BACKGROUND: Spheno-orbital meningiomas (SOMs) pose a challenge to the skull base neurosurgeon because of their variable presentation and involvement of critical structures within the orbit. There is no consensus on optimal management of these patients and how to achieve maximal safe resection. The authors share an illustrative case with an accompanying video to demonstrate their aggressive approach to resect SOMs and their intraorbital components.
METHODS: A 75-year-old-woman presented with progressive vision loss and proptosis. Magnetic resonance imaging was consistent with a large, left-sided sphenoid wing meningioma with extension to the orbital wall and compression of the optic nerve medially. The patient elected to undergo surgical excision and optic nerve decompression. She did well postoperatively with resolution of proptosis and good resection margins on follow-up imaging.
CONCLUSIONS: Aggressive resection of SOMs is possible with an understanding of the underlying anatomy. Familiarity with the orbit can facilitate a maximal safe resection with optic nerve decompression.

BACKGROUND: Tandem spinal stenosis (TSS) is a condition characterized by the narrowing of the spinal canal in multiple segments of the spine. Predominantly observed in the cervical and lumbar regions, TSS also manifests in the conjunction of the cervical and thoracic spine. The simultaneous occurrence of cervical and thoracic spinal stenosis engenders intricate symptoms, potentially leading to missed and delayed diagnosis. Furthermore, the presence of tandem cervical and thoracic stenosis (TCTS) introduces a notable impact on the decision-making calculus of surgeons when contemplating either one-staged or two-staged surgery. Currently, there is no agreed-upon strategy for surgical intervention of TCTS in the literature.
METHODS: Medical databases in English (Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) and Chinese (CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP CMJD) were searched using Medical Subject Heading queries for the terms \"tandem cervical and thoracic stenosis\", \"cervical stenosis AND thoracic stenosis\", \"tandem spinal stenosis\" and \"concomitant spinal stenosis\" from January 1980 to March 2023. We included studies involving adult individuals with TCTS. Articles exclusively focused on disorders within a single spine region or devoid of any mention of spinal disorders were excluded.
RESULTS: Initially, a total of 1625 literatures underwent consideration for inclusion in the study. Following the elimination of the duplicates through the utilization of EndNote, and a meticulous screening process involving scrutiny of abstracts and full-texts, 23 clinical studies met the predefined inclusion criteria. Of these, 2 studies solely focused on missed diagnosis, 19 studies exclusively discussed surgical strategy for TCTS, and 2 articles evaluated both surgical strategy and missed diagnosis.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed a missed diagnosis rate of 7.2% in TCTS, with the thoracic stenosis emerging as the predominant area susceptible to oversight. Therefore, the meticulous identification of TCTS assumes paramount significance as the inaugural step in its effective management. While both one-staged and two-staged surgeries have exhibited efficacy in addressing TCTS, the selection of the optimal surgical plan should be contingent upon the individualized circumstances of the patients.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term consequences on the cervical spine after Anterior transcorporeal percutaneous endoscopy cervical discectomy (ATc-PECD) from the biomechanical standpoint.
METHODS: A three-dimensional model of the normal cervical spine C2-T1 was established using finite element method. Subsequently, a disc degeneration model and degeneration with surgery model were constructed on the basis of the normal model. The same loading conditions were applied to simulate flexion, extension, lateral bending and axial rotation of the cervical spine. We calculated the cervical range of motion (ROM), intradiscal pressure, and intravertebral body pressure under different motions for observing changes in cervical spine biomechanics after surgery. At the same time, we combined the results of a long-term follow-up of the ATc-PECD, and used imaging methods to measure vertebral and disc height and cervical mobility, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score and visual analog scale (VAS) score were used to assess pain relief and neurological functional recovery.
RESULTS: The long-term follow-up results revealed that preoperative JOA score, neck VAS score, hand VAS score, IDH, VBH, and ROM for patients were 9.49 ± 2.16, 6.34 ± 1.68, 5.14 ± 1.48, 5.95 ± 0.22 mm, 15.41 ± 1.68 mm, and 52.46 ± 9.36° respectively. It changed to 15.71 ± 1.13 (P < 0.05), 1.02 ± 0.82 (P < 0.05), 0.77 ± 0.76 (P < 0.05), 4.73 ± 0.26 mm (P < 0.05), 13.67 ± 1.48 mm (P < 0.05), and 59.26 ± 6.72° (P < 0.05), respectively, at 6 years postoperatively. Finite element analysis showed that after establishing the cervical spondylosis model, the overall motion range for flexion, extension, lateral bending, and rotation decreased by 3.298°, 0.753°, 3.852°, and 1.131° respectively. Conversely, after establishing the bone tunnel model, the motion range for these actions increased by 0.843°, 0.65°, 0.278°, and 0.488° respectively, consistent with the follow-up results. Moreover, analysis of segmental motion changes revealed that the increased cervical spine mobility was primarily contributed by the surgical model segments. Additionally, the finite element model demonstrated that bone tunneling could lead to increased stress within the vertebral bodies and intervertebral discs of the surgical segments.
CONCLUSIONS: Long-term follow-up studies have shown that ATc-PECD has good clinical efficacy and that ATc-PECD can be used as a complementary method for CDH treatment. The FEM demonstrated that ATc-PECD can lead to increased internal stresses in the vertebral body and intervertebral discs of the operated segments, which is directly related to cervical spine degeneration after ATc-PECD.

