Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of transcervical non-inflatable endoscopic thyroidectomy through the posterior inferior sternocleidomastoid approach. Methods:From December 2022 to May 2023, the clinical data of 35 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma treated by transcervical non-inflatable endoscopic surgery via posterior inferior sternocleidomastoid approach were retrospectively analyzed. There were 14 males and 21 females, with an average age of 44.7 years. The operation time, bleeding volume, postoperative recovery, complications and follow-up were recorded. Results:All 35 patients successfully completed the surgery, with an average operation time of 4 hours and 7 minutes, an average bleeding volume of 14 ml, and an average postoperative hospital stay of 3.5 days. There were no serious complications and no obvious neck discomfort during postoperative follow-up. Conclusion:Transcervical non-inflatable endoscopic thyroidectomy via posterior inferior sternocleidomastoid approach is safe and effective, with fast postoperative recovery,high appearance satisfaction and good neck comfort.
Female ; Male ; Humans ; Adult ; Retrospective Studies ; Neck ; Neck Muscles/surgery* ; Thyroid Neoplasms/surgery*

This paper studies the active force characteristics of the neck muscles under the condition of rapid braking, which can provide theoretical support for reducing the neck injury of pilots when carrier-based aircraft blocks the landing. We carried out static loading and real vehicle braking experiments under rapid braking conditions, collected the active contraction force and electromyography (EMG) signals of neck muscles, and analyzed the response characteristics of neck muscle active force response. The results showed that the head and neck forward tilt time was delayed and the amplitude decreased during neck muscle pre-tightening. The duration of the neck in the extreme position decreased, and the recovery towards the seat direction was faster. The EMG signals of trapezius muscle was higher than sternocleidomastoid muscle. This suggests that pilots can reduce neck injury by pre-tightening the neck muscles during actual braking flight. In addition, we can consider the design of relevant fittings for pre-tightening the neck muscles.
Neck Muscles ; Neck ; Electromyography ; Head

Objective: To expore the correlation between neck disability, neck pain and muscle strength in cervical pondylosis of office worker, and to provide scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of cervical spondylosis. Methods: In April 2021 ,234 patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy treated in the Subsidiary Rehabilitation Hospital of Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from April 2015 to April 2017 were selected, the correlation between Neck Disability Index (NDI) score, neck pain and muscle strength was analyzed using the Spearman rank correlation method. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the difference of maximum muscle strength of isometric contraction. Results: NDI score was negatively correlated with neck flexion, extension, and muscle strength in the left and right flexion directions (r(s)=-0.164, -0.169, -0.222, -0.176, P=0.012, 0.010, 0.001 , 0.007). In mild and moderate functional disorder patients, the muscle strength in flexion, extension and left and right flexion direction was greater, the difference was statistically significant (P <0.01). Conclusion: There is a negative correlation between cervical functional disorder and cervical muscle strength in office workers, suggesting that strengthening cervical muscle strength may be a way to improve cervical spine function.
Cervical Vertebrae ; Humans ; Muscle Strength/physiology* ; Neck Muscles/physiology* ; Neck Pain/physiopathology* ; Occupational Diseases/physiopathology* ; Range of Motion, Articular/physiology* ; Spondylosis/physiopathology*

Schwannoma is a benign tumor rarely found in the head and neck and much less commonly found in the intraparotid facial nerve. It is a slow-growing encapsulated tumor originating from the Schwann cells or axonal nerve sheath. It can occur anywhere along the course of the facial nerve. Patients may present with symptoms of facial palsy, but the most common presenting symptom is an asymptomatic swelling. Diagnosis is usually difficult before surgical removal and histopathological examination. We report a rare case of intraparotid facial nerve schwannoma in a 57-year-old female who had sustained a mass of the right preauricular area for 3 years. She reported no pain or facial muscle weakness. Enhanced computed tomography findings revealed the impression of pleomorphic adenoma. However, intraoperative gross findings were not characteristic of pleomorphic adenoma, and a frozen biopsy was performed resulting in the impression of a nerve sheath tumor. We performed an extracapsular surgical excision without parotidectomy. Permanent histopathology and immunohistochemistry reports diagnosed the mass as schwannoma. There were no complications including facial palsy after surgery. No recurrence was found at 6 months after surgery
Adenoma, Pleomorphic ; Axons ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Facial Muscles ; Facial Nerve ; Facial Paralysis ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Neurilemmoma ; Parotid Gland ; Recurrence ; Schwann Cells

