BACKGROUND Although thoracic vertebral malformations with kyphosis and scoliosis are often considered incidental findings on diagnostic imaging studies of screw-tailed brachycephalic breeds, they have been suggested to interfere with spinal biomechanics and intervertebral disc degeneration. It is however unknown if an abnormal spinal curvature also predisposes dogs to develop clinically relevan...

Intervertebral disc herniation of the lumbar spine is a common disease presenting with low back pain and involving nerve root radiculopathy. Some neurological symptoms in the majority of patients frequently improve after a period of conservative treatment. This has been regarded as the result of a decrease of pressure exerted from the herniated disc on neighboring neurostructures and a gradual ...

INTRODUCTION: Cells of the intervertebral disc respond to mechanical and biophysical stimuli in their environment, including deformations, hydrostatic and osmotic pressures [1]. Previous studies have shown that fibrochondrocytes of the disc respond to altered osmotic pressure with changes in post-translational biosynthesis of proteoglycans (i.e., S-incorporation) [2, 3], as well as changes in g...

OBJECTIVES The job of firefighting can cause lumbar burden and low back pain. This study aimed to identify the association between age and lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration and whether the association differs between field and administrative (non-field) firefighters. METHODS Subjects were selected using a stratified random sampling method. Firefighters were stratified by geographic area...

A herniated intervertebral disc is the most common type of soft tissue mass lesion within the lumbar spinal canal. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a useful tool for the assessment of patients with lower back pain and radiating pain, especially intervertebral disc herniation. MRI findings of intervertebral disc herniation are typical. However, from time to time, despite an apparently classic...

The intervertebral disc is submitted to complex loading during its normal daily activities which are responsible for variations of the hydrostatic pressure in its structure. Thus, the determination of the magnitude of failure hydrostatic pressure is essential as a potential for the evaluation of the mechanisms that promote the weakening and the disruption of the annular fibers, commonly linked ...

Discogenic leg pain is a primary cause of health care expenditure in the U.S.A., afflicting nearly 10 million people at an estimated cost of over $20 billion.(1,2) This pain is often due to herniation of the intervertebral disc (3-5) and clinically characterized as compressive or noncompressive. (3) Compressive herniations have been treated with open surgical discectomy/decompression when a pro...

AIM To compare two anthropometrical methods for measuring the intervertebral disc size with computer tomography measurements and to develop a new anthropometric method for calculating intervertebral disc area. METHODS Intervertebral disc size was measured using computer tomography and two anthropometric methods (Colombini and modified Colombini) in a sample of 40 subjects. The new calculation...

Background: A large proportion of patients presenting with lumbar disc disease are opium addicts in our region. It was, therefore, hypothesized that morphine might affect the intervertebral disc. We investigated the histological findings of morphine dependency on intervertebral discs in rat. Methods: Forty NMRI adult male rats (230-250 g) placed on ordinary diet and received aqueous solution of...