁ disc axial diameter, transverse diameter, sagittal anterior, middle and posterior height, left and right coronal height and intervertebral space angle were all higher in males than in females(P<0.05), and the anatomical parameters of upper and lower endplates of L₁-S₁ vertebral body were higher in males than in females(P<0.001). ②In comparison of sagittal height of anterior, middle and posterior intervertebral discs, the sagittal height of L₁-L₅ intervertebral discs was middle-high > anterior-high > posterior-high(P<0.001), while that of L₅S₁ intervertebral disc was anterior-high > middle-high > posterior-high (P<0.001). ③In the comparison of left and right coronal height, there was no statistical significance in the left and right coronal height of L1-S1 disc between male and female(P>0.05). ④The L₁-S₁ intervertebral spaces angle between male and female increased with the increase of vertebral body segments. ⑤The anterior and posterior diameters and transverse diameters of upper and lower of L₁-S₁ vertebral bodies endplates were height in males than in females(P<0.001). CONCLUSION The results suggest that gender differences should be considered in the design of adult lumbar disc prostheses. The anatomical parameters of the lumbar intervertebral disc varied with the increase of the vertebral body sequence, suggesting that different anatomical parameters of the intervertebral disc should be considered in the design of the artificial intervertebral disc, and the changes in the height of the sagittal position suggest that the design of the intervertebral disc should be wedge-shaped.
Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Female ; Young Adult ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Intervertebral Disc/diagnostic imaging* ; Lumbar Vertebrae/diagnostic imaging* ; Lumbosacral Region ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between spinous process deviation and lumbar disc herniation in young patients. METHODS: From March 2015 to January 2022, 30 treated young (under the age of 30) patients with lumbar disc herniation were included as the young group. In addition 30 middle-aged patients (quinquagenarian group) with lumbar disc herniation and 30 patients with non-degenerative spinal diseases (young non-degenerative group) were selected as control groups. The angle of the spinous process deviation was measured on CT and statistically analyzed by various groups. All the data were measured twice and the average value was taken and recorded. RESULTS: The average angle of spinous process deviation in the degenerative lumbar vertebra of young patients were (3.89±3.77) degrees, similar to the (3.72±2.98) degrees of quinquagenarian patients(P=0.851). The average angle of s spinous process deviation young non-degenerative group were (2.20±2.28) degrees, significantly less than young group(P=0.040). The spinous process deviation angle of the superior vertebral of the degenerative lumbar in the young group was (4.10±3.44) degrees, which similar to the (3.47±2.87) degrees in the quinquagenarian group (P=0.447). A total of 19 young patients had the opposite deviation direction of the spinous process of the degenerative lumbar vertebra and upper vertebra, while only 7 quinquagenarian patients had this condition(P=0.02). The type of lumbar disc herniation in young patients had no significant relationship with the direction of spinous process deflection of the degenerative or upper lumbar vertebra (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Spinous process deviation is a risk factor of young lumbar disc herniation patients. If the deviation directions of adjacent lumbar spinous processes are opposite, it will increase the incidence of lumbar disc herniation in young patients. There was no significant correlation between the type of disc herniation and the deviation direction of the spinous process of the degenerative or upper lumbar vertebra. People with such anatomical variation can strengthen the stability of spine and prevent lumbar disc herniation through reasonable exercise.
Middle Aged ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement/complications* ; Vertebral Body ; Spinal Diseases ; Spinal Fusion/adverse effects* ; Lumbar Vertebrae/diagnostic imaging* ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration/etiology*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of morphological changes such as vertebral wedge deformation and disc degeneration (collapse) on adult thoracolumbar/lumbar degenerative kyphosis(TL/LDK) deformity. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 32 patients with spinal TL/LDK deformity admitted from August 2015 to December 2020, including 8 males and 24 females, aged 48 to 75(60.3±12.4) years old. On the long-cassette standing upright lateral radiographs, the coronal Cobb angle, sagittal thoracic lumbar/lumbar kyphosis angle(KA) of spine were measured, and the height and wedge parameters of apex vertebral(AV) and two vertebrae(AV-1, AV-2, AV+1, AV+2) above and below AV and the intervertebrae and the intervertebral disc(AV-1D, AV-2D, AV+1D, AV+2D) were evaluated, involving anterior vertebral body height(AVH), posterior vertebral body height(PVH), vertebral wedge angle(VWA), ratio of vertebral wedging(RVW), anterior disc height(ADH), posterior disc height(PDH), disc wedge angle(DWA), ratio of disc wedging(RDW), and DWA/KA. RESULTS: The average angle of kyphosis was (44.2±19.1)°. A significant decrease in anterior height of vertebral was observed compared to the posterior height of vertebral(P<0.005). There was no significant difference in anterior and posterior height of discs. The vertebral wedging ratio/contribution ratio:AV-2(14.98±10.95)%/(14.21±8.08)%, AV-1(21.08±12.39)%/(18.09±7.38)%, AV(26.94±11.94)%/(25.52±8.64)%, AV+1(24.19±8.42)%/(20.82±8.69)%, AV+2(20.56±7.80)%/(15.60±9.71)%, total contribution(94.23±22.25)%, the disc wedging ratio/contribution ratio:AV-2D(2.88±2.57)%/(5.27±4.11)%, AV-1D(1.98±1.41)%/(2.29±2.16)%, AV+1D(-5.54±3.75)%/(-0.57±0.46)%, AV+2D(-8.27±4.62)%/(-1.22±1.11)%, total contribution (5.77±4.79)%. And the contribution rate of AV was significantly higher than that of adjacent vertebral(P<0.05). CONCLUSION The vertebral body and intervertebral disc shape both have influence on thoracolumbar kyphosis. However, the contribution of vertebral morphometry to the angle of TL/LDK deformity is relatively more important than the disc. The contribution of the wedge change of the AV to the TL/LDK deformity is particularly significant.
Male ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Thoracic Vertebrae/diagnostic imaging* ; Lumbar Vertebrae/diagnostic imaging* ; Kyphosis ; Scoliosis ; Intervertebral Disc

