BACKGROUND Surgical simulators are useful in many surgical disciplines to augment residency training. Duty hour restrictions and increasing emphasis on patient safety and attending oversight have changed neurosurgical education from the traditional apprenticeship model. The Congress of Neurological Surgeons Simulation Committee has been developing neurosurgical simulators for the purpose of enh...

Background and Purpose: Cervical traction has been used for more than 50 years for the treatment of cervical disk pathology. However, there is a paucity of research in regard to the use of postoperative traction following surgery. The purpose of this case series is to describe evidence-based treatment using cervical traction for herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP) after anterior cervical discectom...

STUDY DESIGN Multi-institutional retrospective case series of 8887 patients who underwent anterior cervical spine surgery. OBJECTIVE Anterior decompression from discectomy or corpectomy is not without risk. Surgical morbidity ranges from 9% to 20% and is likely underreported. Little is known of the incidence and effects of rare complications on functional outcomes following anterior spinal su...

Study Design Cost-effectiveness analysis. Objectives To determine the 7-year cost-effectiveness of cervical disc replacement (CDR) and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Methods We analyzed 7-year Short Form-36 Health Survey data collected from the Prestige Cervical Disc investigational device exemption study (IDE). The SF-6D algorithm was used to convert this data into health ...

Anterior cervical location of arachnoid cyst is a rare and only 22 cases have been reported in the literature. The surgical approach was quite varied and mostly these cysts were accessed via dorsal laminectomy, with few patients developing postoperative neurological deficit. We report a 51-year-old male with a cervical arachnoid cyst extending from the dens to the inferior border of the C3 body...

We have examined the outcome in 19 professional rugby union players who underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion between 1998 and 2003. Through a retrospective review of the medical records and telephone interviews of all 19 players, we have attempted to determine the likelihood of improvement, return to professional sport and the long-term consequences. We have also attempted to relat...

Cervical radiculopathy is characterized by compression of the roots of the nerve. When conservative treatment fails and symptoms persist or increase in severity, surgical treatment is considered. Anterior cervical discectomy with or without fusion is regarded as the standard treatment for cervical disk herniation. Recently, there is an evolving trend in spinal surgery towards less invasive tech...

Proximal junctional disease is a well-recognized postoperative phenomenon in adults who are undergoing long thoracolumbar fusion and instrumentation, and is attributed to increased a junctional stress concentration. In general, the onset of symptoms in these patients is insidious and the disease progresses slowly. We report on a contrary case of rapidly progressing paraplegia secondary to acute...

The aim of this study is to compare patients undergoing one level anterior cervical discectomy without fusion versus anterior cervical discectomy with fusion. The study included forty-eight patients operated at either C5-C6 level or at the C6-C7 level: a group of anterior cervical microdiscectomy without fusion performed at one level on 24 consecutive patients was matched to a second group of 2...

OBJECTIVE Discectomy as a treatment for herniated lumbar discs results in outcomes after surgery that are not uniformly positive. Surgeons face the dilemma between limited nucleus removal which is associated with a higher risk of recurrence, or more aggressive nucleus removal which may lead to disc height loss and persistent back-pain. annulus closure devices may allow for the benefits of limit...