spine boarding

Many clinicians use radiological imaging in efforts to locate and diagnose the cause of their patient's pain, relying on X-rays as a leading tool in clinical evaluation. This is fundamentally flawed because an X-ray represents a "snapshot" of the structural appearance of the spine and gives no indication of the current function of the spine. The health and well-being of any system, including the spinal motion segments, depend on the inter-relationship between structure and function. Pain, tissue damage, and injury are not always directly correlated...

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective multicenter study. OBJECTIVES: To investigate surgical outcomes following posterior decompression for cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) when performed by board-certified spine (BCS) or non-BCS (NBCS) surgeons. METHODS: We included 203 patients with cervical OPLL who were followed for a minimum of 1 year after surgery. Demographic information, medical history, and imaging findings were collected...

BACKGROUND: There are limited therapeutic options to treat complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Spinal cord stimulation and dorsal root ganglion stimulation are proven therapies for treating chronic low limb pain in CRPS patients. There is limited evidence that stimulation of dorsal nerve roots can also provide relief of lower limb pain in these patients. OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate that electrical stimulation of dorsal nerve roots via epidural lead placement provides relief of chronic lower limb pain in patients suffering from CRPS...

Objective This study evaluated the potential of Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) as an educational tool for neurosurgery residents preparing for the American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS) primary examination. Methods Non-imaging questions from the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Self-Assessment in Neurological Surgery (SANS) online question bank were input into ChatGPT. Accuracy was evaluated and compared to human performance across subcategories. To quantify ChatGPT's educational potential, the concordance and insight of explanations were assessed by multiple neurosurgical faculty...

OBJECTIVE: The incidence of spondylodiscitis is rising across Europe, but the ideal treatment approach remains controversial. The choice between conservative and surgical therapies is ambiguous due to a lack of consensus. This European survey aimed to explore prevailing treatment paradigms for primary spondylodiscitis. METHODS: Spine neurosurgeons were invited through the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies Spine Section's mailing list to participate in an online survey featuring 7 spondylodiscitis case vignettes...

INTRODUCTION: Proper cervical spine immobilization is essential to prevent further injury following trauma. This study aimed to compare the cervical range of motion (ROM) and the immobilization time between traditional spinal immobilization (TSI) and spinal motion restriction (SMR). METHODS: This study was a randomized 2x2 crossover design in healthy volunteers. Participants were randomly assigned by Sequential numbered, opaque, sealed envelopes (SNOSE) with permuted block-of-four randomization to TSI or SMR...

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pathology generating lower back pain is increasing, often requiring SI joint fusion in refractory cases. Similarly, total hip arthroplasty (THA) is an increasing procedure in the older growing population. Prior SIJ fusion in patients undergoing THA has increased hip dislocation. This study aims to determine the prevalence of preexisting THA in SIJ fusion patients at our institution. METHODS: After institutional review board approval, we completed a retrospective review of consecutive SIJ fusion cases performed by fellowship-trained orthopaedic spine surgeons between October 2019 and June 2022...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We present our experience in the management of symptomatic vertebral hemangiomas with epidural extension (SVHEE) using spine stereotactic radiosurgery (SSRS). METHODS: An Institutional Review Board approved retrospective review of all SVHEE patients treated with SSRS at our institution (2007-2022) was performed. Baseline patient demographics, clinical presentation, lesion volume, and Bilsky grade (to directly evaluate the epidural component) were determined...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Imaging stewardship in the emergency department (ED) is vital in ensuring patients receive optimized care. While suspected cord compression (CC) is a frequent indication for total spine MRI in the ED, the incidence of CC is low. Recently, our level-I trauma center introduced a survey spine MRI protocol to evaluate for suspected CC while reducing exam time to avoid imaging overutilization. This study aims to evaluate the time savings, frequency of ordering patterns of the survey, and the symptoms and outcomes of patients undergoing the survey...

Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) models using large language models (LLMs) and non-specific domains have gained attention for their innovative information processing. As AI advances, it's essential to regularly evaluate these tools' competency to maintain high standards, prevent errors or biases, and avoid flawed reasoning or misinformation that could harm patients or spread inaccuracies. Our study aimed to determine the performance of Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) by OpenAI and Google BARD (BARD) in orthopedic surgery, assess performance based on question types, contrast performance between different AIs and compare AI performance to orthopedic residents...

