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BACKGROUND: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) are common complications after anesthesia and surgery. This study was designed to compare the effects of palonosetron and ondansetron in preventing PONV in high-risk patients receiving intravenous opioid-based patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) after gynecological laparoscopic surgery. METHODS: One hundred non-smoking female patients scheduled for gynecological laparoscopic surgery were randomly assigned into the palonosetron group (n = 50) or the ondansetron group (n = 50). Palonosetron 0.075 mg was injected as a bolus in the palonosetron group. Ondansetron 8 mg was injected as a bolus and 16 mg was added to the IV-PCA in the ondansetron group. The incidences of nausea, vomiting and side effects was recorded at 2 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h, postoperatively. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the groups in the incidence of PONV during 72 h after operation. However, the incidence of vomiting was lower in the palonosetron group than in the ondansetron group (18% vs. 4%, P = 0.025). No differences were observed in use of antiemetics and the side effects between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of palonosetron and ondansetron in preventing PONV were similar in high-risk patients undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery and receiving opioid-based IV-PCA.
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OBJECTIVE: This retrospective study aimed to compare clinical outcomes in terms of pain relief and recurrence rate between fragmentectomies and conventional microdiscectomies in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). METHODS: Between January 2008 and May 2011, a total of 175 patients met the inclusion criteria of this study. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of back and radicular pains were recorded before surgery, 2 and 6 weeks after surgery. Recurrence was defined when a patient had the same pattern of preoperative symptoms and was confirmed with magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: Seventy-four patients (42.3%) were suitable for fragmentectomy, and 101 patients underwent conventional microdiscectomy. There were no significant differences in VAS scores between the fragmentectomy and conventional microdiscectomy groups 2 and 6 weeks after surgery. During the follow-up period, 3 patients (4.05%) in the fragmentectomy group and 7 patients (6.93%) in the conventional microdiscectomy group relapsed. CONCLUSION: If patients are selected according to well-defined criteria, fragmentectomy can be a good surgical option for LDH, in the physiological aspect of preserving healthy intervertebral disc materials.
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Osteoporosis is a worldwide problem and it mainly affects postmenopausal women. Osteoporosis associated with pregnancy or lactation is a rare condition. The incidence and mechanism of this phenomenon has not been clarified, but it can cause one or more vertebral compression fractures with severe, prolonged back pain in the affected women. We experienced this uncommon case, treated it with percutaneous vertebroplasty. A 35-old-woman visited our hospital with complaints of severe back pain and flank pain 2 months after normal vaginal delivery. She was diagnosed with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures on the T5, 8, 9 and 11 vertebral bodies and we performed percutaneous vertebroplasty on the T8, 9 and 11 vertebrae with a good result. We present here an unusual case of pregnancy-associated compression fractures treated by percutaneous vertebroplasty.
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OBJECTIVE: For the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture, percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) is currently widely used as an effective and relatively safe procedure. However, some patients do not experience pain relief after PVP. We performed several additional PVP procedures in those patients who did not have any improvement of pain after their initial PVP and we obtained good results. Our purpose is to demonstrate the effective results of an additional PVP procedure at the same previously treated level. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records and the radiologic data of the PVP procedures that were performed at our hospital from November 2005 to May 2008 to determine the patients who had undergone additional PVP. We identified ten patients and we measured the clinical outcomes according to the visual analogue scale (VAS) score and the radiologic parameters, including the anterior body height and the kyphotic angulation. RESULTS: The mean volume of polymethylmethacrylate injected into each vertebrae was 4.3 mL (range: 2-8 mL). The mean VAS score was reduced from 8 to 2.32. The anterior body height was increased from 1.7 cm to 2.32 cm. The kyphotic angulation was restored from 10.14 degrees to 2.32 degrees. There were no complications noted. CONCLUSION: The clinical and radiologic outcomes suggest that additional PVP is effective for relieving pain and restoring the vertebral body in patients who have unrelieved pain after their initial PVP. Our study demonstrates that additional PVP performed at the previously-treated vertebral levels could provide therapeutic benefit.
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Osteoporotic patients who undergo percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) have the risk of a repeated collapse of their adjacent vertebral body due to alteration of load transfer into the adjacent vertebral body. The authors have experienced a rare case of repeated osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (VCF) resulting in extreme multi-level PVP. A 74-year-old female developed severe back pain after slipping down one month ago. Her X-ray and MR images indicated a T11 VCF. She underwent successful PVP with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). Two weeks later, she returned to our hospital due to a similar back pain. Repeated X-ray and MR images showed an adjacent VCF on T12. A retrial of PVP was performed on T12, which provided immediate pain relief. Since then, repeated collapses of the vertebral body occurred 12 times in 13 levels within a 24-month period. Each time the woman was admitted to our hospital, she was diagnosed of newly developed VCFs and underwent repeated PVPs with PMMA, which finally eased back pain. Based on our experience with this patient, repeated multiple PVP is not dangerous because its few and minor complications. Therefore, repeated PVP can serve as an effective treatment modality for extreme-multi level VCFs.
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OBJECTIVE: Avascular necrosis (AVN) of the vertebral body is known as a relatively uncommon phenomenon in a vertebral compression fracture (VCF). The outstanding radiologic findings of AVN are intravertebral vacuum phenomenon with or without fluid collection. Several reports revealed that PVP or balloon kyphoplasty might be the effective treatment modalities for AVN. We also experienced excellent results when using PVP for the treatment of AVN of the vertebral body, and intend to describe the treatment's efficacy in this report. METHODS: Thirty-two patients diagnosed with AVN of the vertebral body were treated with PVP. We measured the pre- and post-operative anterior body height and kyphotic angulation. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to determine the relief of back pain. RESULTS: The anterior body height (pre-operative : 1.49 cm, post-operative : 2.22 cm) and kyphotic angulation (pre-operative : 14.47 degrees, post-operative : 6.57 degrees) were significantly restored (p<0.001). VAS was improved from 8.9 to 3.7. Pseudoarthrosis was corrected in all cases, which was confirmed by dynamic radiographs. Fluid collection was found in sixteen cases and was aspirated with serous nature. No organism and tumor cell were noted. CONCLUSION: PVP proved to be an effective procedure for the treatment of AVN of the vertebral body, which corrected dynamic instability and significantly restored the anterior body height and kyphotic angulation.
