Evaluating of the results of long fusion surgery in patients with degenerative lumbar scoliosis

Background: Degenerative scoliosis most commonly affects the lumbar spine in the elderly, resulting in facet and disc degeneration, leading to increased pain and progressive deformity. Due to the importance of the results of long fusion and the rate of coronary and sagittal correction of imbalance in patients with degenerative scoliosis, the present study was performed to evaluate the results of long fusion surgery in patients with degenerative lumbar scoliosis. Methods: The present study was performed as a prospective cohort study in patients with degenerative scoliosis who were candidates for surgery at Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan. Basic patient information including age, sex, anatomical location of vertebral deviation and slip, degree of severity of deviation based on cobb angle and number of previous surgeries were reviewed and recorded. The surgical characteristics of the patient were extracted from the medical record including the approach used, the anatomical location of the fusion, whether or not to perform decompression, the number of decompression and fusion levels, the amount of bleeding during surgery, and the duration of surgery. Results: Eleven female patients participated in this study. The mean age of patients was 55.64 years with a standard deviation of 7.67 years. The minimum age was 40 years and the maximum age was 66 years. Patients' symptoms included low back pain-leg pain (3 cases), back pain-lameness (2 cases) and back pain-leg pain-lameness (6 cases). All patients underwent two stages of surgery. Mean amount of bleeding and time of surgery in the second surgery were significantly reduced compared to the first surgery (p <0.05). Complications of surgery included proximal junctional vertebral fracture (PGK) in two patients. Conclusion: Degenerative scoliosis is a complex clinical condition in which the patient's main problems are pain and disability. Long fusion surgery in patients with degenerative scoliosis significantly reduced the mean deviation, Patient's pain and severity of disability 6 months after surgery. Copyright © 2021 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences

A Hitchhiker's guide to functional magnetic resonance imaging

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies have become increasingly popular both with clinicians and researchers as they are capable of providing unique insights into brain functions. However, multiple technical considerations (ranging from specifics of paradigm design to imaging artifacts, complex protocol definition, and multitude of processing and methods of analysis, as well as intrinsic methodological limitations) must be considered and addressed in order to optimize fMRI analysis and to arrive at the most accurate and grounded interpretation of the data. In practice, the researcher/clinician must choose, from many available options, the most suitable software tool for each stage of the fMRI analysis pipeline. Herein we provide a straightforward guide designed to address, for each of the major stages, the techniques, and tools involved in the process. We have developed this guide both to help those new to the technique to overcome the most critical difficulties in its use, as well as to serve as a resource for the neuroimaging community.This article has been developed under the scope of the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). We are also thankful to FCT-ANR/NEU-OSD/0258/2012 founded by FCT/MEC. RM and PSM are supported by FCT fellowship grants, from the Ph.D.-iHES program, with the references PDE/BDE/113604/2015 and PDE/BDE/113601/2015, respectively. PM is supported by a grant from the project “Better mental health during ageing based on temporal prediction of individual brain ageing trajectories (TEMPO)” (Contract grant number: P-139977) funded by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio