We are reporting on the implantation of a spinal cord stimulator to treat intractable radicular pain following a retained bullet fragment in the spinal canal. Such retained fragments are associated with risks including pain, neurological deficit, infection, toxic effects, and migration. Our patient was a young man with radicular pain and history of a gunshot entering the abdomen. Computed tomog...

Both myasthenia gravis and traumatic spinal cord injury are uncommon disorders and their concurrence is extremely rare. We report here the case of a man with stable myasthenia gravis with spinal cord injury due to a motor vehicle accident. His muscle strength and sensory function in all 4 limbs partially recovered during the initial hospitalization. However, after a later episode of pneumonia a...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether pulmonary function at discharge from inpatient rehabilitation can predict respiratory infection in spinal cord injury in the first year after discharge, and to determine which pulmonary function parameter predicts best. DESIGN Multicentre prospective cohort study. SUBJECTS A total of 140 persons with spinal cord injury. METHODS Pulmonary function was tested ...

STUDY DESIGN Case series retrospective review. OBJECTIVE To identify what factors predict successful eradication of infection after I&D of an infected posterior spinal fusion with instrumentation. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA The treatment of infection of instrumented spine fusions in children has few clear guidelines in the literature. METHODS The medical records of patients who required a...

1.1 Spinal infections 1.1.1 History Infection of the spine is a disease with a long, well-documented history. Excavations of human skeletons from an archaeological site from the Iron Age showed likely cases of individual spinal infection (Tayles & Buckley, 2004). Tuberculosis of the spine is often described as Pott’s disease; the pattern of the disease was reported by Percivall Pott in the year...

BACKGROUND Secondary systemic vasculitis after posterior spinal fusion surgery is rare. It is usually related to over-reaction of immune-system, to genetic factors, toxicity, infection or metal allergies. CASE DESCRIPTION A 14 year-old girl with a history of extended posterior spinal fusion due to idiopathic scoliosis presented to our department with diffuse erythema and nephritis (macroscopi...

To cite: Virot E, Barrey C, Chidiac C, et al. BMJ Case Rep Published online: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/bcr-2015209782 DESCRIPTION A 22-year-old woman with severe double curve scoliosis was instrumented in 2006 (posterior instrumentation T2-L5). In 2007–2008, the patient had progressive worsening of the scoliosis. In August 2012, she presented with mild oozing matter from the s...

Intracerebral infection of susceptible strains of mice with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) induces a biphasic disease characterized by acute polioencephalitis followed by chronic demyelination and viral persistence in the spinal cord white matter. There has been limited study of soluble mediators responsible for the initial recruitment of inflammatory cells into the gray matter...

Astrocytes remove glutamate from the synaptic cleft via specific transporters, and impaired glutamate reuptake may promote excitotoxic neuronal injury. In a model of viral encephalomyelitis caused by neuroadapted Sindbis virus (NSV), mice develop acute paralysis and spinal motor neuron degeneration inhibited by the AMPA receptor antagonist, NBQX. To investigate disrupted glutamate homeostasis i...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Spinal epidural abscesses are major complications of epidural anesthesia, and their MR features have been reported. In patients receiving continuous infusion via an epidural catheter, MR findings may mimic those of spinal epidural abscess in the absence of infection. The purpose of this study was to assess the spinal MR findings associated with continuous epidural anesthe...