暂无摘要。

To assess whether decompression alone is non-inferior to decompression with instrumented fusion five years after primary surgery in patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis.
Five year follow-up of a randomised, multicentre, non-inferiority trial (Nordsten-DS).
16 public orthopaedic and neurosurgical clinics in Norway.
Patients aged 18-80 years with symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis and a spondylolisthesis of 3 mm or more at the stenotic level.
Decompression surgery alone and decompression with additional instrumented fusion (1:1).
The primary outcome was a 30% or more reduction in Oswestry disability index from baseline to five year follow-up. The predefined non-inferiority margin was a -15 percentage point difference in the proportion of patients who met the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included the mean change in Oswestry disability index, Zurich claudication questionnaire, numeric rating scale for leg and back pain, and EuroQol Group 5-Dimension (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire.
From 12 February 2014 to 18 December 2017, 267 participants were randomly assigned to decompression alone (n=134) and decompression with instrumented fusion (n=133). Of these, 230 (88%) responded to the five year questionnaire: 121 in the decompression group and 109 in the fusion group. Mean age at baseline was 66.2 years (SD 7.6), and 69% were women. In the modified intention-to-treat analysis with multiple imputation of missing data, 84 (63%) of 133 people in the decompression alone group and 81 (63%) of 129 people in the fusion group had a at least a 30% reduction in Oswestry disability index, a difference of 0.4 percentage points. (95% confidence interval (CI) -11.2 to 11.9). The respective results of the per protocol analysis were 65 (65%) of 100 in the decompression alone group and 59 (66%) of 89 in the fusion group, a difference of -1.3 percentage points (95% CI -14.5 to 12.2). Both 95% CIs were higher than the predefined non-inferiority margin of -15%. The mean change in Oswestry disability index from baseline to five years was -17.8 in both groups (mean difference 0.02 (95% CI -3.8 to 3.9)). Results of the other secondary outcomes were in the same direction as the primary outcome. From two to five year follow-up, a new lumbar operation occurred in six (5%) of 123 people in the decompression group and 11 (10%) of 113 people in the fusion group, with a total from baseline to five years of 21 (16%) of 129 people and 23 (18%) of 125, respectively.
In participants with degenerative spondylolisthesis, decompression alone was non-inferior to decompression with instrumented fusion five years after primary surgery. Proportions of subsequent surgeries at the index level or an adjacent lumbar level were no different between the groups.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02051374.