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the short-term clinical effect of lumbar nerve root canal injection under X-ray angiography in the treatment of sciatica. METHODS: The clincal data of 78 patients with sciatica underwent lumbar nerve root canal injection under X-ray angiography from December 2017 to February 2020 was retrospectively analyzed. Including 31 males and 47 females, aged from 22 to 88 years old with a median of 65 years. There were 55 cases of lumbar disc herniation and 23 cases of lumbar spinal stenosis, the course of disease ranged from 1 to 8 weeks with a median of 3 weeks. There were 71 cases of single segment disc herniation or stenosis, including L_3,4 of 5 cases, L_4,5 of 61 cases, L₅S₁ of 5 cases, and 7 cases of multisegment herniation or stenosis. The pain visual analogue scale (VAS) was recorded and Macnab was used to evaluate the clinical effect. RESULTS: All patients completed standardized treatment without serious adverse reactions. VAS were (3.21±0.76) scores immediately after treatment, (2.89±0.33) scores 1 hour after treatment, (1.80±0.27) scores 6 hours after treatment, (1.10±0.20) scores 24 hours after treatment, (2.53±0.35) scores 1 week after treatment and (4.27±0.36) scores 1 month after treatment. There were significant differences in VAS between before treatment(7.83±0.56) and each time period after treatment(P<0.05). According to Macnab low back pain evaluation standard, 42 cases were effective, 34 cases were markedly effective and 2 cases were ineffective within 24 hours after treatment, with an effective rate of 97.4%;38 cases were effective, 25 cases were markedly effective, 15 cases were ineffective within one week after treatment, the effective rate was 80.0%;32 cases were effective, 22 cases were markedly effective, 24 cases were ineffective within one month after treatment, the effective rate was 69.2%. CONCLUSION The short-term clinical effect of nerve root canal injection under X-ray radiography in the treatment of sciatica is good and it is an effective method to relieve sciatica.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Angiography ; Dental Pulp Cavity ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement/diagnostic imaging* ; Lumbar Vertebrae/diagnostic imaging* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Sciatica/drug therapy* ; Treatment Outcome ; X-Rays ; Young Adult

Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement/diagnostic imaging* ; Lumbar Vertebrae/diagnostic imaging* ; Lymphangioma/diagnostic imaging* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

