Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) implants are increasingly being used for 360 degrees fusion after decompression of lumbar spinal stenosis combined with degenerative instability. Both titanium and PEEK (PolyEtherEtherKetone) implants are commonly used. Assessing the clinical and radiological results as well as typical complications, such as migration of the cages, is important. In addit...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to compare the outcomes of one-stage posterior surgery involving debridement, bone grafting, and instrumentation with and without local continuous chemotherapy and postural drainage for the treatment of lumbar spinal tuberculosis. METHODS From January 2009 to January 2013, 109 patients with lumbar spinal tuberculosis were treated in our center using ...

The cervical spine is one of the most complex structures of the human skeleton. The knowledge of the cervical spine kinematics is a very important tool for many clinical applications such as diagnosis, treatment and surgical interventions and for the development of new spinal implants. The finite element method (FEM) is a well-known and widely used numerical method to simulate structural behavi...

Previous studies by our group showed that nicotine delivered via a transdermal nicotine patch significantly enhanced posterior spinal fusion rates in rabbits. Nicotine transdermal patches provide a steady serum level; there may be a dose-dependent effect of nicotine on posterior spinal fusion. In an in vitro cell culture model of rabbit bone marrow-derived osteoblast-like cells, cells were expo...

Early surgical treatment of the cervical spine for neural decompression used the posterior approach to perform cervical laminectomies for trauma and degenerative disease (44, 60, 88). Scoville et al. (72) and Frykholm (31) refined the posterior cervical approach for degenerative disc disease and introduced the laminoforaminotomy technique. About 20 years later, a number of surgeons introduced a...

Osteochondromas are common benign tumours of bone that often occur in the metaphysodiaphyseal parts of long bones. They rarely occur in the spine. We present a case of solitary osteochondroma arising from the C-1 vertebral lamina, causing neurological symptoms. A 46-year-old man presented to our institution, complaining of pain and numbness originating from his neck and extending down to his le...

PURPOSE Intraoperative blood loss in scoliosis surgery often requires transfusions. Autogenous blood decreases but does not eliminate risks typically associated with allogenic blood transfusion. Costs associated with transfusions are significant. Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been shown to decrease blood loss in cardiac and joint surgery. Few studies have examined its use in pediatric spine surgery...

We studied 29 girls and one boy with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis who were at Risser grade 0 at the time of posterior spinal fusion and were followed until maturity (mean 7.8 years). We used serial radiographs to measure the ratio of disc to vertebral height in the fused segments and to detect differential anterior spinal growth and assess its effect on scoliosis, vertebral rotation, kyphosi...

INTRODUCTION: Spinal fusion techniques including anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) have been used to alleviate chronic low back pain and segmental instability. Supplemental fixation using pedicle screws, translaminar screws, facet screws, anterior plates or spinous process plates is often used to increase the stability of the ALIF construct to enhance fusion and prevent subsidence and mig...