OBJECTIVE To evaluate the sensitivity of contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) compared with dermatomal somatosensory evoked potentials (dSSEPs) and clinical sensory testing in myelopathic spinal cord disorders (SCDs). METHODS In a prospective cohort study, light-touch (LT) and pinprick (PP) testing was complemented by dermatomal CHEPs and dSSEPs in patients with a confirmed SCD as defined b...

Patients with spinal cord lesion suffer from complex disorders of bladder and anorectal function. We assessed the value of urodynamics and anorectal manometry as prognostic and diagnostic tools in these patients and evaluated the usefulness of these techniques for the differentiation between complete and incomplete spinal cord lesions. Thirty patients with suprasacral spinal cord injury (six wo...

The authors presented a 75-year-old female patient at high risk, suspected of a cecal cancer (CC) due to discomfort in the inguinal fossa, microcytic anemia (although she was postmenopausal), liquid stools and a positive faecal occult blood test. A standard examination of the large intestine was undertaken. Conventional colonoscopy was not completed and the results of barium enema were question...

STUDY DESIGN  Retrospective cohort study. OBJECTIVES  To find out: (1) if the energy of trauma (high and low) influence the outcome after cervical spinal cord injury; (2) if time to decompression and degree of injury (complete and incomplete) influence the outcome after high- and low-energy cervical spinal cord injury. METHODS  Twenty-one consecutive patients with low-energy cervical spinal...

Postural balance is defined as the ability to stand unassisted without falling. Examination of the patient's postural balance function is a difficult diagnostic task. Most of the balance tests used in medicine provide incomplete information on this coordination ability of the human body. The aim of this study was to review methods of assessment of the patient's postural balance function, includ...

The number of datasets in the Linking Open Data (LOD) cloud as well as LOD-based applications have exploded in the last years. However, because of data source heterogeneity, published data may suffer of redundancy, inconsistencies, or may be incomplete; thus, results generated by LOD-based applications may be imprecise, ambiguous, or unreliable. We demonstrate the capabilities of LiQuate (Linke...

Measurement of treatment satisfaction in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is compromised by an insufficient conceptual foundation and poor assessment methods. The current state of the art in measuring treatment satisfaction is incomplete, and the existing measurement is insufficient. Here, the definition, conceptualisation, application, and methodological issues associated with measurem...