Posterior Endoscope-Assisted Diskectomy Is an Effective Technique for Cervical Soft Disk Herniation

Objective To evaluate the clinicoradiologic conditions of patients with a herniated cervical disk who were treated with percutaneous endoscope-assisted cervical diskectomy. Materials and Methods The medical data of 27 patients (16 men and 11 women; mean age: 40.9 years) who were operated on with the posterior endoscope-assisted cervical diskectomy method were reviewed retrospectively. The mean follow-up was 35.1 months, and the patients were assessed with combined preoperative and postoperative visual analog scale (VAS), Prolo Functional Economic Outcome Rating scale, MacNab scale, and clinical imaging. Results The mean preoperative VAS level was 8.6 (range: 7–10), and mean Prolo score was 2.5 (range: 2–5). A postoperative assessment performed 1 week postsurgery found a mean VAS level of 2.1 (range: 0–4). At the final examination, the mean VAS level was 0.81 (range: 0–3), and the mean Prolo score was 4.5 (range: 3–5). The final MacNab scale scores were 62.9%, excellent; 25.9%, good; 7.4%, moderate; and 3.7%, poor. Conclusion Percutaneous endoscope-assisted cervical diskectomy is a suitable and effective treatment method for soft cervical disk herniation.

H-reflex latency changes after combined application of traction and neural mobilization in cervical radiculopathy

Background Cervical radiculopathy is a pathology of the cervical nerve root and mostly caused by a cervical disk herniation leading to chronic pain and disability. Objectives This study was conducted to show the effect of the combined application of intermittent cervical traction with median nerve mobilization on flexor carpi radialis (FCR) muscle H-reflex latency of median nerve in patients with unilateral cervical radiculopathy due to disk lesion in a pre-post design. Methods Fifteen patients (10 females and 5 males) with a mean age of 38.07 ± 5.85 years received simultaneous application of intermittent cervical traction and median nerve mobilization. Six sessions were given every other day for 2 weeks. Also, patients perormed chin in exercises and upper back extension with scapular retraction. FCR H-reflex latency was measured pre- and post-treatment. Results Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant reduction of H-reflex latency at post-treatment in comparison to pretreatment (t = 5.447, p value = 0.0001*). Conclusion Simultaneous application of intermittent cervical traction and median nerve mobilization are effective in improving FCR H-reflex latency in patients with unilateral cervical radiculopathy.

Influence of emotional status and quality of life in patients with cervical disc herniation on the accuracy of topical diagnosis

What factors negatively influence the accuracy of topical diagnosis of spinal nerve root lesion during neurological examination has not been solved until now.Objective:to identify the nature of the relationship between the accuracy of topical diagnosis of spinal nerve lesion from neurological symptoms in patients with cervical disk herniation and the peculiarities of their emotional status and quality of life.Patients and methods. Forty-eight patients with cervical disc herniation were examined. At first, the level of spinal nerve root lesion established during neurological examination was compared with the results of magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography and surgical intervention. Thereafter, the importance of emotional factors in determining the accuracy of topical diagnosis is studied in these patients.Results and discussion. If there was a divergence between preliminary neurological and final diagnoses, personality traits, such as hysteria, psy-chasthenia, alexithymia, and trait anxiety were most significant. The most substantial differences were found in the index of alexithymia. The accuracy of topical diagnosis was influenced not only by the psychological profile of patients with cervical disc herniation, but also by their qualty-of-life indicators. These are persons who are anxious and suspicious and are characterized by anxiety, fearfulness, indecision, and constant doubt. They use the symptoms of a somatic disease as a means to avoid responsibility. These patients solve all their problems, by escaping into disease, which causes social maladjustment.Conclusion.The features of an individual's psychological profile as increased anxiety, hysteria, and psychasthenia reduce the accuracy of topical diagnosis of the lesion by 25.6%. Patients with cervical disk herniation, low quality-of-life indicators, and high scale scores for hypochondria, depression, psychasthenia, and trait anxiety need their emotional status to be corrected.

Feasibility of Navigable Percutaneous Disk Decompressor (L'DISQ-C) for Cervical Disk Herniation

Objective To assess the procedural efficacy and safety of a Navigable Percutaneous Disk Decompressor (L'DISQ-C) for cervical disk herniation. Methods We performed intradiskal decompression on cervical spine specimens from five human cadavers using the L'DISQ-C under C-arm fluoroscopic guidance. We evaluated our success for positioning the navigable wand tip into the target region and recorded temperature variation at various distances from the wand tip in the cervical nucleus pulposus. The histologic effect of plasma decompression was examined microscopically using harvested tissues adjacent to the procedure site. Results We successfully navigated the tip of the L'DISQ-C into the target region of the posterior cervical disks on the first insertion attempt in all C3–C4 to C6–C7 disks and in 50% of the C2–C3 and C7–T1 disks. The average temperature elevations within the nucleus pulposus ranged from 4.14 ± 0.08°C to 12.17 ± 0.76°C at various distances from the wand tip with or without saline infusion. A histologic examination showed only minor denaturation at the marginal border of the procedure tract. Conclusion We effectively navigated the L'DISQ-C wand tip into the posterior target region of six cadaveric cervical disks and performed percutaneous resection of the target disk tissues without significant thermal or structural damage to adjacent tissues.