OBJECTIVE: To compare inferomedial wall orbital decompression to balanced medial plus lateral wall orbital decompression in patients with Graves\' orbitopathy in the inactive phase with regard to exophthalmos reduction and the effects on quality of life.
METHODS: Forty-two patients with inactive Graves\' orbitopathy were randomly divided into two groups and submitted to one of two orbital decompression techniques: inferomedial wall orbital decompression or medial plus lateral wall orbital decompression. Preoperative and postoperative assessments included Hertel\'s exophthalmometry and a validated Graves\' orbitopathy quality of life questionnaire. The results of the two groups were compared.
RESULTS: Compared to preoperative measurement, exophthalmos reduction was statistically significant in both groups (p<0.001) but more so in patients undergoing medial plus lateral wall orbital decompression (p=0.010). Neither orbital decompression techniques increased the visual functioning subscale score on the Graves\' orbitopathy quality of life questionnaire (inferomedial wall orbital decompression p=0.362 and medial plus lateral wall orbital decompression p=0.727), but a statistically significant difference was observed in the score of the appearance subscale in patients submitted to medial plus lateral wall orbital decompression (p=0.006).
CONCLUSIONS: Inferomedial wall orbital decompression is a good alternative for patients who do not require large exophthalmos reduction. However, medial plus lateral wall orbital decompression offers greater exophthalmos reduction and greater improvement in appearance (higher Graves\' orbitopathy quality of life questionnaire scores), making it a suitable option for esthetic-functional rehabilitation.

Intraosseous occurrence of a spinal AVM is anecdotal, with only four such cases reported previously. This is the first report of a spinal intraosseous AVM in the cervical vertebrae. A 44-year-old male patient presented with a 2-month history of progressive quadriparesis and bladder dysfunction. Magnetic resonance imaging showed multiple flow voids within the C4 and C5 vertebral bodies, and an extradural component causing cord compression. CT showed extensive bony destruction at both levels. The diagnosis of an intraosseous AVM was confirmed with spinal angiography. The AVM was noted to be fed by branches from the ascending cervical arteries and the vertebral artery. The nidus was draining into the vertebral venous plexus and thence into the jugular vein through the marginal sinus. The patient underwent partial embolization of the AVM. Surgical resection was attempted but found to be unfeasible due to torrential bleeding. A 360-degree stabilization along with decompressive laminectomies was performed, resulting in clinical improvement and disease stabilization at one year follow-up. The case and its management dilemmas are discussed in light of a brief literature review.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of blood letting under pain point touch and ultrasound-guided puncture decompression in the treatment of acute supraspinatus muscle calcifying tendinitis.
METHODS: From January 2020 to January 2023, 45 patients with acute supraspinatus muscle calcifying tendinitis were selected and divided into treatment group and control group. In the treatment group, a total of 22 patients were treated with ultrasound-guided puncture decompression, including 16 females and 6 males, aged from 20 to 64 years old(39.31±5.80) years old, 11 on the left shoulder and 11 on the right shoulder. In the control group, there were 23 cases, including 15 females and 8 males, aged from 19 to 66 years old (40.67±6.13) years old, 12 on the left shoulder and 13 on the right shoulder. The treatment was treated with pain point touch bloodletting therapy. The visual analog scale (VAS) pain score, University of California, Los Angeles(UCLA) shoulder system score and shoulder Constant-Murley score were used to evaluate the therapeutic effect before treatment, 1 weeks, 1 month and 3 months after treatment, respectively.
RESULTS: One patient in the control group gave up follow-up for personal reasons after 1 week of treatment, and the other 44 patients completed all follow-up. Six months after treatment, there were no recurrence cases in both groups. After statistical analysis, VAS pain score, UCLA score and Constant-Murley score of the treatment group and the control group were significantly different from those before treatment (P<0.05), and the improvement was more obvious in the treatment group. There was no statistical significance between the two groups (P>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Bloodletting under pain point touch and ultrasound-guided puncture decompression are effective in the treatment of acute calcific supraspinatus tendinitis, with simple operation and low cost, which can effectively reduce local pain and effectively improve shoulder joint function. Primary hospitals can selectively operate treatment according to their own conditions.

Thoracic outlet syndrome is a challenging clinical condition in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and health-related quality of life assessment. In this review, the authors provide a description of the clinical approach, surgical management, and longitudinal follow-up for patients with neurogenic, venous, and arterial thoracic outlet syndrome. The review represents the experiences of a high-volume, dedicated thoracic outlet syndrome program, where patients are treated in a multidisciplinary team and operative decompression occurs through primarily a supraclavicular approach. Data supporting the safety and efficacy of this approach are provided, as are clinical care considerations for surgeons treating patients with thoracic outlet syndrome.

暂无摘要。