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective observational study was performed. PURPOSE: We investigated the prevalence of sarcopenia in dropped head syndrome (DHS), and the relationship between biochemical markers, including major advanced glycation end products (AGEs), pentosidine, and DHS in older women. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: AGEs have been implicated in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia. METHODS: We studied 13 elderly women with idiopathic DHS (mean age, 77.2 years) and 20 healthy volunteers (mean age, 74.8 years). We used a bioelectrical impedance analyzer to analyze body composition, including appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (SMI; appendicular lean mass [kg]/[height (m)]2). Cervical sagittal plane alignment, including C2–C7 sagittal vertical axis (C2–C7SVA), C2–C7 angle, and C2 slope (C2S), was measured. Biochemical markers, such as serum and urinary pentosidine, serum homocysteine, 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D, were measured. The level of each variable was compared between DHS and controls. The relationship between biochemical markers and DHS was examined. RESULTS: Sarcopenia (SMI < 5.75) was observed at a high prevalence in participants with DHS (77% compared to 22% of healthy controls). Height, weight, femoral bone mineral density, appendicular lean mass, total lean mass, and SMI all had significantly lower values in the DHS group. Serum and urinary pentosidine, and serum homocysteine were significantly higher in the DHS group compared to controls. Analysis of cervical alignment revealed a significant positive correlation of serum pentosidine with C2–C7SVA and C2S. CONCLUSIONS: Sarcopenia was involved in DHS, and high serum pentosidine levels are associated with severity of DHS in older women.
Aged ; Biomarkers ; Body Composition ; Bone Density ; Electric Impedance ; Female ; Glycosylation End Products, Advanced ; Head ; Healthy Volunteers ; Homocysteine ; Humans ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Neck Muscles ; Observational Study ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies ; Sarcopenia

PURPOSE: Whiplash associated disorders remain a major health problem in terms of impact on health care and on societal costs. Aetiology remains controversial including the old supposition that the cervical muscles do not play a significant role. This study examined the muscle activity from relevant muscles during rear-end impacts in an effort to gauge their influence on the aetiology of whiplash associated disorders. METHODS: Volunteers were subjected to a sub-injury level of rear impact. Surface electromyography (EMG) was used to record cervical muscle activity before, during and after impact. Muscle response time and EMG signal amplitude were analysed. Head, pelvis, and T1 acceleration data were recorded. RESULTS: The activities of the cervical muscles were found to be significant. The sternocleidomastoideus, trapezius and erector spinae were activated on average 59 ms, 73 ms and 84 ms after the impact stimulus, respectively, prior to peak head acceleration (113 ms). CONCLUSION The cervical muscles reacted prior to peak head acceleration, thus in time to influence whiplash biomechanics and possibly injury mechanisms. It is recommended therefore, that muscular influences be incorporated into the development of the new rear-impact crash test dummy in order to make the dummy as biofidelic as possible.
Acceleration ; Accidents, Traffic ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Electromyography ; Head ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Models, Biological ; Neck Muscles ; physiopathology ; Reaction Time ; Whiplash Injuries ; etiology ; physiopathology

Torticollis is an abnormal, asymmetric head or neck position which usually caused by imbalance of paracervical muscles. The traumatic torticollis can be caused by following events; atlantoaxial rotatory subluxation, atlantoaxial dislocation, cervical vertebral fractures, and injury to the cervical musculature. Especially, acute traumatic atlantoaxial rotatory subluxation usually presents limitation of cervical range of motion without pain or neurologic deficit. We report a case of a 58 year-old man who developed the acute atlantoaxial rotatory subluxation right after the chiropractic therapy, which induced the limitation of cervical range of motion to 52.5% of normal range. The magnetic resonance image revealed the facture of the odontoid process and the partial injury in transverse ligaments of the atlas. He underwent intramuscular botulinum toxin injection and 10 days of continuous cervical traction 15 hours a day using a 5 kg weight. The range of the cervical motion restored up to 90.2% of normal range.
Atlanto-Axial Joint ; Botulinum Toxins ; Chiropractic ; Dislocations ; Head ; Ligaments ; Muscles ; Neck ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Odontoid Process ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Reference Values ; Torticollis ; Traction

