Percutaneous Interspinous Spacer vs Decompression in Patients with Neurogenic Claudication: An Alternative in Selected Patients?

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked FilesBACKGROUND: Standalone interspinous process devices (IPDs) to treat degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis with neurogenic intermittent claudication (NIC) have shown ambiguous results in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To show that a minimally invasive percutaneous IPD is safe and noninferior to standalone decompressive surgery (SDS) for patients with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis with NIC. METHODS: A multicenter, international, randomized, controlled trial (RCT) was conducted. One hundred sixty-three patients, enrolled at 19 sites, were randomized 1: 1 to treatment with IPD or SDS and were followed for 24 mo. RESULTS: There was significant improvement in Zurich Claudication Questionnaire physical function, as mean percentage change from baseline, for both the IPD and the SDS groups at 12 mo (primary endpoint) and 24 mo (-32.3 +/- 32.1, -37.5 +/- 22.8; and -37.9 +/- 21.7%, -35.2 +/- 22.8, both P <.001). IPD treatment was not significantly noninferior (margin: 10%) to SDS treatment at 12mo (P=. 172) but was significantly noninferior at 24mo (P =.005). Symptom severity, patient satisfaction, visual analog scale leg pain, and SF-36 improved in both groups over time. IPD showed lower mean surgical time andmean blood loss (24 +/- 11 min and 6 +/- 11 mL) compared to SDS (70 +/- 39 min and 189 +/- 148 mL, both P <.001). Reoperations at index level occurred in 18.2% of the patients in the IPD group and in 9.3% in the SDS group. CONCLUSION: Confirming 3 recent RCTs, we could show that IPD as well as open decompression achieve similar results in relieving symptoms of NIC in highly selected patients. However, despite some advantages in secondary outcomes, a higher reoperation rate for IPD is confirmed.Medtronic Spinal and Biologic

Hyperuricemia and potential risk of cardiovascular and renal diseases

peer reviewedS’il ne fait pas de doute qu’il faille traiter l’hyperuricémie associée à la maladie goutteuse pour prévenir les crises, quelques larges études observationnelles et de petites études prospectives thérapeutiques ont insisté sur l’intérêt de normaliser aussi le taux d’acide urique en cas d’hyperuricémie asymptomatique. Le but est, ici, de réduire le risque cardiovasculaire et rénal, notamment par inhibition de la xanthine oxydase, enzyme intervenant dans la synthèse d’acide urique. Cet article passe en revue cette littérature potentiellement prometteuse, mais qui mérite d’être encore validée de façon prospective.Besides the well accepted need to treat hyperuricemia associated with gout, some large observational studies and small prospective therapeutic trials have suggested that treating asymptomatic hyperuricemia, especially by xanthine oxidase inhibition, the enzyme producing uric acid, could be beneficial for cardiovascular and renal risk prevention. This article discusses the literature about this promising approach, which, however, requests prospective validation

Stress fracture of the sacrum

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Stress fracture of the sacrum

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Radiology and hemodynamic investigations of sexual impotence in males of vascular origin

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Skeletal involvement in sarcoidosis: A case report

A patient is described in whom sarcoidosis caused a pathological fracture of the middle phalanx of the little finger. A bone scan showed increased uptake. She was treated by resection of the diseased area and bone grafting, which led to bone healing. The bony manifestations of sarcoidosis are reviewed. © 1987.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Sonographic monitoring of biliary endoprostheses

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Luxation gleno-humerale antérieure et postérieure

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