微创髓核摘除术治疗高龄腰椎间盘突出症的临床研究

目的:探讨微创髓核摘除术治疗高龄腰椎间盘突出症的临床疗效。方法:收集2007年3月~2012年3月本科室收治的老年腰椎间盘突出症患者40例(年龄65岁,排除腰椎不稳),随机分为实验组和对照组,每组20例,其中实验组患者行微创Quadrant通道下髓核摘除术,对照组患者行腰椎后路椎管减压椎间盘摘除植骨融合内固定术。比较两组手术时间、切口长度、出血量、手术效果、椎间隙平均高度丢失量及腰椎平均前凸角改变等指标的差异。结果:实验组患者的手术时间、切口长度、出血量及术后3天VAS疼痛目测评分均明显低于对照组(P0.01)。腰椎平均前凸角改变显著小于对照组(P0.05)。实验组和对照组术后6个月改良MacNab分级优良率均为90%(P0.05),实验组术后2年椎间隙高度平均丢失量与对照组无明显差异(P0.05)。结论:相对腰椎后路椎管减压椎间盘摘除植骨融合内固定术而言,单纯微创髓核摘除术治疗高龄腰椎间盘突出症时具有手术时间短、出血少、创伤小的优势。     

彩超引导无水酒精介入治疗卵巢囊肿蒂扭转的临床疗效

目的:探讨彩超引导无水酒精介入治疗卵巢囊肿蒂扭转的临床疗效。方法:对35例卵巢囊肿蒂扭转患者在彩超引导下进行无水酒精介入治疗,术后3天、1个月、3个月、6个月复查彩超,随访治疗结果。结果:35例蒂扭转患者,33例经无水酒精介入治疗后取得了显著疗效,另外2例采用手术治疗,均未出现严重并发症;术后6个月,24例囊肿消失,9例囊肿大小≤术前1/3,总有效率为94.29%(33/35)。结论:彩超引导无水酒精介入治疗卵巢囊肿蒂扭转疗效确切且创伤小,是治疗卵巢囊肿蒂扭转的有效方法。     

Adaptation of a clinical fixation device for biomechanical testing of the lumbar spine

In-vitro biomechanical testing is widely performed for characterizing the load-displacement characteristics of intact, injured, degenerated, and surgically repaired osteoligamentous spine specimens. Traditional specimen fixture devices offer an unspecified rigidity of fixation, while varying in the associated amounts and reversibility of damage to and “coverage” of a specimen – factors that can limit surgical access to structures of interest during testing as well as preclude the possibility of testing certain segments of a specimen. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a specimen fixture system for spine biomechanical testing that uses components of clinically available spinal fixation hardware and determine whether the new system provides sufficient rigidity for spine biomechanical testing. Custom testing blocks were mounted into a robotic testing system and the angular deflection of the upper fixture was measured indirectly using linear variable differential transformers. The fixture system had an overall stiffness 37.0, 16.7 and 13.3 times greater than a typical human functional spine unit for the flexion/extension, axial rotation and lateral bending directions respectively – sufficient rigidity for biomechanical testing. Fixture motion when mounted to a lumbar spine specimen revealed average motion of 0.6, 0.6, and 1.5° in each direction. This specimen fixture method causes only minimal damage to a specimen, permits testing of all levels of a specimen, and provides for surgical access during testing.     

Micro-CT and micro-FE analysis of pedicle screw fixation under different loading conditions

Anchorage of pedicle screw instrumentation in the elderly spine with poor bone quality remains challenging. In this study, micro finite element (µFE) models were used to assess the specific influence of screw design and the relative contribution of local bone density to fixation mechanics. These were created from micro computer tomography (µCT) scans of vertebras implanted with two types of pedicle screws, including a full region-or-interest of 10 mm radius around each screw, as well as submodels for the pedicle and inner trabecular bone of the vertebral body. The local bone volume fraction (BV/TV) calculated from the µCT scans around different regions of the screw (pedicle, inner trabecular region of the vertebral body) were then related to the predicted stiffness in simulated pull-out tests as well as to the experimental pull-out and torsional fixation properties mechanically measured on the corresponding specimens. Results show that predicted stiffness correlated excellently with experimental pull-out strength (R² > 0.92, p < .043), better than regional BV/TV alone (R2 = 0.79, p = .003). They also show that correlations between fixation properties and BV/TV were increased when accounting only for the pedicle zone (R² = 0.66–0.94, p ≤ .032), but with weaker correlations for torsional loads (R² < 0.10). Our analyses highlight the role of local density in the pedicle zone on the fixation stiffness and strength of pedicle screws when pull-out loads are involved, but that local apparent bone density alone may not be sufficient to explain resistance in torsion.     

Effect of pedicle screw diameter on screw fixation efficacy in human osteoporotic thoracic vertebrae

The selection of an ideal screw size plays a crucial role in the success of spinal instrumentation as larger diameter screws are thought to provide better fixation strength but increase the risk of pedicle failure during insertion. On the other hand, smaller diameter screws are with lesser risk of pedicle breakage but are thought to compromise the stability of the instrumentation. By investigating the relationship between screw diameter and the pullout strength of pedicle screws after fatigue loading, this study seeks to find quantitative biomechanical data for surgeons in determining the most ideal diameter size screws when performing surgical implementations on osteoporotic vertebrae.Twenty-seven osteoporotic (BMD ranged: 0.353–0.848 g/cm²) thoracic vertebrae (T3-T8) were harvested from 5 human cadavers. Two sizes of poly-axial screws (5.0 mm × 35 and 4.35 mm × 35) were implanted into each pedicles of the vertebrae by an experienced surgeon. Specimens were randomly distributed into control group, fatigue group of 5000 and 10,000 cycles with peak-to-peak loadings of 10–100 N at 1 Hz. Each specimen was then axial pullout tested at a constant rate of 5 mm/min. The ultimate pullout strength (N) & stiffness (N/mm) were obtained for analysis.The results showed that although the larger diameter screws achieved superior pullout strength immediately after the implantation, both sizes of screws exhibited comparable pullout strengths post fatigue loading. This indicates that the smaller diameter screws may be considered for surgical techniques performed on osteoporotic vertebrae for reduced risk of pedicle breakage without sacrificing fixation strength.