The effect of extradural corticosteroid injection in patients with nerve root compression syndromes associated with degenerative disease of the lumbar intervertebral discs was assessed in a double-blind controlled trial on 100 consecutive inpatients assigned by random allocation to treatment and control groups. Assessment during admission and at three months revealed statistically highly signif...

Twenty women, undergoing lower abdominal surgery, were allocated randomly to receive a continuous extradural infusion of either 0.125% bupivacaine or placebo at a rate of 15 ml h-1. All had received an intra-operative extradural block. Pain scores were recorded at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 240 and 360 min after surgery. From 150 min onwards there was a significant benefit for those receiving t...

This study aimed to describe in detail the surgical technique of partial lateral corpectomy (PLC) associated with pediculectomy to treat an in vitro extradural chondroma. A 12-year old female Cocker Spaniel was seen in the hospital with proprioceptive ataxia of hind limbs associated with extradural compression between the 1st and 2nd lumbar vertebrae. The owner opted for euthanasia since the pa...

Intraspinal extradural spinal cysts are rare lesions, which can induce symptoms due to spinal cord compression or even CSF low pressure syndrome. They are regarded to be result of a trauma, post-surgical, or even congenital. Depended on size and location of the cysts, patients could be asymptomatic for a long time until an enlargement of the cyst. To best of our knowledge, there is no previous ...

Sir,—The use of distraction and compression rods in the treatment of scoliosis was originally described by Harrington (1962). One of the complications of this operation is paraplegia, with a reported frequency of 0.1% (Harrington, 1971). To prevent this complication, patients are wakened during operation to check the voluntary motor power of the limbs. A variety of wake-up techniques has been d...

Case 1.-This patient was a man of 42 years. Twentyone years before, a left posterior frontal abscess had appeared spontaneously under the scalp. The abscess ruptured after three weeks, and thereafter a chronic sinus discharged intermittently. Local surgical exploration was undertaken on three occasions at long intervals, at the latest of which, bone an inch thick was chiselled away, releasing s...