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Introduction: Acute exertional compartment syndrome (AECS) is a condition with the potential for devastating outcomes if not promptly treated. Physicians must maintain a high index of suspicion when evaluating patients presenting with pain, swelling, decreased range of motion, and numbness within a muscle compartment. However, AECS is frequently misdiagnosed due to a multitude of factors, leading to a delay in treatment. In this case report, we would like to shed light on a rare case of bilateral upper-extremity AECS and suggest the treatment paradigm we believe will help prevent negative outcomes. Case Report: A previously healthy 33-year-old male presented with bilateral weakness, tingling, tenderness, swelling, and pain upon movement in the trapezius and deltoid muscles. The symptoms started after he performed "burpees" for 18 h following a 12-h forest-fire firefighting shift. The patient's rapidly developing clinical presentation warranted compartmental pressure checks for suspicion of AECS. Being able to quickly determine the elevated trapezius, deltoid, and supraspinatus compartmental pressures allowed us to perform immediate bilateral fasciotomies with delayed primary closure to relieve compartment pressure. Conclusion: The delay in treatment for patients presenting with AECS is multifactorial and may lead to devastating outcomes if not promptly addressed. The lack of literature regarding bilateral upper-extremity AECS makes the treatment for this condition even more difficult. For our patient, having a proper criterion for performing compartmental pressure checks played a vital role in ensuring an accurate diagnosis and timely medical intervention.
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BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) are commonly performed operations to address cervical radiculopathy and myelopathy. Trends in utilization and revision surgery rates warrant investigation. PURPOSE: To explore the epidemiology, postoperative complications, and reoperation rates of ACDF and CDA. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PATIENT SAMPLE: A total of 433,660 patients who underwent ACDF or CDA between 2011 and 2021 were included in this study. OUTCOME MEASURES: The following data were observed for all cases: patient demographics, complications, and revisions. METHODS: The PearlDiver database was queried to identify patients who underwent ACDF and CDA between 2011 and 2021. Epidemiological analyses were performed to examine trends in cervical procedure utilization by age group and year. After matching by age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), levels of operation, and reason for surgery, the early postoperative (2-week), short-term (2-year), and long-term (5-year) complications of both cervical procedures were examined. RESULTS: In total, 404,195 ACDF and 29,465 CDA patients were included. ACDF utilization rose by 25.25% between 2011 and 2014 while CDA utilization rose by 654.24% between 2011-2019 followed by relative plateauing in both procedures. Mann-Kendall trend test confirmed a significant but small rise in ACDF and large rise in CDA procedures from 2011 to 2021 (p<.001). After matching, ACDF and CDA had an overall complication rate of 12.20% and 8.77%, respectively, with the most common complications being subsequent anterior revision (4.96% and 3.35%) and dysphagia (3.70% and 2.98%). The ACDF cohort, especially multilevel ACDF patients, generally had more complications and higher revision rates than the CDA cohort (p<.05). CONCLUSIONS: While ACDF utilization has plateaued since 2014, CDA rates have risen by a staggering 654.24% over the past decade. ACDF and CDA complication and revision rates were relatively low in comparison to previously published values, with significantly lower rates in CDA. Although a lack of radiographic data in this study limits its power to recommend either procedure for individual patients with cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy, CDA may be associated with minor improvement in the complication and revision profile.