Data Trace Editor

Peter A. Robertson INTRODUCTION The Failed Spine Surgery candidate for revision surgery encompasses all patients who have undergone previous spine surgery in the lumbar region. The previous experience of the patient, as well as the context within which the surgeon is seeing that patient, may be highly variable and influence expectations and approaches for both … Read more

Paul Licina and Emma Johnston PATHOPHYSIOLOGY The diagnosis of reherniation is often accompanied by the question ‘why did this occur?’ Natural human instinct is to seek an external traumatic cause rather than implicating intrinsic factors within the disc itself. Nevertheless, both causes are relevant, the latter likely more so. Currently, the importance of intrinsic factors … Read more

Angus Don INTRODUCTION Stenosis is the narrowing of a hollow tube, or in this case, the spinal canal in the lumbar spine, either centrally, in the lateral recess or in the foramen, or a combination. Recurrent stenosis is narrowing of the spinal canal which has already been decompressed in the past. Clinically, this narrowing and … Read more

John E. Cunningham INTRODUCTION Pseudarthrosis, or non-union, is an all too common and expensive complication of spinal fusion surgery, with the cost per QALY (quality-adjusted life year) gained estimated to be about US$118,945.1 Rate estimates vary greatly between studies utilizing different surgical techniques and patient populations.2 Pseudarthrosis is usually defined as failure of bony union … Read more

Harold I. Salmons, Jeffrey Ta, Hamadi Murphy, Arjun Sebastian, Kris Radcliff, Alex Vaccaro INTRODUCTION Spinal infections involve pyogenic or granulomatous infections of the vertebral column, intervertebral discs, the dural sac or the epidural space. Infections of the spine can take the form of a primary infection of the spine or a spread of microorganisms originating … Read more

Jose Antonio Umali and Ashish Diwan INTRODUCTION De Novo or spontaneous or primary pyogenic spondylodiscitis is an infection affecting both the vertebral body and intervertebral disc of the spine due to bacterial pathogens. Spontaneous pyogenic spondylodiscitis is caused by hematogenous spread secondary to bacteremia from integumentary, respiratory, oral or gastrointestinal infections.1,2 The origin of the … Read more

Kenneth Nwosu and Christopher M. Bono INTRODUCTION Spontaneous spondylodiscitis, or a primary infection of the nucleus pulposus with secondary involvement of the cartilaginous endplate and vertebral bone, was initially described by Ghormley et al. in 1940.1 However, it was not until the 1950’s when it was first documented as a complication of disc surgery.2 Since … Read more

Nicolas Dea and Charles Fisher INTRODUCTION Primary bone neoplasms of the spine are rare; they represent four to thirteen percent of all primary bone tumors. Incidence of primary bone neoplasms is estimated at 2.5–8.5/100,000 people a year.1 Due to the rarity of primary spine tumors, the experience of most surgeons with these tumors is limited, … Read more

Satoru Demura*, Katsuhito Yoshioka† and Satoshi Kato‡ TREATMENT STRATEGY FOR SPINAL METASTASES* In the past, the indication for surgical management of spinal metastases was based on signs of neurological deficit, presence of intractable pain, and spinal instability. These indications were described by Harrington et al. with a five-category classification for spinal metastases based on the … Read more