OBJECTIVE: To compare the degeneration of lumbosacral multifidus muscle in patients with lumbar disc herniation. METHODS: Thirty-five healthy volunteers and 35 patients with unilateral L lumbar disc herniation from December 2015 to September 2017 were recruited. There were 20 males and 15 females in each group, aged from 25 to 55 years old. In healthy volunteers group, the mean age was (35.66±8.73) years old and the BMI was (21.85±1.94) kg /m. In patients with lumbar disc herniation, the mean age was (36.09±7.70) years old, the BMI was (21.50±1.78) kg /m, the VAS score was 4.40±0.88, the course of disease was (11.20±7.14) months. Surface electromyography analysis was performed on the multifidus muscle of the two groups. The average myoelectric amplitude of the multifidus muscle in the two groups were compared. RESULTS: The average myoelectric amplitude of the multifidus muscle of healthy volunteers was (48.84±7.77) µV on the left and (49.13±7.86) µV on the right. There was no significant difference between the two sides (>0.05). The average myoelectric amplitude of multifidus muscle in patients with lumbar disc herniation was(48.82±8.14) µV on the healthy side and (42.81±7.00) µV on the affected side, and the difference was statistically significant between two sides(<0.05). There was no significant difference in the average myoelectric amplitude of multifidus muscle between the healthy side of lumbar disc herniation and on the left of healthy volunteers, or between the healthy side of lumbar disc herniation and on the right of healthy volunteers (>0.05). There was significant difference in the average myoelectric amplitude of multifidus muscle between the affected side of lumbar disc herniation and on the left of healthy volunteers, and also between the affected side of lumbar disc herniation and on the right of healthy volunteers(<0.05). CONCLUSION Patients with chronic lumbar disc herniation have an imbalance in myoelectric activity, and the muscle strength of the multifidus muscle on the affected side is significantly reduced.
Adult ; Electromyography ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration ; diagnostic imaging ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Paraspinal Muscles

Dynamic spinal cord compression has been investigated for several years, but until the advent of open MRI, the use of dynamic MRI (dMRI) did not gain popularity. Several publications have shown that cervical cord compression is both static and dynamic. On many occasions the evaluation of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is straightforward, but patients are frequently encountered with a significantly worse clinical examination than would be suggested by radiological images. In this paper, we present an extensive review of the literature in order to describe the importance of dMRI in various settings and applications. A detailed literature review was performed in the Medline and Pubmed databases using the terms “cervical spondylotic myelopathy”, “dynamic MRI”, “kinetic MRI”, and “myelomalalcia” for the period of 1980-2016. The study was limited to English language, human subjects, case series, retrospective studies, prospective reports, and clinical trials. Reviews, case reports, cadaveric studies, editorials, and commentaries were excluded. The literature search yielded 180 papers, 19 of which met inclusion criteria. However, each paper had evaluated results and outcomes in different ways. It was not possible to compile them for meta-analysis or pooled data evaluation. Instead, we evaluated individual studies and present them for discussion. We describe a number of parameters evaluated in 2661 total patients, including dynamic changes to spinal cord and canal dimensions, transient compression of the cord with changes in position, and the effects of position on the intervertebral disc. dMRI is a useful tool for understanding the development of CSM. It has found several applications in the diagnosis and preoperative evaluation of many patients, as well as certain congenital dysplasias and Hirayama disease. It is useful in correlating symptoms with the dynamic changes only noted on dMRI, and has reduced the incidence of misdiagnosis of myelopathy.
Cadaver ; Cervical Cord ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intervertebral Disc ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Compression ; Spinal Cord Diseases*

