STUDY DESIGN Retrospective review. OBJECTIVE To determine if lumbarized sacra at the L5-6 level (functional L4-5) are a contraindication to a lateral transpsoas approach. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Transitional vertebrae at the lumbosacral junction present mechanical and morphologic changes, though these changes have not been characterized with respect to the feasibility of a lateral transp...

BACKGROUND A single axial image measured between the 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae (L4-L5) is most frequently chosen to approximate total abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume, but growing evidence suggests that this measurement site is not ideal. OBJECTIVE The objective was to determine the single magnetic resonance (MR) image that best approximates the total VAT volume in a biracial...

We demonstrated in this study that inhibition of intra-hepatic growth of colon cancer by TAC-101 is mediated by inhibition of angiogenesis. In vitro experiments showed that TAC-101 inhibited the proliferation of murine hepatic sinusoidal endothelial (HSE) cells induced by coculture with murine colon 26-L5 (L5) cells. HSE cell proliferation was also enhanced by conditioned medium of L5 cells (CM...

BACKGROUND Posterior decompression, instrumentation, and posterolateral fusion are surgical procedures for the treatment of degenerative lumbar diseases. Solid fusion usually causes adjacent problems. This study investigated the clinical outcome and radiographic fate of the L5-S1 segment in patients who underwent posterior instrumented surgery for degenerative lumbar diseases. METHODS From Ja...

Fracture-dislocation of lumbosacral junction is rare. It usually affects the patients with multiple trauma. In all reported cases, anterior or posterior displacement of L5 on S1 have been reported, but anterolateral displacement has not been reported yet. Herein, we report delayed diagnosis of fracture-dislocation of L5-S1 with anterolateral displacement of L5 on S1, which was treated successfu...

OBJECTIVES Pedicle-lengthening osteotomy is a novel surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), which achieves substantial enlargement of the spinal canal by expansion of the bilateral pedicle osteotomy sites. Few studies have evaluated the impact of this new surgery on spinal canal volume (SCV) and neural foramen dimension (NFD) in three different types of LSS patients. METHODS CT scans were p...

Progressive spondylolisthesis may occur in adults with isthmic spondylolysis with an estimated incidence of 20%. This biomechanical study showed that in adult spines with bilateral L5 pars fractures, an anterior slip of L5 depends on the extent of the load-bearing deficiency of the disc and the presence of shear force across L5-S1. A combination of disc degeneration and muscle dysfunction may b...

The cadaver spine motion segment behavior under torsional load was evaluated with the disc intact, with partial anterior discectomy and with spacer insertion. The results of this study explain how anterior lumbar discectomy and interbody fusion (ALIF) affects the torsional stability of the motion segment. The pseudarthrosis rate of the anterior lumbar discectomy and interbody fusion (ALIF)...

To investigate whether activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in damaged and/or undamaged primary afferents participates in neuropathic pain after partial nerve injury, we examined the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK), p38 MAPK, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in the L4 and L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) in the L5 spinal nerve ligation (SNL)...