STUDY DESIGN Retrospective review. OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between age and complications, and report age-stratified complication rates for the surgical treatment of adult scoliosis. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Literature examining age and complication rates for adult scoliosis surgery is conflicting. The Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) morbidity and mortality (M&M) database con...

The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the short-term (4 weeks) surgical complications after unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression (ULBD) in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis, below and above age 65. Twenty-nine consecutive patients operated upon in 2011 were included: 12 below age 65, and 17 above age 65. Five complications (17.1%) were observed, all in the older age...

SUMMARY Three cases of spontaneously closing dural arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are presented, and 11 previously published cases are reviewed. On the basis of clinical and angiographic data, two types of spontaneously regressing dural AVFs are distinguished: posttraumatic and spontaneous. In all cases, the explanation for spontaneous closure is unknown. Some authors have hypothesized that the ...

BACKGROUND Factors contributing to subarachnoid catheter passage after epidural placement are not well understood. This study explored mechanisms that might explain its occurrence. METHODS Human cadaveric dura was mounted on a model and pressurized to physiologic levels. In a standardized fashion, a 20-gauge Portex three-port, closed end (nonflexible) tip catheter was passed through an epidur...

OBJECTIVES The spring-loaded syringe is a loss of resistance syringe that provide a more objective sign that the epidural space has been entered compared with the traditional techniques. The aim of this study was to compare the time required to locate the epidural space and the backache incidence with the spring-loaded (SL), loss of resistance (LOR) and the hanging drop (HD) techniques for epid...

A dural tear is a common but troublesome complication of endoscopic spinal surgery. The limitations of space make repair difficult, and it is often necessary to proceed to an open operation to suture the dura in order to prevent leakage of cerebrospinal fluid. We describe a new patch technique in which a small piece of polyglactin 910 is fixed to the injured dura with fibrin glue. Three pieces ...

Over 100 years ago August Bier performed the first recorded spinal anaesthetic; and complications from the use of regional anaesthesia have been described over this same period of time. Bier also being the first to describe a ‘spinal’ or ‘post dural-puncture headache’ [1]. In Great Britain a number of high profile legal cases in the 1950s concerning major complications of neuraxial techniques l...

A study ef dural calcification is presented. The detection by roentgenography of 164 cases of dural calcification among 1,162 neurological and neurosurgical patients represented an incidenoe of 14%. Such calcification occurred with the greatest frequency in the falx cerebri, tentorium cerebelli and petroclinoid ligament, The main contributing factors and clinical significance of dural calcifica...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The pathogenesis and characteristics of multiple DAVSs are not well-known. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the angiographic and clinical characteristics of patients with multiple DAVSs with an emphasis on the pathomechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred seventy-nine patients with DAVS were reviewed. Patients with ≥ 2 fistulas at anatomically separate site...

Three cases of intracranial dural chondrosarcoma are reported. The radiologic appearance of this slow-growing, extraaxial malignant tumor is different from the more familiar skull-base chondrosarcoma and may mimic an atypical meningioma. Dural chondrosarcoma tends to be less calcified or even to lack matrix calcification; it is associated with bone erosion but not with bone destruction or hyper...