STUDY DESIGN Retrospective. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical safety and accuracy of the Tai Chi ((Equation is included in full-text article.)) technique for placing pedicle screws, without intraoperative radiographic imaging, in severe scoliotic spines. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA The current techniques for pedicle screw placement have a number of drawbacks in cases of severe scoliosis, in...

INTRODUCTION Pedicle screw fixation allows purchase of all three spinal columns without encroaching into the spinal canal improving fracture fixation, as well as deformity correction. Fortunately, neurologic injury associated with pedicle screw malposition is rare. CASE PRESENTATION A 19-year-old boy was surgically treated for severe right thoracic scoliosis associated with a Chiari Type 1 ma...

Pedicle screw constructs have become the mainstay for surgical correction in patients with spinal deformities. To reduce or avoid the risk of pedicle screw-based complications and to decrease the costs associated with pedicle screw instrumentation, some authors have introduced interval, skipped, and key-vertebral pedicle screw strategies for correction. However, there have been no comparisons o...

BACKGROUND CONTEXT Achieving solid implant fixation to osteoporotic bone presents a clinical challenge. New techniques and devices are being designed to increase screw-bone purchase of pedicle screws in the lumbar spine via a novel cortical bone trajectory that may improve holding screw strength and minimize loosening. Preliminary clinical evidence suggests that this new trajectory provides scr...

BACKGROUND Pedicle screws are widely used in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) surgeries. Pedicle screw malposition may lead to serious vascular and neurologic complications. Knowledge of the morphometric anatomy of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae is essential for the surgeon while implanting pedicle screws. It has been reported that there is a reduction of pedicle width at the concavity ...

OBJECT The authors sought to determine the biomechanical effectiveness of threaded interbody cages or dowels compared with that achieved using pedicle screw instrumentation in resisting Grade I lumbar spine degenerative spondylolisthesis. METHODS Thirty-three levels obtained from seven cadaveric lumbar spines were instrumented with cages or dowels, pedicle screw/rod instrumentation, or both. ...

In free-flap surgery, if the appropriate length of the pedicle and the distance necessary for separation of the artery and vein are determined earlier during flap elevation, the operative time and the stress placed on the flap pedicle can be reduced. However, the pedicle of a flap passes through 3-dimensional structures, particularly in head and neck reconstructions, and because of the differen...

BACKGROUND Short-segment pedicle screw instrumentation (SSPI) is used for unstable burst fractures to correct deformity and stabilize the spine for fusion. However, pedicle screw loosening, pullout, or breakage often occurs due to the large moment applied during spine motion, leading to poor outcomes. The purpose of this study was to test the ability of a newly designed device, the Trans-Endpla...

The variability in width, height, and spatial orientation of a spinal pedicle makes pedicle screw insertion a delicate operation. The aim of the current paper is to describe a computer-assisted surgical navigation system based on fluoroscopic X-ray image calibration and three-dimensional optical localizers in order to reduce radiation exposure while increasing accuracy and reliability of the su...

Study Design A retrospective computed tomography (CT)-based morphometric study of 84 C1pedicles in an Indian population focusing on critical morphometric dimensions vis-a-vis C1 pedicle screw placement. Purpose To determine the feasibility of C1 pedicle screw placement in an Indian population and propose a novel classification system for the same. Overview of Literature At present, C1 pedic...