Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: From the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) to the Italian Neurosurgical Society (SINch) Recommendations

Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is a progressively growing pathology to afford by a spinal surgeon due to the aging of the population, associated with better treatment management and the best diagnosis and treatment solutions are greatly discussed. Nowadays that scientific literature is progressively increasing to identify the gold standard in diagnosis and treatment can be very challenging. This is particularly evident in spinal surgery with many different indications not only in different countries but also in the same local reality. In this scenario, many neurosurgical societies works to identify some guideline or recommendations to help spinal surgeons in daily practice. Furthermore, in an era in which legal issues are increasingly present in clinical practice to have some indications globally accepted can be very useful. World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) few years ago starts this process creating a list of recommendations originating from a worldwide steering committee to respect all the local reality. The spinal section of Italian Neurosurgical Society decides to adopt the WFNS recommendations with some revision basing on Italian scenario. The steering committee of the Spinal Section of Italian Neurosurgical Society identify 7 groups to review the literature of the last 10 years about different topics on CSM and to analyses the WFNS recommendations to adapt it to the Italian daily practice. The statements were discussed and voted in 2 sessions to obtain the final version. A list of recommendations on natural course and clinical presentation; diagnostic tests; conservative and surgical treatment; anterior, posterior and combined surgical treatment; role of neurophysiological monitoring and follow-up and outcome was created with only few new or revised statements respect the ones of WFNS. The Spine Section of Italian Neurosurgical Society create a list of recommendations that represent the more contemporary treatment concepts for CSM as presented in the highest quality clinical literature and best clinical practices available on this subject.

Ceramic bone graft substitute (Mg-HA) in spinal fusion: A prospective pilot study.

Background: Iliac crest bone graft (ICBG) is considered the gold standard for spine surgical procedures to achieve a successful fusion due to its known osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties. However, complications related to harvesting procedure and donor site morbidity have been largely reported in the literature, favoring the development of a wide range of alternative products to be used as bone graft extenders or substitutes for spine fusion. Among all, ceramic-based biomaterials have been widely studied and employed in the last years as bone graft substitutes. Methods: We report here the results of a prospective pilot study aimed to evaluating the grade of ossification obtained by the use of an Mg-doped hydroxyapatite (HA) product to achieve postero-lateral fusion in degenerative spine diseases. Results: Results show a successful degree of fusion of about 62% at the 12-month follow-up and an improvement of quality of life and health status following surgery, as evaluated by clinical scores (ODI, VAS, and EQ-5L). No adverse events related to the material were reported. Conclusion: The present pilot study shows the effectiveness and the safety profile of an Mg-doped HA bone graft substitute used to achieve postero-lateral fusion in the treatment of degenerative spine diseases, laying down the basis for further larger clinical investigations.

Different timing in allograft and autograft maturation after primary anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction does not influence the clinical outcome at mid-long-term follow-up.

PURPOSE: The use of allografts in primary anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is increasing although they are still supposed to be associated to greater risk of re-rupture due to a slower and less efficient graft maturation. The aim of this prospective randomized controlled study was to compare the graft maturation after ACLR with allograft and autograft by MRI at 6- and 12-month follow-up and integrate these data with the functional and clinical results observed at 6-, 12- and 60-month follow-up. METHODS: Fifty patients with indication to primary ACLR were randomly and equally divided into hamstring autograft or allograft tendon groups. The graft maturation was measured at 6- and 12-month follow-up by the SNQ score and other radiological parameters on MRI scans. Clinical and functional recovery was evaluated by Lysholm score, Visual Analogues Scale, Tegner activity scale and modified Cincinnati knee rating system at 6, 12 and 60 months after surgery to estimate the predictive value of the radiological parameters for clinical outcomes. Return-to-sport (ACL-RSI) was measured 60 months after surgery. RESULTS: Three patients had retear of the neo-ligament (two from Auto group and one from Allo group). All the clinical/functional parameters significantly improved over time, with no statistically significant difference between the groups. At 6 months, the SNQ value was significantly higher in the Auto than in the Allo group (12.9 vs 7.9, p = 0.038), but at 12 months they were comparable (9.8 vs 10.4). The 6-month SNQ values did not correlate with the clinical scores, whereas the 12-month SNQ values significantly correlated with the Cincinnati score, Lysholm score and Tegner activity scale collected at 60-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: No clinical or functional differences have been found between the two treatment groups, supporting the suitability of using allograft in primary ACLR, when available. The results at MRI scans showed a different graft maturation trend in the two groups, with allografts being more reactive in the first 6 months. MRI together with the subjective evaluation allows to evaluate objectively the status of the neo-ligamentization process and therefore helps the surgeon to dictate the individual time for return-to-sport. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I.

