Introduction: Calcified thoracic disc herniations are rare and their approach represents a surgical challenge when they are giant and symptomatic Surgery is indicated in cases of intractable back pain with medical management persistent intercostal neuralgia or progressive neurological deficit with the transthoracic extrapleural approach being the one of choice because it has advantages regarding the best view of the operative field We present the case of a patient with a giant calcified thoracic hernia who was successfully operated on in our hospital using an extrapleural transthoracic approach. Clinical case: A 53-year-old male with dorsal pain in the medial region radiating to the inframammary region and progressive difficulty walking moderate proximal paraparesis T8 sensory level and urinary retention CT and MRI images showed a large calcified T6-7 disc herniation causing severe compression of the spinal cord The patient underwent a T6-7 extrapleural transthoracic discectomy plus a T6 partial corpectomy without fusion The patient tolerated the procedure well with no complications and the postoperative images one month after surgery demonstrated spinal cord decompression At follow-up irradiated back pain sensory level paraparesis and urinary retention improved. Conclusion: Extrapleural transthoracic discectomy can be considered a safe approach in the case of giant calcified thoracic hernias since it allows resection of the calcified disc fragment and decompression of the spinal cord. Keywords: Intervertebral Disc Displacement, Diskectomy, Spinal Cord, Decompression (Source: MeSH NLM)

Objective: Herniation of the nucleus pulposus (HNP) is the leading cause of sciatica. The standard diagnostic test is magnetic resonance imaging, and treatment can be conservative or surgical. The most common surgical technique is lumbar microdiscectomy. The objective of the study was to know the epidemiological and clinical profile, as well as the surgical results of patients undergoing lumbar microdiscectomy at the Almenara Hospital from January 2018 to August 2021. Methods: Descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional epidemiological study. We found 82 patients who underwent lumbar microdiscectomy with complete data in the clinical history. The data was collected from the clinical history of hospitalization and outpatient consultation. Proportions were applied for qualitative variables and mean with confidence interval in quantitative variables. Results: Of the total number of patients, 69.51% were male, the most frequent age group was 31-50 years, and most came from Lima. The most frequently operated anatomical levels were L4 and L5. Regarding the clinic, 95.12% presented positive Lasegue. The mean preoperative VAS decreased from 7.83 to 2.00. Recurrence was 4.88%, and the most frequent complication was inadvertent durotomy. Conclusions: HNP is the most common cause of sciatica. The most frequent surgical management is lumbar microdiscectomy, which has good clinical results as well as a low rate of complications and recurrence. Keywords: Spine, Sciatica, Nucleus Pulposus, Diskectomy, Neurosurgical Procedures. (Source: MeSH NLM)

Introducción: Las hernias del disco torácico calcificadas son poco frecuentes y su abordaje representa u n desafío quirúrgico cuando son gigantes y sintomáticas. La discectomía transtorácica extrapleural puede considerarse un abordaje seguro para resecar el fragmento de disco calcificado y descomprimir la médula espinal. Caso clínico: Hombre de 53 años con dorsalgia media irradiada a región inframamaria y dificultad progresiva para deambular, paraparesia proximal moderada, nivel sensitivo T8 y retención urinaria. Las imágenes demostraron una gran hernia de disco T6-7 calcificada que causaba una compresión severa de la médula espinal. El paciente se sometió a discectomía transtorácica extrapleural T6-7 más corpectomía parcial T6 sin fusión. El paciente toleró bien el procedimiento sin complicaciones y las imágenes postoperatorias al mes de la cirugia demostraron la descompresión de la médula espinal. En el seguimiento, la dorsalgia irradiada, el nivel sensitivo, la paraparesia y la retención urinaria mejoraron.

Introducción: La patología cervical alta es poco frecuente. Las fracturas y dislocaciones de la columna cervical alta son lesiones ocurridas por un impacto traumático. La malformación de Chiari tiene mejoría clínica en más del 70% de pacientes con solo descompresión con o sin duroplastía. El compromiso de la columna cervical en artritis reumatoide incluye la subluxación atlantoaxial. La columna cervical es la localización del 10-17% de la enfermedad neoplásica de la columna. La osteoartritis puede afectar la columna cervical, pero en poca frecuencia C2-C3. Objetivo: Determinar las características epidemiológicas, clínicas y del tratamiento en la patología cervical alta. Materiales y métodos: Se incluyeron a todos los pacientes con diagnóstico clínico radiológico de alguna patología cervical alta que hayan sido sometidos a tratamiento quirúrgico entre 2016 y 2021 en el Hospital Almenara. Se usó el test “t” de student y de chi cuadrado. Se dividió a los pacientes en 5 grupos: congénita, traumática, inflamatoria reumática, degenerativa y neoplásica. Resultados: Se consideraron 31 pacientes, con una edad media de 51.16 años, siendo el 58.06% varones. La patología cervical alta más frecuente fue la traumática con el 35.48%. El déficit motor se presentó en el 51.61% y el déficit sensitivo se presentó en el 54.84%. La cirugía más frecuente fue la fijación cervical alta con el 43.89%. La tasa de complicaciones fue del 16.13% con una mortalidad del 0%. Conclusiones: La patología cervical alta es rara, pero un manejo oportuno y adecuado permite un mejor pronóstico funcional del paciente.

Introduction: Ancient schwannoma is a rare subtype of spinal schwannomas. It is named for the degenerative changes that it can present. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance helps us diagnose, as it can show heterogeneous lesions that capture ring contrast. The treatment is surgical. Clinical Case: A 67-year-old male patient is presented, with 2 years of the disease characterized by thoracic radicular pain and severe paraparesis in the last 6 months. Contrast-enhanced MRI showed a tumor with heterogeneous uptake, widening the right T2/T3 foramina with right anterior paravertebral extension and severe canal stenosis at the T2 level. A laminectomy plus total resection of the lesion was performed; the pathology study was reported as ancient schwannoma. The evolution was favorable, with complete recovery of muscle strength in subsequent months. Conclusion: Ancient schwannoma is a rare pathology that has peculiar imaging characteristics and whose treatment is surgical. Keywords: Schwannoma, spinal neoplasms, paraparesis, laminectomy (Source: MeSH NLM)