UNLABELLED This article reviews the nonoperative and operative decision making process in idiopathic scoliosis in the adolescent and adult with additional comments about degenerative scoliosis. Because knowledge of the natural history of idiopathic scoliosis is essential for decision making, this will be covered first, as will the current knowledge concerning the long term outcomes of nonoperat...

BACKGROUND Although the majority of Major League Baseball teams use an orthopaedic rating system to evaluate draft picks, little has been published on the topic. HYPOTHESIS Our goal was to assess the attitudes among Major League Baseball physicians regarding 3 common diagnoses in pitching prospects, through the use of an orthopaedic rating system. Our hypothesis was that the assigned orthopae...

OBJECTIVE Traumatic blunt aortic injury has traditionally been viewed as a surgical emergency, whereas nonoperative therapy has been reserved for nonsurgical candidates. This study reviews our experience with deliberate, nonoperative management for blunt thoracic aortic injury. METHODS A retrospective chart review with selective longitudinal follow-up was conducted for patients with blunt aor...

The rise of minimally invasive surgical techniques during the past 20 years has been one of the more dramatic developments in modern medicine. Minimally invasive procedures are now widely accepted for treatment of diseases involving many different organ systems. Minimally invasive procedures may be more common and more accepted in the treatment of diseases of the biliary tract than in any other...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. OBJECTIVE The identification of factors that lead to the failure of nonoperative management in neurologically intact thoracolumbar burst fractures. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA The treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures (TLBF) can be controversial, particularly in the neurologically intact. Surgery for intact burst fractures has been advocated for ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study aimed to assess the long-term (>12 months) efficacy of nonoperative treatment (antibiotic administration) in the management of uncomplicated acute appendicitis (AA). MATERIALS AND METHODS We surveyed uncomplicated AA patients who elected to undergo nonoperative treatment between 2010 and 2012. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the criti...

STUDY DESIGN Randomized trial with a concurrent observational cohort study. OBJECTIVE To compare 8-year outcomes of surgery with nonoperative care for symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Surgery for spinal stenosis has been shown to be more effective than nonoperative treatment during 4 years, but longer-term data are less clear. METHODS Surgical candidates from...

Study Design Systematic review (update). Objective Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a progressive degenerative spine disease that is increasingly managed surgically. The objective of this study is to determine the role of nonoperative treatment in the management of DCM by updating a systematic review published by Rhee and colleagues in 2013. The specific aims of this review were (1) ...

BACKGROUND Questions remain as to the effect that obesity has on patients managed for symptomatic lumbar disc herniation. The purpose of this study was to determine if obesity affects outcomes following the treatment of symptomatic lumbar disc herniation. METHODS An as-treated analysis was performed on patients enrolled in the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial for the treatment of lumbar ...