Neuroprotective Agents as an Adjuvant Treatment in Patients With Acute Spinal Cord Injuries: A Qualitative Systematic Review of Randomized Trials.

STUDY DESIGN: This was a systematic literature review. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate randomized clinical trials that address potential neuroprotective agents used to improve neurological outcome in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Clinical treatment of acute SCI has evolved significantly, but neurological recovery of severely injured patients remains modest. Neuroprotective agents may act to limit secondary damage in the sequence of pathophysiologic insults that occur after primary SCI. METHODS: We performed a systematic review in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines of all clinical randomized trials that evaluated potential neuroprotective agents (drugs, stem cells, and any type of medicative interventions) in neurological outcome of acute SCI. All the studies were graded according to their level of evidence in accordance with the Oxford Level of Evidence-based Medicine. RESULTS: A total of 16 randomized clinical trials were included and fully analyzed in our review. The following 12 substances/drugs were analyzed: methylprednisolone (MP), naloxone, tirilizad, nimodipine, Sygen, autologous incubated macrophages, autologous bone marrow cells, minocycline, erythropoietin, ganglioside, vitamin D, and progesterone. Modest benefits were attributed to minocycline and Sygen (without statistical significance), and some benefits were obtained with erythropoietin and progesterone plus vitamin D in neurological outcome. For MP, the benefits are also controversial and may be attributed to statistical artifacts and with a high risk of adverse effects. The other substances did not change the final outcome. All studies were considered as grade B of recommendation (100%) and levels of evidences as B2 (81.25%) and B3 (18.75%). CONCLUSIONS: Our review reported some potential substances that may improve neurological outcome in acute SCI: MP, vitamin D associated with progesterone, and erythropoietin. Their potential benefits were modest in the evaluated studies, requiring further randomized clinical trials with large samples of patients, without statistical artifacts, for routine clinical use. Furthermore, potential adverse effects must be considered with the use of neuroprotective agents in SCI. Until then, the use of these substances may be experimental or restricted to specific clinical situations.

Management of Type II Odontoid Fractures: Experience from Latin American Spine Centers.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze characteristics of type II odontoid fracture (TII-OF), including clinical and radiographic factors, that influence surgical planning in 8 Latin American centers. METHODS: Retrospective chart review was performed of 88 patients with TII-OF between 2004 and 2015 from 8 Latin American centers. Parameters studied included 1) demographic data and causes of TII-OF, 2) clinical and neurologic presentation, 3) characteristics of fracture (degree of odontoid displacement, displacement of odontoid relative to C2 body, anatomy of fracture line, distance between fragments, presence of comminution, contact area between odontoid and C2 body), 4) type of treatment, and 5) clinical and radiographic outcome. Bone fusion was assessed using computed tomography. RESULTS: Mean patient age was 45.33 years ± 23.54; 78.4% of patients were male. Surgery was the primary treatment in 65 patients (73.8%), with an anterior approach in 64.6%. Surgery was usually preferred in patients with posterior or horizontal oblique fracture lines, local pain, and a smaller bone contact surface between the odontoid and the body of C2. A posterior approach was chosen when distance between the fractured bone fragments was >2 mm or after failed conservative or anterior odontoid screw treatment in a symptomatic patient. CONCLUSION: The treatment of choice for TII-OF in 8 Latin American trauma centers was surgery through an anterior approach using screw fixation. Posterior segmental C1-C2 fixation was indicated when distance between bone fragments was >2 mm and in symptomatic patients with nonunion.

Prognostic parameters and spinal metastases: a research study.

OBJECT: To identify pre-operative prognostic parameters for survival in patients with spinal epidural neoplastic metastasis when the primary tumour is unknown. METHODS: This study was a retrospective chart review of patients who underwent surgery for spinal epidural neoplastic metastases between February 1997 and January 2011. The inclusion criteria were as follows: known post-operative survival period, a Karnofsky Performance Score equal to or greater than 30 points and a post-operative neoplastic metastasis histological type. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate post-operative survival, and the Log-Rank test was used for statistical inference. RESULTS: A total of 52 patients who underwent 52 surgical procedures were identified. The mean age at the time of spinal surgery was 53.92 years (std. deviation, 19.09). The median survival after surgery was 70 days (95% CI 49.97-90.02), and post-operative mortality occurred within 6 months in 38 (73.07%) patients. Lung cancer, prostate cancer, myeloma and lymphoma, the 4 most common primary tumour types, affected 32 (61.53%) patients. The three identified prognostic parameters were the following: pre-operative walking incapacity (American Spinal Injury Association, A and B), present in 86.53% of the patients (p-value = 0.107); special care dependency (Karnofsky Performance Score, 10-40 points), present in 90.38% of the patients (p-value = 0.322); and vertebral epidural neoplastic metastases that were in contact with the thecal sac (Weinstein-Boriani-Biagini, sector D), present in 94.23% of the patients (p-value = 0.643). When the three secondary prognostic parameters were combined, the mean post-operative survival was 45 days; when at least one was present, the survival was 82 days (p-value = 0.175). CONCLUSIONS: Walking incapacity, special care dependency and contact between the neoplastic metastases and the thecal sac can help determine the ultimate survival of this patient population and, potentially, which patients would benefit from surgery versus palliation alone. A 2- to 3-month post-operative survival period justified surgical treatment.

Basilar invagination: craniocervical instability treated with cervical traction and occipitocervical fixation. Case report.

The upward odontoid displacement observed in basilar invagination (BI) is generally associated with a horizontal clivus and craniocervical kyphosis, conditions that exert ventral compression at the spinomedullary junction. Ventral brainstem decompression by reduction or elimination of the odontoid invagination is part of the desired treatment. The authors describe a case of BI in an adult, who was effectively treated with the easy and safe reduction of odontoid invagination via cervical traction. Normalization of kyphosis at the craniovertebral junction and the vertical position of both a previously horizontal clivus and the cerebellar tentorium demonstrated that these conditions were not part of the original malformation but instead were caused by a reducible craniovertebral instability.

Hemorragia subaracnóidea por aneurisma intracraniano / Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

A hemorragia subaracnóidea (HSA) espontânea é causada, na maioria das vezes, por ruptura de aneurismas cerebrais. Através de análise retrospectiva, estudou-se o perfil clínico de 253 pacientes com HSA. A ruptura de aneurisma cerebral representou 83,7 por cento das causas; outras etiologias foram aterosclerose e ruptura de malformaçoes arteriovenosas. Foram excluídos os casos de HSA por tumor e distúrbios da coagulaçao. O estudo angiográfico demonstrou, em 201 pacientes, um total de 222 aneurismas. O local mais freqüente foi a artéria carótida interna no nível da comunicante posterior. Vasoespasmo complicou a evoluçao clínica de 36 por cento dos pacientes e houve incidência de 26 por cento de ressangramento. Cento e setenta e dois pacientes foram submetidos à clipagem de aneurisma. O grau Hunt-Hess na admissao teve correlaçao positiva com o estado clínico dos pacientes no pós-operatório tardio. Resultados cirúrgicos satisfatórios foram obtidos em 130 pacientes (75,5 por cento)