Sacral tumours often present surgical resection and reconstruction challenges. Wide resections result in large sacral defects and neoadjuvant radiotherapy impairs wound healing. The wounds need to be covered with bulky, well-vascularised, healthy tissues. We present 2 cases where large sacral defects were reconstructed following tumour resection. Both defects were reconstructed with inferiorly ...

Currarino syndrome is a congenital disorder, consisting of a triad of anomalies including an anorectal malformation, sacral anomaly, and a presacral mass. Anterior sacral meningoceles are the most common presacral mass. A young child presented to our institution with an unrepaired anorectal malformation and a large anterior sacral meningocele. We describe how the anterior meningocele affected t...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of sacral acupuncture on acetic acid-induced bladder irritation using cystometry in conscious rats, with particular focus on effects on afferent fibers of the bladder. METHODS A total of 40 female Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200-270 g were used. The animals were divided into 5 groups: (1) rats with bladder overactivity induced by acetic acid, without sac...

Neurophysiological investigations and neurosurgical procedures of the sacral plexus are not especially well developed, because the sacral plexus is difficult to access. Awareness that sacral radiculopathies may exist is still lacking and the incidence of these pathologies is widely underestimated. Since the recent introduction of laparoscopy in the field of pelvic nerves, the situation has chan...

Isolated sacral fractures which occur by shear forces on the pelvic ring are seen less commonly and they are commonly transversely oriented. A 29-year-old Turkish female patient, who sat in front seat in the car, was unrestrained, and another car hit them from right front side of their vehicle. Physical examination revealed considerable tenderness over the right superior gluteal region and excr...

The sacral hiatus is used for access to the spinal canal in many neurosurgical and anesthesiologic procedures. The aim of the present paper is to give a review of its anatomical characteristics relevant to permit correct and uncomplicated accesses. The sacral hiatus is posteriorly closed by the superficial dorsal sacrococcygeal ligament (also called sacrococcygeal membrane) which has to be pier...

INTRODUCTION Magnetic stimulation of the sacral nerve roots is used for neurologic examination. However, no one has reported therapeutic efficacy of pain relief from pudendal neuralgia with sacral magnetic stimulation. METHODS Five patients with pudendal neuralgia or sciatica received 30 to 50 pulsed magnetic stimuli of the sacral nerve roots. The median age of the patients was 59 (range, 28-...

Immunocytochemical analysis of the distribution of dynorphin B terminals in the sacral spinal cord of the cat revealed a pattern of staining very similar to that produced with antisera directed against the primary afferent derived, putative neurotransmitter, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide. Labeled axons and terminals were concentrated in lamina I and V and there was dense fiber staining in t...

BACKGROUND Sacral bone fractures after direct traumas such as gunshot wounds and blunt sacral traumas are rarely, whereas those occurring after indirect traumas with vertical shear mechanisms ( car accidents or falls) are more frequently seen. METHODS A cadaver sacrum was modelled 3-dimensionally using finite element software. Left sacroiliac joint was modeled to simulate a 75- kg man falling...

Previous work of our laboratory has shown that neurons in the lateral sacral cord in cat project heavily to the periaqueductal grey (PAG), in all likelihood conveying information from bladder and genital organs. In humans this information usually does not reach consciousness, which raises the question of whether the lateral sacral cell group projects to the thalamus. After wheatgerm agglutinin-...