No abstract

Backache is common yet its routine medical assessment is imprecise, unreliable, and poorly interpreted. Reproducibility studies on 475 patients improved the reliability of clinical interview and examination in backache, while studies of 335 normal subjects defined the limits of normality. Assessment of nerve function was found to be reliable but assessment of the back itself had to be considerably modified and examination improved by incorporating actual measurements. The validity and clinical utility of the information were analysed to determine the minimum amount of information which should be collected to permit clear diagnosis and management.

Low lumbar pain with radiation into the leg is a common symptom pattern caused by a number of pathological processes. Isolated disc resorption is one such entity which can be readily identified and is amenable to surgical treatment. This study consisted of two groups of patients. Group I were 50 patients suffering from isolated disc resorption at L5-S1 with ill-defined low backache extending into the buttocks and down one or both legs, but not into the feet. Clinical signs ofnerve root dysfunction were found in 16 per cent ofpatients. Radiographic changes with loss ofdisc height, facet overriding and intrusion into the nerve root canal and intervertebral foramen were common and frequently associated with sclerosis of the vertebral end-plate. Group II were a series of45 patients with isolated disc resorption independently reviewed an average of 45 months after surgical decompression of the 51 (98 per cent) or lower lumbar nerve roots. Based on objective grading by the clinician and subjective assessment by the patient complete success was achieved in 62 per cent of the patients and partial success in 24 per cent. Provided there is full appreciation of the pathological anatomy, strict diagnostic criteria and meticulous surgery, decompression of the nerve root canal is a useful surgical procedure in severely disabled patients suffering from isolated disc resorption.

SUMMARY

Critically ill patients can be safely moved within hospital using a mobile intensive care unit (MICU). The MICU allows the critically ill to benefit from specialised investigation and treatment they might otherwise be denied. The MICU in use at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow is described and its merits outline in the light of clinical experience gained over a twelve month period.