Gender-Specific Response in Pain and Function to Biologic Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Gender-Bias-Mitigated, Observational, Intention-to-Treat Study at Two Years.

Knee osteoarthritis is a major cause of disability worldwide. Newer modalities of treatment with less morbidity, such as intra-articular injection of microfragmented fat (MFAT), are showing promise. We report on our novel observation that women show a greater improvement in pain and function to MFAT than men. Traditionally, women have been underrepresented in studies and studies with both sexes regularly fail to analyze the results by sex. To mitigate for this bias and quantify it, we describe a technique using reproducible statistical analysis and replicable results with Open Access statistical software R to calculate the magnitude of this difference. Genetic, hormonal, environmental, and age factors play a role in our observed difference between the sexes. There is a need for further studies to identify the molecular basis for this difference and be able to utilize it to improve outcome for both women and men.

Patient-Centered Outcomes of Microfragmented Adipose Tissue Treatments of Knee Osteoarthritis: An Observational, Intention-to-Treat Study at Twelve Months.

INTRODUCTION: Microfragmented adipose tissue (MFAT) has been shown to benefit osteoarthritic patients by reducing pain and supporting tissue regeneration through a mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-related paracrine mechanism. This observational study of 110 knees assessed patient-centered outcomes of pain, functionality, and quality of life, analyzing their variation at twelve months following one ultrasound-guided intra-articular injection of autologous MFAT for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA). METHOD: Inclusion criteria were as follows: VAS >50, and the presence of KOA as diagnosed on X-ray and MRI. Exclusion criteria included the following: recent injury (<3 months) of the symptomatic knee, intra-articular steroid injections performed within the last three months, and hyaluronic acid injections prior to this treatment. Changes in VAS, OKS, and EQ-5D were scored at baseline and twelve months following a single intra-articular injection of autologous MFAT. Score variation was analyzed utilizing a nonparametric paired samples Wilcoxon test. The statistical analysis is reproducible with Open Access statistical software R (version 4.0.0 or higher). The study was carried out with full patient consent, in a private practice setting. RESULTS: Median VAS (pain) improved from 70 (IQR 20) to 30 (IQR 58) (p < 0.001); median OKS (function) improved from 25 (IQR 11) to 33.5 (IQR 16) (p < 0.001); and median EQ-5D (quality of life) improved from 0.62 (IQR 0.41) to 0.69 (IQR 0.28) (p < 0.001). No adverse events were reported during the intraoperative, recovery, or postoperative periods. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with all grades of knee osteoarthritis who were treated with intra-articular injections of MFAT, statistically significant improvements in pain, function, and quality of life were reported. Although further research is warranted, the results are encouraging and suggest a positive role for intra-articular injection of MFAT as a treatment for knee osteoarthritis.

Thumbs up: Imagined hand movements counteract the adverse effects of post-surgical hand immobilization. Clinical, behavioral, and fMRI longitudinal observations.

