People with epilepsy are more accident prone than the non-epilepsy population. Bone fractures are most often due to seizure-related falls. However, seizures themselves, in particular generalized tonic-clonic seizures, may also cause fractures, e.g. of the thoracic spine. Here, I present a man who developed focal epilepsy following a subarachnoidal hemorrhage. During a focal motor seizure with l...

Anderson type II odontoid fractures are reported to be the most common injury of the odontoid process in patients over the age of 65. However, atraumatic occult Anderson type III odontoid fractures have been rarely described and remain a diagnostic challenge. In the present report, we illustrate a 78-year-old female with osteoporosis-associated marked thoracic kyphotic deformity who developed a...

In this paper we present a new 3D segmentation approach for the vertebrae of the lower thoracic and the lumbar spine in spiral computed tomography datasets. We implemented a multi-step procedure. Its main components are deformable models, volume growing, and morphological operations. The performance analysis that included an evaluation of accuracy using the European Spine Phantom, and of intra-...

Introduction: Thoracolumbar fracture dislocation is a trauma of high energy which generally is treated with longsegment stabilization. Anterior spine exposure may be used alone or in combination with a posterior midline approach in a staged or sequential fashion. In this study, we report the 7-years’ experience of the anterior approach to the thoracolumbar spine fracture dislocations at a singl...

We have reviewed our experience in managing 11 patients who sustained an indirect sternal fracture in combination with an upper thoracic spinal injury between 2003 and 2006. These fractures have previously been described as 'associated' fractures, but since the upper thorax is an anatomical entity composed of the upper thoracic spine, ribs and sternum joined together, we feel that the term 'fra...

Patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures are at increased risk of hip fracture. In a cohort of hip fracture patients, many had previous imaging studies showing incidental vertebral fractures. Fifty-four percent of fractures were not reported by the radiologist, highlighting a missed opportunity for diagnosing and treating osteoporosis, thereby preventing further fractures. PURPOSE Patie...

Mechanical neck pain is a common occurrence in the general population resulting in a considerable economic burden. Often physical therapists will incorporate manual therapies directed at the cervical spine including joint mobilization and manipulation into the management of patients with cervical pain. Although the effectiveness of mobilization and manipulation of the cervical spine has been we...

The "thoracic spine sign" is visualized when anechoic or hypoechoic fluid is present in the pleural space. Fluid serves as a medium through which the thoracic vertebral bodies are visualized above the diaphragm. We present three cases of emergency department patients with a thoracic spine sign identified on bedside ultrasound. These patients were subsequently diagnosed with pleural fluid accumu...

Air may be visualized in the spinal epidural space in a variety of settings. Pathologic collections of air from herniated vacuum disk and epidural abscess have been described [1, 2]. Iatrogenic air may result from epidural anesthesia or unsuccessful lumbar puncture. Intraspinal air (pneumorrhachis) after trauma has been considered a rare occurrence; only three cases have been reported in the li...