BACKGROUND The high prevalence of chronic persistent neck pain not only leads to disability but also has a significant economic, societal, and health impact. Among multiple modalities of treatments prescribed in the management of neck and upper extremity pain, surgical, interventional and conservative modalities have been described. Cervical epidural injections are also common modalities of tre...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical effect of the minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion combined with posterolateral fusion and unilateral fixation using a tubular retractor in the management of degenerative lumbar disease. METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted to analyze the clinical outcome of 58 degenerative lumbar disease patients who were treated with minimall...

919 Scientific abstract: Chronic pain Utility of Digital Subtraction Angiography in Cervical Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injections: Does Digital Subtraction Improve Safety Over Live Fluoroscopy? Andrew Rubens, Carlos A. Pino, Clarence Ivie The University of Vermont Medical Center Introduction Cervical transforaminal epidural steroid injections (CTFESI) have been used for many years in the ...

STUDY DESIGN Prospective, randomized, controlled study of patients with recurrent lumbar disc herniations after conventional discectomy, operated either in a full-endoscopic or microsurgical technique. OBJECTIVE Comparison of results of lumbar revision discectomies in full-endoscopic interlaminar and transforaminal technique with the conventional microsurgical technique. SUMMARY OF BACKGROU...

OBJECTIVE To critically review the best available trials of the utility of transforaminal epidural steroid injections (TFESIs) or selective nerve root blocks (SNRBs) to treat lumbosacral radiculopathy. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE (PubMed, Ovid, MDConsult), EMBASE, and the Cochrane database. Databases were searched from inception through 2003. STUDY SELECTION A database search was conducted by usin...

UNLABELLED THE OBJECT OF STUDY: Analysis of surgical treatment results in patients with recurrent lumbar disc herniation by transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) and repeated laminotomy and discectomy for the improvement of pain and disability. MATERIAL AND METHODS Data analysis was performed on a complex diagnosis and treatment of 56 patients with recurrent lumbar disc herniation who...

approach (4). In 2002, Foley and Lefkowitz enhanced the same concept by means of the implementation of a minimally invasive TLIF (MI-TLIF) with the goal to reduce tissue damages, at the same time achieving both neural decompression and adequate interbody fusion (2). █ INTRODUCTION Minimally invasive surgery has gained popularity over the last decades. In 1982, Harms and Rolinger developed the t...

BACKGROUND Minimum clinical important difference (MCID) has been adopted as the smallest improvement in patient-reported outcome needed to achieve a level of improvement thought to be meaningful to patients. OBJECTIVE To use a common MCID calculation method with a cost-utility threshold anchor to introduce the concept of minimum cost-effective difference (MCED). METHODS Forty-five patients ...

OBJECTIVE We wanted to investigate the relationship between the magnetic resonance (MR) findings and the clinical outcome after treatment with non-surgical transforaminal epidural steroid injections (ESI) for lumbar herniated intervertebral disc (HIVD) patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Transforaminal ESI were performed in 91 patients (50 males and 41 females, age range: 13-78 yrs) because of lu...