Motor imagery (M.I.) training has been widely used to enhance motor behavior. To characterize the neural foundations of its rehabilitative effects in a pathological population we studied twenty-two patients with rhizarthrosis, a chronic degenerative articular disease in which thumb-to-fingers opposition becomes difficult due to increasing pain while the brain is typically intact. Before and after surgery, patients underwent behavioral tests to measure pain and motor performance and fMRI measurements of brain motor activity. After surgery, the affected hand was immobilized, and patients were enrolled in a M.I. training. The sample was split in those who had a high compliance with the program of scheduled exercises (T+, average compliance: 84%) and those with low compliance (T-, average compliance: 20%; cut-off point: 55%). We found that more intense M.I. training counteracts the adverse effects of immobilization reducing pain and expediting motor recovery. fMRI data from the post-surgery session showed that T+ patients had decreased brain activation in the premotor cortex and the supplementary motor area (SMA); meanwhile, for the same movements, the T- patients exhibited a reversed pattern. Furthermore, in the post-surgery fMRI session, pain intensity was correlated with activity in the ipsilateral precentral gyrus and, notably, in the insular cortex, a node of the pain matrix. These findings indicate that the motor simulations of M.I. have a facilitative effect on recovery by cortical plasticity mechanisms and optimization of motor control, thereby establishing the rationale for incorporating the systematic use of M.I. into standard rehabilitation for the management of post-immobilization syndromes characteristic of hand surgery.

Pedicle screw insertion with patient-specific 3D-printed guides based on low-dose CT scan is more accurate than free-hand technique in spine deformity patients: a prospective, randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Screw misplacement incidence can be as high as 15-30% in spine deformity surgery, with possible devastating consequences. Some technical solutions to prevent misplacement require expensive devices. MySpineTM comprises a low-dose CT scan of the patient's spine to build a virtual model of the spine to plan the screw trajectories and a 3D-printed patient-specific guide system to prepare the screw trajectories and to implant the screws in the vertebrae in order to increase reproducibility and safety of the implants. The aim of this open-label, single-center, prospective randomized clinical trial with independent evaluation of outcomes was to compare the accuracy of free-hand insertion of pedicle screws to MySpineTM 3D-printed patient-specific guides. METHODS: Twenty-nine patients undergoing surgical correction for spinal deformity were randomized to Group A (pedicle screws implantation with MySpineTM) or Group B (free-hand implantation). Group A received 297 pedicle screws, and Group B 243 screws. Forty-three screws in Group A crossed over to free-hand implantation. Screw position was graded according to Gertzbein in grades 0, A, B or C, with grades 0 or A considered as "safe area." Total fluoroscopy dose and time were compared in six patients of each group. RESULTS: Comparing the two study groups, we observed a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p < 0.05), with 96.1% of screws in the "safe area" in Group A versus a 82.9% in Group B. Group-A patients had a mean effective dose of 0.23 mSv compared to 0.82 mSv in Group B. Patient-specific, 3D-printed pedicle screw guides increase safety in a wide spectrum of deformity conditions. In addition, the total radiation dose is reduced, even considering the need of a low-dose preoperative CT for surgical planning. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: I. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.

Endplate lesions in the lumbar spine: a novel MRI-based classification scheme and epidemiology in low back pain patients.

PURPOSE: The aims of the study were to introduce a classification scheme for endplate lesions based on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and to detect possible associations between endplate lesions and other variables such as age, sex, disc degeneration and Modic changes in a large population. METHODS: MRI images of 996 low back pain patients were collected. All intervertebral spaces were classified as "normal", "wavy/irregular", "notched", "Schmorl's node" and "fracture". The associations between endplate lesions and age, sex, disc degeneration and Modic changes were determined in the considered population. RESULTS: The most common endplate lesions were "notched" and "Schmorl's nodes". The prevalence was higher among the male subjects. In most patients (62.8%), no endplate lesions were detected, with a significant difference between male (57.5%) and female subjects (67.9%) (p < 0.001). Lesions were found to be associated with intervertebral disc degeneration (relative risk 2.49) and signal alterations (relative risk 3.08). Fleiss kappas of 0.73 and 0.89 were, respectively, assessed for the inter- and intra-observer reliabilities of the new classification system. CONCLUSIONS: Endplate lesions were detected, classified with a novel scheme and analysed in a large population of patients suffering from low back pain based on MRI images. The reliability of the novel classification system was demonstrated. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.