BACKGROUND: Low back pain is a frequent condition that results in substantial disability and causes admission of patients to neurosurgery clinics. To evaluate and present the therapeutic outcomes in lumbar disc hernia (LDH) patients treated by means of a conservative approach, consisting of bed rest and medical therapy. METHODS: This retrospective cohort was carried out in the neurosurgery departments of hospitals in Kahramanmaraş city and 23 patients diagnosed with LDH at the levels of L3−L4, L4−L5 or L5−S1 were enrolled. RESULTS: The average age was 38.4 ± 8.0 and the chief complaint was low back pain and sciatica radiating to one or both lower extremities. Conservative treatment was administered. Neurological examination findings, durations of treatment and intervals until symptomatic recovery were recorded. Laségue tests and neurosensory examination revealed that mild neurological deficits existed in 16 of our patients. Previously, 5 patients had received physiotherapy and 7 patients had been on medical treatment. The number of patients with LDH at the level of L3−L4, L4−L5, and L5−S1 were 1, 13, and 9, respectively. All patients reported that they had benefit from medical treatment and bed rest, and radiologic improvement was observed simultaneously on MRI scans. The average duration until symptomatic recovery and/or regression of LDH symptoms was 13.6 ± 5.4 months (range: 5−22). CONCLUSIONS: It should be kept in mind that lumbar disc hernias could regress with medical treatment and rest without surgery, and there should be an awareness that these patients could recover radiologically. This condition must be taken into account during decision making for surgical intervention in LDH patients devoid of indications for emergent surgery.
Bed Rest ; Cohort Studies ; Decision Making ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Hernia ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement* ; Low Back Pain ; Lower Extremity ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neurologic Examination ; Neurosurgery ; Retrospective Studies ; Sciatica

A 64-year-old woman was admitted to Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital due to the aggravation of bilateral radicular pain for one month prior to her visit. She had a 30 years history of low back pain and intermittent bilateral radiating pain. A magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed a bilateral space-occupying lesion in the L5 foramen. A sagittal computed tomography scan showed a disc space-narrowing, vacuum-containing, and widening of the neural exit foramen with thinning of the pedicle and posterior vertebral body scalloping. An axial scan showed that the space-occupying lesion contained calcification and had eroded the surrounding bony structure. During surgical exploration, the atrophic L5 nerve root was identified over the mass-like lesion, and the lesion was shown to be a result of a hard, extruded disc fragment. A bilateral foraminal disc is a very rare condition that when it progresses chronically and gradually, can erode adjacent bony structures. Specific precautions are necessary during fusion surgery with a pedicle screw.
Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 ; Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Neurilemmoma ; Pectinidae ; Pedicle Screws ; Seoul

OBJECTIVETo investigate effect of Activ L total lumbar disc replacement on lumbar sagittal alignment.

METHODSThe imaging data of patients with degenerative disc disease received Activ L total lumbar disc replacement at Department of Orthopedics, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University from March 2009 to March 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. The average age was 45.6 years(range, 35-60 years)and the surgery levels were as follows: L3-4 2 cases, L4-5 15 cases, L5/S1 5 cases, L3-4+ L4-5 3 cases, L4-5+ L5/S1 7 cases. All patients were followed up for 15 to 63 months(average, 32 months). Radiographic parameters such as lumbar lordosis angle(LL), segment lordosis angle(SL) and sacral slope angle(SS) were recorded. All the radiographic parameters were compared using one-way ANOVA at different stage. Lumbar lordosis angle of the two-level was compared with the one of one-level by using independent sample t-test before and after the operation. A partial correction test was carried out to determine the corrections between the parameters preoperatively, one month after the operation and at final follow-up.

RESULTSOne month after the operation, the lumbar lordosis angle decreased by an average of 1.8°, but there was no statistically significant(P>0.05). Compared with one month postoperation, the lumbar lordosis angle increased by an average of 6.8°(P<0.05), which also increased a lot compared with preoperation(P<0.05). The value of segment lordosis angle was rising up from preoperation to the final follow-up(P<0.05), so was the value of sacral slope angle, but there was no statistically significant between different stage(P>0.05). The lumbar lordosis angle showed no significant difference between double-level ones and single-level ones at different stage(P<0.05). The lumbar lordosis angle showed positive correlation with the sacral slope(P<0.001), however, the lumbar lordosis angle showed no corrected with the segment angle all the time(P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe total lumbar disc replacement with Activ L prosthesis had contributed to maintain and improve the lumbar alignment in the short and medium term. Double- or single-level total lumbar disc replacement had no significant effect on the value of lumbar lordosis angle. The lumbar lordosis angle showed positive correlation with the sacral slope all the time with no correlation between lumbar lordosis angle and sacral slope.

Diagnostic Imaging ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration ; surgery ; Lordosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; surgery ; Lumbosacral Region ; surgery ; Postoperative Period ; Prostheses and Implants ; Radiography ; Retrospective Studies ; Total Disc Replacement