Pyogenic epidural abscess is a very rare disease. Once it occurs, it promptly progresses and can cause neurologic paralysis. Mean age of onset has been reported to be 57 years. Here we report making a diagnosis of pyogenic lumbar epidural abscess accompanying cauda equina syndrome in a 10-year-old girl. We treated this case successfully with surgical drainage and antibiotics. We report our case...

Cauda equina syndrome is 1 of a few true surgical emergencies involving the lumbar spine. Although treatment within 48 hours has been found to correlate with improved outcomes, recovery of bowel and bladder control does not always occur, and loss of these functions can be distressing to patients. An understanding of factors affecting the legal outcome can aid the clinician in determining risk m...

Bottom Line Among adults 65 years or older who present to primary care clinicians for a new episode of back pain, early imaging (before six weeks) resulted in no improved outcomes at one year, but increased overall health care costs by almost 30%. Indications for early imaging include major risk factors for cancer, signs of cauda equina syndrome, severe neurologic deficits, and fever with a his...

The prevalence of cigarette and alcohol consumption is high among young adult males during the reproductive period. The current study aimed to evaluate the impact of concurrent chronic administration of nicotine and ethanol on the quality of sperm in the rat. Fifty healthy Wistar male rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 10) and were given the following for a period of 50 days: etha...

The purpose of present study was to evaluate the testes and epididymides mediated reversible contraceptive efficacy of ethanol extract of Tinospora cordifolia stem at the dose level of 400mg/kg. b.wt./rat/day. Oral treatment of 60 days caused significant reduction in number of spermatozoa in cauda epididymides as well as in testis with a decreased in the motility of sperm collected from cauda e...

A case of the cauda equina syndrome complicating ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is described. An unusual feature of this case was the relapsing and remitting nature of the condition, but there is sufficient evidence to explain the clinical picture on the basis of a recurrent intraspinal inflammatory process. The clinical and radiological features are similar to those of a further 28 reported in th...

The patient was a 13-year-old boy who complained of pain in both buttocks. Plain and reconstructive computed tomography (CT) images showed an ossified lesion within the dura mater at the L5-S2 levels, and arachnoiditis ossificans in the lumbosacral area was suspected. In the operative findings obtained after cutting the dura, a bone fragment 4.5 × 0.5 × 0.5 cm in size was observed in the center...

Oral administration (80 mg/kg body wt/day for 30 days) of solasodine (extracted and isolated from the berries of the Solanum xanthocarpum) to intact dogs significantly decreased the epithelial cell height of cauda epididymides. The cells became atrophic and the lumen was devoid of spermatozoa. Castration followed by the adminstration of solasodine further reduced the epithelial cell height in c...

We describe a 4-year-old Hispanic boy with a dermal pit and an overlying macular vascular malformation in the lumbosacral area. Magnetic resonance imaging of the region revealed an intraspinal lesion at L1-L2. A fibrous tract was excised. A benign lipoma intrinsic to the roots of the cauda equina was noted at surgery. The cutaneous stigmata of occult spinal dysraphisms are reviewed.

The evaluation of physical, psychological, social, and occupational factors are recommended in patients with discogenic sciatica. Surgical discectomy may be considered in selected patients with sciatica due to lumbar disc herniations that fail to resolve with conservative management for at least 6-8 weeks, or in patients with cauda equina syndrome. An appropriate pre-operative work up including...