A functional limitation to the lower limbs affects the neural bases of motor imagery of gait.

Studies on athletes or neurological patients with motor disorders have shown a close link between motor experience and motor imagery skills. Here we evaluated whether a functional limitation due to a musculoskeletal disorder has an impact on the ability to mentally rehearse the motor patterns of walking, an overlearned and highly automatic behaviour. We assessed the behavioural performance (measured through mental chronometry tasks) and the neural signatures of motor imagery of gait in patients with chronic knee arthrosis and in age-matched, healthy controls. During fMRI, participants observed (i) stationary or (ii) moving videos of a path in a park shown in the first-person perspective: they were asked to imagine themselves (i) standing on or (ii) walking along the path, as if the camera were "their own eyes" (gait imagery (GI) task). In half of the trials, participants performed a dynamic gait imagery (DGI) task by combining foot movements with GI. Behavioural tests revealed a lower degree of isochrony between imagined and performed walking in the patients, indicating impairment in the ability to mentally rehearse gait motor patterns. Moreover, fMRI showed widespread hypoactivation during GI in motor planning (premotor and parietal) brain regions, the brainstem, and the cerebellum. Crucially, the performance of DGI had a modulatory effect on the patients and enhanced activation of the posterior parietal, brainstem, and cerebellar regions that the healthy controls recruited during the GI task. These findings show that functional limitations of peripheral origin may impact on gait motor representations, providing a rationale for cognitive rehabilitation protocols in patients with gait disorders of orthopaedic nature. The DGI task may be a suitable tool in this respect.

Dissecting the neurofunctional bases of intentional action.

Here we challenge and present evidence that expands the what, when, and whether anatomical model of intentional action, which states that internally driven decisions about the content and timing of our actions and about whether to act at all depend on separable neural systems, anatomically segregated along the medial wall of the frontal lobe. In our fMRI event-related paradigm, subjects acted following conditional cues or following their intentions. The content of the actions, their timing, or their very occurrence were the variables investigated, together with the modulating factor of intentionality. Besides a shared activation of the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) for all components and the SMA proper for the when component, we found specific activations beyond the mesial prefrontal wall involving the parietal cortex for the what component or subcortical gray structures for the when component. Moreover, we found behavioral, functional, anatomical, and brain connectivity evidence that the self-driven decisions on whether to act require a higher interhemispheric cooperation: This was indexed by a specific activation of the corpus callosum whereby the less the callosal activation, the greater was the decision cost at the time of the action in the whether trials. Furthermore, tractography confirmed that the fibers passing through the callosal focus of activation connect the two sides of the frontal lobes involved in intentional trials. This is evidence of non-unitary neural foundations for the processes involved in intentional actions with the pre-SMA/ACC operating as an intentional hub. These findings may guide the exploration of specific instances of disturbed intentionality.

Solid bone tumors of the spine: Diagnostic performance of apparent diffusion coefficient measured using diffusion-weighted MRI using histology as a reference standard.