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery who message their care team via an electronic patient portal (EPP) post-operatively and emergency department (ED) visits within 90 days of surgery. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Secure patient messaging through electronic patient portals has grown over recent years. Despite its frequent utilization by patients to engage with their care team, its association with clinical outcomes remains unknown in spine surgery...

PURPOSE: The spine, hip, and knee are anatomically and biomechanically connected. Total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are commonly employed to treat degenerative changes in the hip and knee, while fusion is used for spine degeneration. Spine deformity correction results in changes in sagittal alignment and pelvic parameters, and patients with stiff spines have higher rates of THA dislocation and revision due to instability. The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of total joint arthroplasty (TJA) in adult spinal deformity (ASD) patients at our institution...

BACKGROUND: Although prior work demonstrated the surprising accuracy of Large Language Models (LLMs) on neurosurgery board-style questions, their use in day-to-day clinical situations warrants further investigation. This study assessed GPT-4.0's responses to common clinical questions across various subspecialties of neurosurgery. METHODS: A panel of attending neurosurgeons formulated 35 general neurosurgical questions spanning neuro-oncology, spine, vascular, functional, pediatrics, and trauma...

INTRODUCTION: Soldiers on the battlefield are affected by heavy body armor and excessive march load. It is well known, but the long-term effects of this extra weight on the musculoskeletal system of military veterans, specifically the lumbar spine, are unclear. In Iraq and Afghanistan, most body armors weighed over 33 pounds (15 kg). These armors were 3 times heavier than those used in Vietnam. Chiropractors at the Fargo VA Hospital are seeing more young veterans with non-traumatic lower back pain...

Immobilization for acromial and scapular spine stress AU4fractures (AF/SSF) after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) is associated with patient dissatisfaction. Our study reports the effects and safety of intranasal calcitonin alongside sling immobilization on pain and function in the treatment of AF/SSF after RSA. The treatment was regimented calcitonin (salmon) 200 unit/actuation nasal spray (1 spray/day) for 6 weeks with sling immobilization for 4 weeks. Each patient was monitored through blood work...

This study analyse setup time (ST) and frequency of on-board imaging for stereotactic abdomen (liver, stomach), lung, and spine radiotherapy in the absence of automatic rotational correction. Total 53 stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) patients, 28 of abdomen, 19 lung, and 6 spine treated for 230 sessions in O-ring gantry accelerator were evaluated for ST analysis. The mean setup time for all patients, abdomen, lung, and spine cases were 7.7 ± 7.4 min, 9.2 ± 9.2 min, 6...

BACKGROUND: Patients affected by lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) suffer from a multifactorial degeneration of the lumbar spine resulting in narrowing of the neuroforamina and spinal canal, leading to various functional limitations. It remains unclear whether LSS patients after surgery would benefit from early post-operative rehabilitation, or if a delayed rehabilitation would be more advantageous. The purpose of this partially randomized patient preference trial is to evaluate the impact of post-operative rehabilitation timing as well as surgical intervention type on psychometric properties and functional outcomes in patients with LSS...

Mixed-reality surgical simulators are seen more objective than conventional training. The simulators' utility in training must be established through validation studies. Establish face-, content-, and construct-validity of a novel mixed-reality surgical simulator developed by McGill University, CAE-Healthcare, and DePuy Synthes. This study, approved by a Research Ethics Board, examined a simulated L4-L5 oblique lateral lumbar interbody fusion (OLLIF) scenario. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was used. Chi-square test verified validity consensus...

BACKGROUND: The standard screening protocol for radiographic examination in dentistry as per the American Dental Association recommendations is a panoramic radiograph (PAN) and four horizontal bitewings. PAN inherently suffers from several shortcomings like the superimposition of anatomic structures, especially of the cervical spine that obscures a significant portion of the anterior maxilla and mandible. This region has a significant amount of pathology that is not adequately imaged...

PURPOSE: We developed and tested a neural network for automated detection and stability analysis of vertebral body fractures on computed tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 257 patients who underwent CT were included in this Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved study. 463 fractured and 1883 non-fractured vertebral bodies were included, with 190 fractures unstable. Two readers identified vertebral body fractures and assessed their stability. A combination of a Hierarchical Convolutional Neural Network (hNet) and a fracture Classification Network (fNet) was used to build a neural network for the automated detection and stability analysis of vertebral body fractures on CT...