History of spine surgery in older obese patients

Goal: To study the interaction of obesity and age in patients with multiple spine surgeries

The diagnosis of Marburg Disease is course-dependent

Marburg Disease, the fulminant form of multiple sclerosis, is a rare disease that typically kills within a year. We had a 38-year-old African American male who presented with right footdrop and was pathologically diagnosed with Marburg Disease. The patient recovered clinically after surgery and stayed stable for more than a year. The diagnosis of Marburg Disease was thus degraded

Chronic ovarian torsion treated laparoscopically

Ovarian torsion is a rare gynecological emergency that may elude diagnosis leading to delayed operative intervention and ovarian resection. We report a 39 year old female who presented with acute one-sided abdominal pain whose diagnosis was missed by the emergency physician resulting in loss of the ovary. The surgery was performed by the gynecologist laparoscopically

Total laparoscopic hysterectomy with obliterated anterior cul-de-sac

Endometriosis may in severe cases lead to obliteration of the anterior and/or posterior cul-de-sacs in the female pelvis. The anterior cul-de-sac is generally less commonly affected. This type of cases usually presents a challenge for the operating surgeon, whether via open route or through laparoscopy. In this paper, we present an illustrative case and explain our technique for dealing with a scarred and totally obliterated anterior cul-de-sac because of endometriosis during total laparoscopic hysterectomy

Diagnosis and laparoscopic treatment of cornual ectopic pregnancy

Cornual (interstitial) ectopic pregnancy is an uncommon variant of ectopic pregnancy which often poses a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge with a significant risk of rupturing and bleeding. We present a ruptured right cornual pregnancy and explain how to deal with such a case laparoscopically

Chronic ovarian torsion treated laparoscopically

Ovarian torsion is a rare gynecological emergency that may elude diagnosis leading to delayed operative intervention and ovarian resection. We report a 39 year old female who presented with acute one-sided abdominal pain whose diagnosis was missed by the emergency physician resulting in loss of the ovary. The surgery was performed by the gynecologist laparoscopically

Subacute transverse myelitis with Lyme profile dissociation

Introduction: Transverse myelitis is a very rare neurologic syndrome with an incidence per year of 1-5 per million population. We are presenting an interesting case of subacute transverse myelitis with its MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) findings

Recurrent spine surgery patients in hospital administrative database

Introduction: Hospital patient databases are typically used by administrative staff to estimate loss-profit ratios and to help with the allocation of hospital resources. These databases can also be very useful in following rehospitalization. This paper studies the recurrence of spine surgery patients in our hospital population based on administrative data analysis

De novo spine surgery as a predictor of additional spine surgery at the same or distant spine regions

Introduction: Degenerative spine disorders are steadily increasing parallel to the aging of the population with considerable impact on cost and productivity. In this paper we study the prevalence and risk factors for multiple spine surgery and its impact on cost

Market Power and Collusion on Interconnection Phone Market in Tunisia : What Lessons from International Experiences

We try in this paper to characterize the state of mobile phone market in Tunisia. Our study is based on a survey of foreign experience (Europe) in detecting collusive behavior and a comparison of the critical threshold of collusion between operators in developing countries like Tunisia. The market power is estimated based on the work of Parker Roller (1997) and the assumption of "Balanced Calling Pattern". We use then the model of Friedman (1971) to compare the critical threshold of collusion. We show that the "conduct parameter" measuring the intensity of competition is not null during the period 1993-2011. Results show also that collusion is easier on the Tunisian market that on the Algerian, Jordanian, or Moroccan one