PURPOSE: To assess the diagnostic performance of mean apparent diffusion coefficient (mADC) in differentiating benign from malignant bone spine tumors, using histology as a reference standard. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences have good reliability in evaluating spinal bone tumors, although some features of benign and malignant cancers may overlap, making the differential diagnosis challenging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In all, 116 patients (62 males, 54 females; mean age 59.5 ± 14.1) with biopsy-proven spinal bone tumors were studied. Field strength/sequences: 1.5T MR system; T1 -weighted turbo spin-echo (repetition time / echo time [TR/TE], 500/13 msec; number of excitations [NEX], 2; slice thickness, 4 mm), T2 -weighted turbo spin-echo (TR/TE, 4100/102 msec; NEX, 2; slice thickness, 4 mm), short tau inversion recovery (TR/TE, 4800/89 msec; NEX, 2; slice thickness, 4 mm, IT, 140 msec), axial spin-echo echo-planar diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) (TR/TE 5200/72 msec; slice thickness 5 mm; field of view, 300; interslice gap, 1.5 mm; NEX, 6; echo-planar imaging factor, 96; no parallel imaging) with b-values of 0 and 1000 s/mm², and 3D fat-suppressed T1 -weighted gradient-recalled-echo (TR/TE, 500/13 msec; slice thickness, 4 mm) after administration of 0.2 ml/kg body weight gadolinum-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid. Two readers manually drew regions of interest on the solid portion of the lesion (hyperintense on T2 -weighted images, hypointense on T1 -weighted images, and enhanced after gadolinium administration on fat-suppressed T1 -weighted images) to calculate mADC. Histology was used as the reference standard. Tumors were classified into malignant primary tumors (MPT), bone metastases (BM), or benign primary tumors (BPT). Statistical tests: Nonnormality of distribution was tested with the Shapiro-Wilk test. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-test with Bonferroni correction were used. Sensitivity and specificity of the mADC values for BM, MPT, and BPT were calculated. Approximate receiver operating characteristic curves were created. Interobserver reproducibility was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS: The mADC values of MPT (n = 35), BM (n = 65), and BPT (n = 16) were 1.00 ± 0.32 (0.59-2.10) × 10-3 mm2 /s, 1.02 ± 0.25 (0.73-1.96) × 10-3 mm2 /s, 1.31 ± 0.36 (0.83-2.14) × 10-3 mm2 /s, respectively. The mADC was significantly different between BPT and all malignant lesions (BM+MPT) (P < 0.001), BM and BPT (P = 0.008), and MPT and BPT (P = 0.008). No difference was found between BM and MPT (P = 0.999). An mADC threshold of 0.952 × 10-3 mm2 /s yielded 81.3% sensitivity, 55.0% specificity. Accuracy was 76% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 63.9%-88.1%). Interobserver reproducibility was almost perfect (ICC = 0.916; 95% CI = 0.879-0.942). CONCLUSION: DWI with mADC quantification is a reproducible tool to differentiate benign from malignant solid tumors with 76% accuracy. The mADC values of BPT were statistically higher than that of malignant tumors. However, the large overlap between cases may make mADC not helpful in a specific patient. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;47:1034-1042.

Organ doses and lifetime attributable risk evaluations for scoliosis examinations of adolescent patients with the EOS imaging system.

PURPOSE: The goal of this work is to evaluate organ doses and lifetime attributable risk of cancer incidence and mortality in scoliosis examinations of adolescent patients performed with EOS imaging system, in order to optimize patient dose and protocols. METHODS: An anthropomorphic phantom of a normal patient, with thermoluminescent dosimeters in correspondence with the main organs at risk, was imaged with both EOS and computed radiography (CR). For each modality, effective dose was calculated from the measured organ doses. Lifetime attributable risk was computed accordingly to the Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII) and Public Health England (HPA) publications. RESULTS: Except for testes and eyes, which were excluded from the scan in CR protocol, for all the other organs the doses delivered with CR examination were higher than these delivered by EOS system. The effective dose in EOS examination (0.43 ± 0.04 mSv) is about two times less than the dose in computed radiography with anti-scatter grid examination (0.87 ± 0.09 mSv), and, consequently, also the cancer probability is lower (5.4 vs 9.7 number of any cancers induction cases per 100,000 person examined, for a 20-year-old male patient). CONCLUSIONS: The EOS system is efficient in limiting patient dose. The shielding of testes and the exclusion of eyes from the scan could allow to further reduce the dose.

Functional brain effects of hand disuse in patients with trapeziometacarpal joint osteoarthritis: executed and imagined movements.

