The direct posterior distraction technique between occiput and C2 pedicle screws is an effective, simple, fast, and safe method for the treatment of BI with AAD. Transoral odontoidectomy and cervical traction for the treatment of BI with AAD should be reconsidered.

BackgroundClinical diagnosis and therapy for the lumbar disc herniation requires accurate vertebra segmentation. The complex anatomical structure and the degenerative deformations of the vertebrae makes its segmentation challenging.MethodsAn improved level set method, namely edge- and region-based level set method (ERBLS), is proposed for vertebra CT images segmentation. By considering the gradient information and local region characteristics of images, the proposed model can efficiently segment images with intensity inhomogeneity and blurry or discontinuous boundaries. To reduce the dependency on manual initialization in many active contour models and for an automatic segmentation, a simple initialization method for the level set function is built, which utilizes the Otsu threshold. In addition, the need of the costly re-initialization procedure is completely eliminated.ResultsExperimental results on both synthetic and real images demonstrated that the proposed ERBLS model is very robust and efficient. Compared with the well-known local binary fitting (LBF) model, our method is much more computationally efficient and much less sensitive to the initial contour. The proposed method has also applied to 56 patient data sets and produced very promising results.ConclusionsAn improved level set method suitable for vertebra CT images segmentation is proposed. It has the flexibility of segmenting the vertebra CT images with blurry or discontinuous edges, internal inhomogeneity and no need of re-initialization.

Objective The authors recently used a combination of minimally invasive oblique lumbar interbody fusion (OLIF) and lateral fixation for the treatment of degenerative spine deformity. The early results were promising. Radiographic and clinical results as well as complications were retrospectively assessed in the current study. Methods Eleven patients with degenerative spine deformity underwent combined OLIF and lateral instrumentation without real-time electromyography (EMG) monitoring. Radiographic measurements including coronal Cobb angle, central sacral vertebral line (CSVL), lumbar lordosis (LL), sagittal vertebral axis (SVA), pelvic tilt (PT), and LL-PI (pelvic incidence) mismatch were taken preoperatively and at last follow-up postoperatively in all patients. Concurrently, the visual analog score (VAS) for back pain and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score were used to assess clinical outcomes. The fusion rate of OLIF cage, total blood loss, operation time, hospital stay, and complications were also evaluated. Results At last follow-up, all patients who underwent combined OLIF and lateral instrumentation achieved statistically significant improvement in coronal Cobb angle (from 15.3±4.7° to 5.9±3.1°, p < 0.01), LL (from 34.3±9.0° to 48.2±8.5°, p < 0.01), PT (from 24.2±9.6° to 16.2±6.0°, p < 0.01), LL-PI mismatch (from 15.4±8.7° to 7.0±3.7°, p < 0.01), CSVL (from 2.1±2.2cm to 0.7±0.9cm, p = 0.01), and SVA (from 7.0±3.9cm to 2.9±1.8cm, p < 0.01). VAS for back pain (from 6.9±1.4 to 2.0±0.9, p < 0.05) and ODI (from 39.5±3.1 to 21.9±3.6, p < 0.01) improved significantly after surgery. Conclusions A combination of OLIF and lateral instrumentation is an effective and safety means of achieving correction of both coronal and sagittal deformity, resulting in improvement of quality of life in patients with degenerative spine deformity. It is a promising way to treat patients with moderate degenerative spine deformity.

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