Restoration of Thoracolumbar Spine Stability and Alignment in Elderly Patients Using Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MISS). A Safe and Feasible Option in Degenerative and Traumatic Spine Diseases.

Minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS), including percutaneous pedicle-screw fixation (PPSF), mini-open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (m-open TLIF), vertebroplasty, and stentoplasty, allows the preservation of neurological function and the restoration of spine stability, while reducing associated risks and complications. This study aimed to analyze the safety and efficacy of MISS in elderly patients suffering from degenerative or traumatic thoracolumbar diseases. Forty-five patients (28 females), with a mean age of 73 years (range 65-89), suffering from osteoporotic vertebral fractures (24), degenerative spondylolisthesis (15), and lumbar canal stenosis with instability and/or de novo scoliosis (6) were included.Twenty-one patients underwent PPSF and m-open TLIF. The remaining patients received PPSF without interbody fusion, and in six of these fenestrated screws were used for vertebral body cement augmentation.Functional evaluation was obtained with a visual analog scale (VAS) and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) pre- and postoperatively. Preoperative imaging included X-rays, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Patients were followed-up with X-rays, and a CT scan was also obtained at the last follow-up. Follow-up ranged from 6 to 59 months (mean 28 months). Follow-up CT scan documented intersomatic fusion in only 14 % of patients treated with m-open TLIF. Despite the high incidence of non-union, mean VAS and ODI scores showed a significant improvement, with a reduction of mean VAS from 9 to 4 and a reduction of mean ODI from 76.33 to 38.15 %. Only three patients developed postoperative complications. No patients showed neurological deficits.Minimally invasive spine surgery for degenerative and traumatic spinal diseases is a safe and effective treatment also in elderly patients.

Screening histories and contact with physicians as determinants of cervical cancer risk in Montreal, Quebec.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer (cca) is largely a preventable disease if women receive regular screening, which allows for the detection and treatment of preinvasive lesions before they become invasive. Having been inadequately screened is a common finding among women who develop cca. Our primary objective was to determine the Pap screening histories of women diagnosed with cca in Montreal, Quebec. Secondary objectives were to determine the characteristics of women at greatest risk of cca and to characterize the level of physician contact those women had before developing cca. METHODS: The Invasive Cervical Cancer Study, a population-based case-control study, consisted of Greater Montreal residents diagnosed with histologically confirmed cca between 1998 and 2004. Respondents to the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey and a sample of women without cca obtained from Quebec medical billing records served as controls. RESULTS: During the period of interest, 568 women were diagnosed with cca. Immigrants and women speaking neither French nor English were at greatest risk of cca. Most of the women in the case group had been screened at least once during their lifetime (84.8%-90.4%), but they were less likely to have been screened within 3 years of diagnosis. Having received care from a family physician or a medical specialist other than a gynecologist within the 5 years before diagnosis was associated with a greater risk of cca development. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide evidence of the need for an organized population-based screening program. They also underscore the need for provider education to prevent missed opportunities for cca screening when at-risk women seek medical attention.

Laparoscopic management of huge ovarian cysts.

Objectives. Huge ovarian cysts are conventionally managed by laparotomy. We present 5 cases with huge ovarian cysts managed by laparoscopic endoscopic surgery without any complications. Materials and Methods. We describe five patients who had their surgeries conducted in a tertiary care center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (King Fahad Medical City). Results. Patients age ranged between 19 and 69 years. Tumor markers were normal for all patients. The maximum diameter of all cysts ranged between 18 and 42 cm as measured by ultrasound. The cysts were unilocular; in some patients, there were fine septations. All patients had open-entry laparoscopy. After evaluation of the cyst capsule, the cysts were drained under laparoscopic guidance, 1-12 liters were drained from the cysts (mean 5.2 L), and then laparoscopic oophorectomy was done. The final histopathology reports confirmed benign serous cystadenoma in four patients and one patient had a benign mucinous cystadenoma. There was minimal blood loss during surgeries and with no complications for all patients. Conclusion. There is still no consensus for the size limitation of ovarian cysts decided to be a contraindication for laparoscopic management. With advancing techniques, proper patients selection, and availability of experts in gynecologic endoscopy, it is possible to remove giant cyst by laparoscopy.