The human trapeziometacarpal (TMC) joint has a crucial evolutionary importance as it permits rotation and opposition of the thumb to the other fingers. In chronic TMC joint osteoarthritis (i.e., rhizarthrosis), this motor ability, essential for pinching, grasping, and manipulating objects, may become difficult or impossible due to intolerable pain. Here, we assess whether patients with rhizarthrosis show signs of abnormal brain representation of hand movements. To this end, we studied 35 patients with rhizarthrosis, affecting predominantly one of the two hands, and 35 healthy subjects who underwent both behavioural and fMRI measures of brain activity during overtly executed or imagined thumb-to-finger-opposition movements. The patients with rhizarthrosis were slower than controls both in motor execution and imagination. In the patients, correlation between the motor execution and imagination times was preserved, even though such correlation was less strong than in normal controls. The fMRI measures showed reduced activation in the hand primary motor and dorsal premotor cortex for the patients only during explicit movements. This was true for both hands, yet more so for the most affected hand. No significant differences were seen for the motor imagery task. These results show that an orthopaedic disorder that reduces patients' motoric repertoire in the absence of any neurological impairment is sufficient to induce neurofunctional changes in the cortical representation of hand movements. The substantial preservation of motor imagery with its neural counterparts distinguishes the neurological patterns of rhizarthrosis from those of complete immobilization or amputation suggesting that motor imagery may be used to boost motor recovery in rhizarthrosis after surgical treatment.

A tug of war: antagonistic effective connectivity patterns over the motor cortex and the severity of motor symptoms in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.

We tested the hypothesis that Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) is characterized by perturbed connectivity within cortico-subcortical motor networks. To this end, we performed a dynamic causal modelling (DCM) analysis of fMRI data collected during a finger opposition task in 24 normal controls and 24 GTS patients. The DCM analysis allowed us to assess whether any GTS-specific patterns of brain activity were related to intrinsic and/or to task-dependent connectivity. While no abnormalities were found for task-dependent connectivity, intrinsic connectivity was abnormally increased in the premotor network, with stronger connections from the supplementary motor area (SMA), from the dorsolateral premotor cortex and from the putamen to the right superior frontal gyrus, an area where GTS showed over-activation in a previous univariate analysis. We also found a positive correlation between the connectivity strength from the right basal ganglia to the right primary motor cortex (M1) and disease severity measured by the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS). This pattern was mirrored by a negative correlation between the connection strength from the right SMA to the right area M1 and the YGTSS score. These two reverse correlation effects showed a specific relationship with individual disease severity: the greater the imbalance between subcortical and premotor connectivity towards area M1, the higher the YGTSS score. These results reveal the existence of perturbed intrinsic connectivity patterns in the motor networks of GTS patients with two competing forces operating in a tug of war-like mechanism: aberrant subcortical afferents to M1, compensated for by inputs from the premotor cortex.

Mental steps: Differential activation of internal pacemakers in motor imagery and in mental imitation of gait.

Gait imagery and gait observation can boost the recovery of locomotion dysfunctions; yet, a neurologically justified rationale for their clinical application is lacking as much as a direct comparison of their neural correlates. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured the neural correlates of explicit motor imagery of gait during observation of in-motion videos shot in a park with a steady cam (Virtual Walking task). In a 2 × 2 factorial design, we assessed the modulatory effect of gait observation and of foot movement execution on the neural correlates of the Virtual Walking task: in half of the trials, the participants were asked to mentally imitate a human model shown while walking along the same route (mental imitation condition); moreover, for half of all the trials, the participants also performed rhythmic ankle dorsiflexion as a proxy for stepping movements. We found that, beyond the areas associated with the execution of lower limb movements (the paracentral lobule, the supplementary motor area, and the cerebellum), gait imagery also recruited dorsal premotor and posterior parietal areas known to contribute to the adaptation of walking patterns to environmental cues. When compared with mental imitation, motor imagery recruited a more extensive network, including a brainstem area compatible with the human mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR). Reduced activation of the MLR in mental imitation indicates that this more visually guided task poses less demand on subcortical structures crucial for internally generated gait patterns. This finding may explain why patients with subcortical degeneration benefit from rehabilitation protocols based on gait observation. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5195-5216, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Incidence of greater trochanteric pain syndrome in patients suspected for femoroacetabular impingement evaluated using magnetic resonance arthrography of the hip.

