Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Spinal Cord Compression”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,063 records · Page 59Linked to original sources

Osteochondroma of the thoracic spine: an unusual cause of spinal cord compression.

A 24-year-old man with hereditary multiple exostoses had numbness of the lower extremities and difficulty walking. CT displayed a calcified extradural mass lesion within the spinal canal at T-8 causing cord compression. MR imaging showed it to be contiguous with the upper endplate of T-8, suggesting the diagnosis of osteochondroma, a rare cause of cord compression, and distinguishing the lesion from a calcified disk fragment.

Adult↗

Transoral anterior decompression and fusion of chronic irreducible atlantoaxial dislocation with spinal cord compression.

STUDY DESIGN: In this study, 10 patients with chronic irreducible atlantoaxial dislocation were treated by transoral anterior decompression and fusion. OBJECTIVES: To examine the benefits of the transoral approach, the patients treated with this procedure were compared with the historical control subjects after 2 years of follow-up. SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND DATA: Chronic irreducible atlantoaxial dislocation with cord compression is difficult to treat because the cord is compressed posteriorly by the posterior arch of the atlas as well as anteriorly by the posterior-superior portion of the axial body and nonunited dens. Its irreducibility, as a result of the bony scarring between the dens and the anterior body of the axis, and the locking of the lateral joints of C1-C2, makes reduction more complex. Posterior surgical approaches have been associated with high morbidity and mortality. METHODS: Ten patients were diagnosed and followed up by clinical symptoms, radiography, pantopaque myelography, and computed tomography. They were treated surgically by transoral decompression and fusion. During the surgery the nonunited dens as well as callus, granulation, and scar tissue were removed; the cartilage of the articular surfaces of the atlantoaxial joint was excised. Postoperative treatment included skull-cervical biaxial traction, tracheostomy care, nasal feeding, and Minerva cast. RESULTS: The 2- to 6-year follow-up showed that four out of 10 patients recovered completely and returned to work, three recovered to a great degree and ambulated, two partially recovered, and one recovered poorly. CONCLUSION: Transoral decompression and fusion offered satisfactory results in a series of patients with chronic irreducible atlantoaxial dislocation. None of the patients showed serious complications of stability, even though only one had a secondary posterior fusion. Therefore, anterior decompression associated with subtotal obliteration of the atlantoaxial joints without bone grafts is a feasible therapy for irreducible atlantoaxial dislocation using a multifunctional bed and biaxial traction.

Adolescent↗

Pretreatment with alpha tocopherol enhances neurologic recovery after experimental spinal cord compression injury.

Lipid hydrolysis with subsequent production of eicosanoids and lipid peroxidation are two of the earliest potentially pathochemical events induced in spinal cord tissue by mechanical trauma. Although these membrane lipid disturbances are thought to contribute to the paralysis that occur subsequent to spinal cord injury, such a correlation has not been demonstrated directly. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to test the capacity of alpha tocopherol, the major lipid antioxidant in cellular membranes and a compound that limits the injury-induced lipid hydrolysis and peroxidation in spinal cord tissue, to promote functional recovery in a static loading model of spinal cord injury. After laminectomy, the L2 spinal cord of cats was compressed with 180 g for 5 min. For 5 days before injury and for 5 days postinjury, treated cats received orally 1000 IUD-alpha tocopherol acetate daily. Control cats were similarly injured but untreated. All cats were blindly evaluated weekly for 4 weeks for their neurologic recovery based on an 11 point behavioral scale that assessed walking, running, and stair climbing. By the second postinjury week, alpha tocopherol-pretreated cats demonstrated significantly better recovery than untreated controls. By 4 weeks, treated cats had recovered 72% of their preinjury function as compared with 20% for untreated controls, i.e., a 3.5-fold difference. These results strongly suggest that lipid peroxidation and/or hydrolysis is primarily involved in the genesis of posttraumatic paralysis and that alpha tocopherol exerts its protection of injured spinal cord tissue, at least in part, by its antioxidant and/or antilipolytic activity.

Animals↗