Hanging is the most common method of suicide in Malaysia. However, hanging in combination with suicidal ligature strangulation is uncommon. The victim is a 31-year-old man, with no previous medical or psychiatric disorders. He accomplished self-strangulation using a shoelace and hanging himself with a High-Definition Multimedia Interface cable. Three loops of a shoelace ligature were present around the neck. A single knot was present on the front, and a double knot at the back of the neck. Internal examination of the neck revealed small bilateral hemorrhages of the sternocleidomastoid muscles. No laryngeal cartilage or hyoid bone fractures were observed. No other evidence of injury was noted other than moderate pulmonary edema. The post-mortem toxicology results were negative. The cause of death was ascertained as neck compression due to ligatures. Scene assessment and post-mortem findings concur with suicide. This report describes an unusual case of suicidal ligature strangulation, in combination with hanging using two different ligatures.
Adult ; Cause of Death ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hyoid Bone ; Laryngeal Cartilages ; Ligation ; Malaysia ; Methods ; Multimedia ; Muscles ; Neck ; Pulmonary Edema ; Suicide ; Toxicology

PURPOSE: The aim is to study the dependence of deformable based auto-segmentation of head and neck organs-at-risks (OAR) on anatomy matching for a single atlas based system and generate an acceptable set of contours. METHODS: A sample of ten patients in neutral neck position and three atlas sets consisting of ten patients each in different head and neck positions were utilized to generate three scenarios representing poor, average and perfect anatomy matching respectively and auto-segmentation was carried out for each scenario. Brainstem, larynx, mandible, cervical oesophagus, oral cavity, pharyngeal muscles, parotids, spinal cord, and trachea were the structures selected for the study. Automatic and oncologist reference contours were compared using the dice similarity index (DSI), Hausdroff distance and variation in the centre of mass (COM). RESULTS: The mean DSI scores for brainstem was good irrespective of the anatomy matching scenarios. The scores for mandible, oral cavity, larynx, parotids, spinal cord, and trachea were unacceptable with poor matching but improved with enhanced bony matching whereas cervical oesophagus and pharyngeal muscles had less than acceptable scores for even perfect matching scenario. HD value and variation in COM decreased with better matching for all the structures. CONCLUSION: Improved anatomy matching resulted in better segmentation. At least a similar setup can help generate an acceptable set of automatic contours in systems employing single atlas method. Automatic contours from average matching scenario were acceptable for most structures. Importance should be given to head and neck position during atlas generation for a single atlas based system.
Brain Stem ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Head ; Humans ; Larynx ; Mandible ; Methods ; Mouth ; Neck ; Organs at Risk ; Pharyngeal Muscles ; Radiotherapy ; Spinal Cord ; Trachea

OBJECTIVES: The sensitivity and positive predictive value of widely used intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) using electromyography (EMG) of the vocalis muscle in thyroid surgery are controversial. Thus, we developed a novel IONM system with an accelerometer sensor that uses the piezoelectric effect instead of EMG to detect laryngeal twitching. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of this novel IONM system during thyroid surgery in a porcine model. METHODS: We developed an accelerometer sensor that uses the piezoelectric effect to measure laryngeal twitching in three dimensions. This novel accelerometer sensor was placed in the anterior neck skin (transcutaneous) or postcricoid area. Stimulus thresholds, amplitude, and latency of laryngeal twitching measured using the accelerometer sensor were compared to those measured through EMG of the vocalis muscle. RESULTS: The amplitudes of the accelerometer sensor at the anterior neck and postcricoid area were significantly lower than those of EMG because of differences in the measurement method used to evaluate laryngeal movement. However, no significant differences in stimulus thresholds between the EMG endotracheal tube and transcutaneous or postcricoid accelerometer sensors were observed. CONCLUSION: Accelerometer sensors located at the anterior neck or postcricoid area were able to identify laryngeal twitching. The stimulus intensity measured with these sensors was equivalent to that from conventional vocalis EMG. Our novel IONM system with an accelerometer sensor that checks changes in surface acceleration can be an alternative to EMG of the vocalis muscle for IONM in the future.
Acceleration ; Electromyography ; Laryngeal Muscles ; Methods ; Neck ; Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve ; Skin ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroidectomy