Calcifications in the thoracic aorta at the level of the 11th and the 12th thoracic vertebrae in 592 men and 333 women were studied using computed tomography. The ages ranged from 40 to 88 years. Incidence of calcification increased proportionally to the advancing age from the forties to the eighties in men, and from the fifties to the seventies in women: incidence of calcification (%) = 2.41 X...

Anterior surgical approaches have been used for lower cervical, thoracic, and upper lumbar vertebrae since the beginning of the second half of the 20th century. Hodgson et al. were the first surgeons to perform spinal fusion with anterior approach for the treatment of a paraplegic patient with Pott’s disease in 1956. Cauchoix and Binet reported access to vertebral corpuses from C7 to T4 using a...

The relationship between ultrasound measurements and empty body and carcass chemical composition was investigated. A 500-V real-time ultrasound with a 7.5-MHz probe combined with image analysis was used to make in vivo measurements to predict the empty body and carcass chemical composition of 31 female lambs of two genotypes, ranging in BW from 18.2 to 48.9 kg. Eleven ultrasound measurements of...

OBJECTIVE To determine clinical and radiographic determinants of hyperkyphosis in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. METHODS Spinal hyperkyphosis was assessed by occiput to wall distance (OWD) in 135 patients participating in the OASIS cohort and defined as OWD >0. Disease activity was assessed by the Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI). Wedging of the vertebrae was...

Osteoporotic patients can present with either single or multiple fractures secondary to repeated falls and progressive osteoporosis. Multiple fractures often lead to additional spinal deformity and are a sign of more severe osteoporosis. In the thoracic spine, multiple fractures are associated with the development of gradual thoracic kyphosis but neurologic deficits are uncommon. In the lumbar ...

Objective: To compare the clinical outcomes of anterior video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and the posterior-only approach for surgically treating mono-segmental thoracic spinal tuberculosis (TB) in adults. Methods: Between December 2008 and December 2010, we enrolled 52 males and 38 females. Fifty-two patients (mean age, 42.3±11.5 years; range, 22-66 years) in group A underwent anteri...

Two siblings with spondylothoracic dysostosis, and two siblings and three unrelated children with spondylocostal dysostosis are described. Both conditions are inherited and characterised by malformed thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. Spondylothoracic dysostosis produces "crab-like" deformities of the ribs, and is usually fatal during early infancy due to respiratory failure. Spondylocostal dysosto...

The authors report a case of a 38-year-old HIV-positive woman, with subcutaneous nodules on the thoracic region with 3 months of evolution. Clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological features were evaluated and associated with apparent damage to the T11-T12 vertebrae, identification by imaging tests, positivity in a polymerase chain reaction-based test, and reactivity to the Mantoux tuberculin s...