OBJECTIVE To quantify the effect of levothyroxine dose on risk of fractures in older adults. DESIGN Nested case-control study. SETTING Population based health databases, Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS Adults aged 70 or more prescribed levothyroxine between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2007 and followed for fractures until 31 March 2008. Cases were cohort members admitted to hospital for any f...

 Abstract Background: Correction of severe kyphosis is a challenging operation in spinal surgery. A two stage operation has been commonly used: anterior release and decompression followed by posterior correction and fusion. We describe the posterior vertebral osteotomy technique for correction of severe and rigid kyphosis through posterior-only approach. Methods: Twelve patients (six male and s...

INTRODUCTION An increased risk of vertebral fracture (VF) is one of the extra-articular manifestations of spondyloarthropathy (SpA). The prevalence of moderate to severe VFs visualized by radiography (Rx) in patients with SpA in daily practice is unknown until imaging of the full spine is available, as most VFs do not present with clinical signs and symptoms of an acute fracture. METHODS We e...

We present a case of a 51-year-old man who was injured in a bicycle accident. His main injury was an unstable fracture of the cervical and thoracic vertebral column. Several hours after his arrival to the hospital the patient underwent open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of the cervical and thoracic spine. The patient was hospitalized in our critical care unit for 99 days. During this t...

Purpose: We investigated loco-regional degenerative changes’ association with incidentally found non-traumatic vertebral body fractures of the lower thoracic and lumbar spine in older patients. Methods: The patient collective included patients age range 50 to 90 years. Vertebral bodies from T7 L5 were included. classified according Genant. following osseous extra-osseous changes included: osteo...

Pain in the thoracic region of the spine is a common complaint, which can be as disabling as cervical and lumbar pain (Edmonston & Singer 1997). There are reports in the literature of presentations involving acute cervical ‘locked facet joints’ as well as acute lumbar ‘locked facet joints’ (Maitland 1978; Exelby 2001). Although there are a multitude of conditions that can arise from the thoraci...

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive primary malignancy which invades the pleura, peritoneum or pericardium. Mortality rates are high. Local tumor invasion is inevitable; and metastasis to the chest wall, mediastinum, or thoracic spine is common. Distal metastasis to osseous structures other than the thoracic spine is rare. External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is a mainstay treatment ...

Dra. Rita Delgado – Rua Borges Lagoa 1080 / 307 04038-002 São Paulo SP Brasil. E-mail: [email protected] Chordomas are slow-growing tumors with aggressive local behavior that probably originate from embryonic remnants of the notochord. This is a midline structure along the neural tube that presents involution and fragmentation as ossification of the axial skeleton occurs, in such way that i...