OBJECTIVE Surgical drains are commonly used after the spine surgeries for minimizing hematoma formation, which can delay wound healing and may become a source of fibrosis, infection, and pain. The drain, however, may provide a direct route for infection if it is contaminated. Our objective was to survey the relationship between surgical drains and infection. METHODS The 70 patients who had un...

Background: Lumbar hernia is a rare hernia which accounts for less than 1.5% of total hernia incidence. Only about 300 cases have been reported in literature. Lumbar hernia herniates through the superior or inferior lumbar triangle. Herniation through inferior triangle is more common, probably due to variable attachment of external oblique and latissimus dorsi to iliac crest. If they are closel...

The understanding of raised intracranial pressure (ICP) is increasing with the directed use telemetric ICP monitors. This case uniquely observed changes by monitoring in a patient idiopathic hypertension (IIH), who developed rapid sight-threatening disease. A lumbar drain was inserted, as temporising measure, and clamped prior to surgery. resulted rise ICP, which normalised after insertion vent...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study. PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of intraoperative wound application of vancomycin on preventing surgical wound contamination during instrumented lumbar spinal surgery. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Postoperative infection is the one of the most devastating complications of lumbar surgery. There are a few reports showing the benefits of intraoperative wound applicat...

A patient with spontaneous intracranial hypotension due to a spinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak required localization of the leakage site prior to surgical management. Conventional, computed tomography and prone digital subtraction myelography failed to localize the dural tear, which was postulated to be dorsally located. We present here a digital subtraction myelographic approach to accurat...

Eleven patients with intractable trigeminal neuralgia were treated by posterior fossa microvascular decompression. Complete pain relief was achieved in 7 patients (63.3%). Partial relief of symptoms was noted in 3 patients (27%). There was no operative mortality. Two patients developed transient lower cranial nerve palsies whereas one patient developed a CSF leak, requiring treatment by lumbar ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the rates of technical success, clinical success, and complications of fluoroscopy-guided lumbar cerebrospinal fluid drainage. MATERIALS AND METHODS This retrospective study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of our hospital, and informed consent was waived. Ninety-six procedures on 60 consecutive patients performed July 2008 to December 2013 were evaluated. ...

OBJECTIVE The measurement of neuromarker/neuroproteins in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is gaining increased popularity. However, insufficient information is available on the rostrocaudal distribution of neuroproteins in the CSF to guarantee an appropriate interpretation of ventricular versus lumbar concentrations. METHODS In 10 patients treated with both an external ventricular and a lumbar ...