High-risk human papillomavirus infection of the genital tract of women with a previous history or current high-grade vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with high-grade vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN-3). The prevalence of anogenital HPV infection in women with previously treated VIN-3 has not been documented yet. This cross-sectional study compared high-risk HPV DNA detection rates in women with past (n = 30) and current (n = 22) VIN-3 to those without current or past VIN (n = 86). HPV DNA was detected in vulvar and cervical samples with Hybrid Capture 2 (HC-2). Smoking was associated in multivariate analysis with current VIN-3 (odds ratio (OR) 8.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.0-8.2) and any VIN-3 history (OR 6.5, 95% CI 2.5-16.5). High-risk HPV DNA was found on the vulva of 64%, 33%, and 20% of women with current VIN-3, past VIN-3, and without previous or current VIN, respectively. After controlling for age and smoking, high-risk HPV vulvar infection was associated with cervical high-risk HPV infection (OR 8.6, 95% CI 2.8-26.5; P = 0.001). After controlling for age, HPV infection was more often multifocal in women with current VIN-3 compared to women with previous but no current VIN-3 lesion (OR 17.6, 95% CI 1.4-227.2). Multifocal vulvar HPV infection was detected in women with previous or active VIN-3. Longitudinal studies are required to determine if the multifocality of HPV infection on the vulva could explain the high recurrence rate of VIN-3.

Adjuvant therapy for patients with stage I papillary serous endometrial cancer.

Uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC) is an aggressive variant of endometrial cancer characterized by a high recurrence rate and poor prognosis. Several studies have demonstrated that UPSC has a tendency to manifest with extra-uterine disease, even for tumors which appear to be limited to the endometrium. The data on adjuvant chemotherapy for stage I UPSC are limited, and the available studies are generally under-powered to assess if chemotherapy improves survival. However, we believe that, patients with UPSC should receive complete surgical staging, including omentectomy and peritoneal biopsies, and then until the results of larger series or randomized controlled trials will be available, we feel that combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy is justified for all stage I UPSC.

Minimally invasive dynamic hip screw: prospective randomized trial of two techniques of insertion of a standard dynamic fixation device.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the safety and outcome of a minimally invasive technique for inserting a standard dynamic hip screw for intertrochanteric fractures. HYPOTHESIS: The use of standard plate in a minimally invasive technique is both possible and advantageous to patient outcome. DESIGN AND METHODS: Prospective surgeon-randomized blinded outcome clinical study comparing new technique to conventional technique. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Pain, operative time and mean hemoglobin drop in percutaneous hip fixation. RESULTS: The minimally invasive technique had significantly less blood loss (P < 0.001), operative time (P < 0.001) and a trend to less morphine use. CONCLUSIONS: Minimal invasive technique significantly reduces blood loss and operative time for fixation of intertrochanteric hip fractures without sacrifice of fixation stability or bone healing.

Coronary heart disease mortality in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia in 1989 and 1990.

Unfortunately, mortality statistics are not available for Saudi Arabia. In the absence of such data, this paper introduces data collected on the number of deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD), considered as a proportion of the total number of deaths, for patients in six hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, for each month of the years 1409H and 1410H of the Hijri lunar calendar. These proportions, the so-called proportionate mortality ratio (PMR), are categorized in terms of gender and age, and in terms of a three-level lifestyle variable; namely, rural, urban, or bedouin. The data were analyzed using logistic regression. As might be expected, female deaths from CHD are a lower proportion of total deaths than are male deaths from CHD. However, an interesting conclusion is that CHD seems to be a less prevalent recorded cause of death among bedouins than among rural or urban Saudis. Some possible reasons are discussed. The proportion of recorded CHD deaths is higher in winter months and generally increases with increasing age (except for the very old). This study suggests some hypotheses about the size of the future CHD incidence in Saudi Arabia; it a) indicates the urgent need for comprehensive data collection and b) suggests the need for an effective health care program.