BACKGROUND: The management of basilar invagination (BI) and atlantoaxial dislocation (AAD) is a challenge. OBJECTIVE: To describe a new innovative method to reduce BI and AAD through a single-stage posterior approach. METHODS: Thirty-five patients had irreducible BI and AAD (May 2010 to April 2012). In all patients, reduction of AAD and BI was achieved by using an innovative method of distraction and spacer placement, followed by compression and extension. A C1 lateral mass/C2 translaminar screw was performed in cases where the C1 arch was not assimilated, and occipito-C2 translaminar screw fixation was performed in cases where the C1 arch was assimilated. RESULTS: Thirty-two of 35 (94%) patients improved clinically and 2 patients had stable symptoms (mean Nurick postoperative score = 1.4; preoperative score = 3.7). AAD reduced completely in 33/35 patients and >50% in 2. BI improved significantly in all patients. Solid bone fusion was demonstrated in 24 patients with at least 1-year follow-up (range, 12-39 months; mean, 19.75 + 7.09 months). The duration of surgery was 80 to 190 minutes, and blood loss was 90 to 500 mL (mean, 170 ± 35 mL). There was 1 death because of cardiac etiology and 1 morbidity (wound infection). CONCLUSION: Distractive compressive extension and reduction of BI and AAD seems to be an effective and safe method of treatment. It is different from the earlier described techniques, because it is the first procedure that uses a spacer not, only for distraction, but also as a pivot to perform extension to reduce the AAD.

We evaluated the role of 18F-FDG PET/CT for the assessment of response after two cycles of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) for breast cancer. Twenty-three women with locally advanced breast cancer were included in this study. Early response to NACT was evaluated after two cycles using clinical examination, CT, and 18F-FDG PET/CT. Final histopathology following surgery after six cycles of NACT served as reference. Baseline PET/CT demonstrated a total of 26 lesions in 23 patients. The size of the primary tumor ranged from 1.90 cm to 11.60 cm, and the maximum value of the standardized uptake value of FDG (SUVmax) ranged from 3.6 to 38.6 (mean, 11.7). Post-chemotherapy PET/CT examinations were done after two cycles of NACT. The size of the primary tumor on follow-up PET/CT examinations ranged from 0.0 cm to 7.6 cm, and SUVmax ranged from 0.0 to 12.0 (mean, 3.96). On clinical, CT, and PET/CT examinations, 50% reduction in the parameters was taken as the cutoff value to differentiate between responders and non-responders. Post-NACT PET/CT demonstrated that 16 patients were responders and 7 non-responders. Among 16 responders on PET/CT scan, 14 were true positive and 2 were false positive when compared with histopathology. Among seven non-responder patients, six were true negative, and one was false negative. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PET/CT in detecting responders were 93%, 75%, and 87%, respectively. In conclusion, 18F-FDG PET/CT can differentiate responders from non-responders with high accuracy after two cycles of NACT in patients with LABC.

A subset of pediatric chordomas with atypical histomorphologic features needs to be identified, as they behave in an aggressive manner and require adjuvant therapy. Pediatric chordomas more frequently show p53 expression, INI1 loss, and higher MIB-1 LI as compared with adults, whereas EGFR expression is common to both.

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A 40-year-old male presented with mid-thoracic backache and progressive, ascending, spastic, paraparesis for one year. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated an extraosseous, extradural mass, without any bone invasion at the T2-T4 vertebral levels, located dorsal to the thecal sac. The spinal cord was compressed ventrally. The lesion was totally excised after a T2-T4 laminectomy. Histopathological examination revealed a cavernous hemangioma. The authors reported this case and reviewed the literature, to explain why extraosseous, extradural, cavernous hemangiomas should be considered in the differential diagnosis of extradural thoracic compressive myelopathy.