Thoracic aggressive vertebral hemangioma with neurologic deficit: A retrospective cohort study.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness in the treatment of thoracic aggressive vertebral hemangiomas (AVHs) with neurologic deficit by multiple surgical treatments.The clinical and radiographic data of 5 patients suffering from thoracic AVHs with neurologic deficit and treated by multiple surgical treatments, including percutaneous curved vertebroplasty (PCVP) combined with pedicle screw fixation and decompressive laminectomy, were reviewed and analyzed retrospectively.Five patients (3 women and 2 man, with a mean age of 57.40 ±â€Š11.93) were diagnosed with AVHs from July 2010 to April 2016. All of them had objective neurologic deficit, myelopathy, and back pain. They underwent multiple surgical treatments and were followed-up for 12 to 23 months. At final follow-up, Frankel Grade D was achieved in all 5 patients. Patients were free from pain and neurologic symptoms, and the functional status was improved. No major complication was found.The treatment of AVHs with neurologic deficit is a challenge for surgeons. PCVP combined with pedicle screw fixation and decompressive laminectomy is safe and effective, and can be used for AVHs with neurologic deficit. Further studies with more samples are required to validate the effectiveness and safety of PCVP combined with pedicle screw fixation and decompressive laminectomy.

Secondary Surgery after Cervical Disc Arthroplasty versus Fusion for Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease: A Meta-analysis with Trial Sequential Analysis.

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to explore whether cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) was superior to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in reducing secondary surgery. PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched. Outcomes were reported as relative risk (RR) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). The pooled data was calculated using a random-effect model. We also used the trial sequential analysis (TSA) to further verify our results and obtain more moderate estimates. Twenty-one studies with 4208 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The results indicated that compared with ACDF, CDA had fewer frequency of secondary surgery at the index level (RR, 0.47; 95%CI, 0.36-0.63; P < 0.05) and adjacent level (RR, 0.48; 95%CI, 0.36-0.65; P < 0.05), and the differences were statistically significant. In addition, in terms of the overall frequency of secondary surgery at the index and adjacent level, CDA was also significantly superior to ACDF (RR, 0.49; 95%CI, 0.41-0.60; P < 0.05). TSA demonstrated that adequate and decisive evidence had been established. Regarding the frequency of secondary surgery, CDA was significantly superior to ACDF. It was supposed that CDA may be a better surgical intervention to reduce the rate of secondary surgery for patients with cervical degenerative disc disease.