Total and local experimental validation of a lumbar spine numerical model to enhance the orthopaedic management of spinal metastases

This work shows a full biomechanical validation of a multibody lumbar model with respect to an experimental phantom, fruitful for giving major insights on different surgical vertebral metastasis treatments.

Effectiveness of Antalgic Therapies in Patients with Vertebral Bone Metastasis: A Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

There is no systematic review that has identified existing studies evaluating the pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention for pain management in patients with bone metastasis. To fill this gap in the literature, this systematic review with meta-analysis aims to evaluate the effectiveness of different antalgic therapies (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) in the improvement of pain of these patients. To this end, this protocol has been written according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) and registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020135762). A systematic search will be carried out in four international databases: Medline (Via PubMed), Web of Science, Cochrane Library and SCOPUS, to select the randomized controlled clinical trials. The Risk of Bias Tool developed by Cochrane will be used to assess the risk of bias and the quality of the identified studies. A narrative synthesis will be used to describe and compare the studies, and after the data extraction, random effects model and a subgroup analyses will be performed according to the type of intervention, if possible. This protocol aims to generate a systematic review that compiles and synthesizes the best and most recent evidence on the treatment of pain derived from vertebral metastasis.

Vertebral Metastasis Treated by Vertebroplasty, a Cause of Respiratory Failure: Case Report and Literature Review

Bone is a frequent site of metastases in advanced cancers including lung, breast, prostate, kidney, or myeloma. Lesions are commonly located on the spine. Neoplastic invasion of the vertebral body can result in painful vertebral fractures, leading to disability and substantial morbidity. Percutaneous vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive surgical procedure used to treat spinal fractures due to osteolytic tumors. It could result in pain reduction or resolution in 80–90% of patients with fractures, and it improves stability. Although considered safe, vertebroplasty has been associated over the years with life-threatening complications. We have reported the case of a 55-year-old patient with lung adenocarcinoma, who underwent vertebroplasty for a pathological neoplastic fracture of L2. The procedure was complicated by a leak of cement into the systemic venous circulation, characterized by an 11-cm filament in the right heart chambers and multiple pulmonary emboli. To our knowledge, only one similar case was previously reported, involving an intracardiac cement filament longer than 10 cm. The data are scant, hence the importance of collecting and reporting possible complications about what is perceived as a rather safe procedure. The case highlights the need for a robust postprocedure imaging plan to detect complications, which can impact patients’ morbidity and survival.

Dorsolumbar Vertebroplasty- A Retrospective Study

Introduction: Percutaneous Vertebroplasty (PVP) is a procedure frequently performed to obtain pain relief and mechanical strengthening of the collapsed vertebral body which may be caused by variant reasons. Aim: To assess frequent complications commonly encountered during vertebroplasty procedure. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 1375 patients followed from January 2005 and June 2012 in Department of Neurosurgery, faculty of medicine, Dokuz Eylül University. Severe vertebral fracture collapse (vertebra plana), vertebral metastasis, quadriplegic patients and bed-ridden patients were excluded from this study, whereas active mobile patients without associated severe co-morbidities were included in the study. Pain, pattern of cement leakage and associated complications had been assessed. Results: Total 601 patients who fullfilled the inclusion criteria {244 (40.5%) males, 357 (59.5%) females}, average age was 63.04±7.4 (range 34 to 90) years, had undergone the PVP procedure. Mean preoperative Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was 8.51±1.5, whereas after one and six months, the mean postoperative VAS were 1.94±1.0 and 2.53±2.2, respectively. Central spinal canal leakage has been observed in four cases. Three patients had developed transient monoparesis and radiculopathy symptoms. Whereas, the fourth patient developed paraplegia. Cement leakage had been tolerated well by one patient, where symptomatic resolution occurred within one month. However, decompressive foraminotomy had been performed for two patients on the 24th and 38thdays postoperatively due to intractable radicular pain. Immediate total laminectomy and decompression surgery had been performed for removal of the cement leakage to the spinal canal for the patient who developed total paraplegia. Asymptomatic leakage had been recognised beneath the posterior longitudinal ligament in 42 patients (6.9%), beneath the anterior longitudinal ligament in 18 patients (2.9%) and into disc space in 31 patients (5.1%). Venous leakage occurred in four patients (0.6%) and was asymptomatic in all of them. Conclusion: Vertebroplasty should be performed in a fully equipped operation theater in order to be able to revert quickly to open surgery in case of cement leakage into the spinal canal.

Rapidly progressive stridor in a case of GIST

We report the case of an 84-year-old male patient suffering from a gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) of the rectum who was referred to our ENT (Ear-Nose-Throat) clinic for a rapidly progressive stridor, aphagia and dysphonia. The clinical examination revealed a mass arising from the posterior wall of the pharynx, which obstructed the laryngeal inlet and thus the airway. A metastasis of the GIST was suspected. After completing the investigation with radiological imaging, the patient underwent surgery, which consisted of a tracheostomy to secure the airway and a biopsy of the mass. The pathological examination confirmed the suspected diagnosis of a GIST vertebral metastasis.