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the incidence of greater trochanter pain syndrome (GTPS) in patients who underwent magnetic resonance arthrography (MRA) of the hip for a suspected femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome. METHODS: Hip MRA performed at our institution (3/2012-1/2014) were reviewed. The absence/presence of FAI (cam, pincer, and mixed) was noted. GTPS diagnosis was based on gluteus medius/minimus tendinopathy/tears, trochanteric bursitis, fascia lata thickening, and trochanter bone oedema/erosion. Subgroup analysis for age (under/over 40 years) and FAI type (cam, pincer, and mixed) was also performed. RESULTS: N = 189 patients were included (n = 125 males; age 39 ± 12 years). FAI was diagnosed in n = 133 (70, 4%): cam type, n = 85 (63, 9%); pincer type, n = 22 (16, 6%); and mixed type, n = 26 (19, 5%). N = 72 patients (38.1%) had tendinopathy, n = 14 (7.4%) had trochanter erosion, n = 31 (16.4%) had bursitis, n = 4 had bone oedema (2.1%), and n = 3 (1.6%) had fascia lata thickening, resulting in GTPS diagnosis in n = 74 patients (39.2%). The association of normal hip morphology/GTPS was significantly higher (P = 0.023) than that of FAI/GTPS. Under 40 years, GTPS incidence was higher in patients with normal hip and pincer-type FAI (P = 0.028). Over 40 years, no difference between patients with/without FAI (P = 0.119) was seen. CONCLUSIONS: GTPS was more frequently observed in patients with normal hip morphology than in patients with FAI, particularly in patients under 40.

When I am (almost) 64: The effect of normal ageing on implicit motor imagery in young elderlies.

Motor imagery (M.I.) is a cognitive process in which movements are mentally evoked without overt actions. Behavioral and fMRI studies show a decline of explicit M.I. ability (e.g., the mental rehearsal of finger oppositions) with normal ageing: this decline is accompanied by the recruitment of additional cortical networks. However, none of these studies investigated behavioral and the related fMRI ageing modifications in implicit M.I. tasks, like the hand laterality task (HLT). To address this issue, we performed a behavioral and fMRI study: 27 younger subjects (mean age: 31 years) and 29 older subjects (mean age: 61 years) underwent two event-related design fMRI experiments. In the HLT, participants were asked to decide whether a hand rotated at different angles was a left or right hand. To test the specificity of any age related difference in the HLT, we used a letter rotation task as a control experiment: here subjects had to decide whether rotated letters were presented in a standard or a mirror orientation. We did not find any group difference in either behavioral task; however, we found significant additional neural activation in the elderly group in occipito-temporal regions: these differences were stronger for the HLT rather than for the LRT with group by task interactions effects in right occipital cortices. We interpret these results as evidence of compensatory processes associated with ageing that permit a behavioral performance comparable to that of younger subjects. This process appears to be more marked when the task specifically involves motor representations, even when these are implicitly evoked.

A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of motor control in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome during imagined and executed movements.

The current study investigated the neural correlates of voluntary motor control in 24 adult Gilles de la Tourette (GTS) patients. We examined whether imagination and the execution of the same voluntary movement - finger oppositions with either hand - were associated with specific patterns of activation. We also explored whether these patterns correlated with the severity of the syndrome, as measured by the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) for motor tics. The presence of brain morphometric abnormalities was also assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Crucial to our experiment was the manipulation of the presence of an explicit motor outflow in the tasks. We anticipated a reduction in the ticking manifestation during the explicit motor task and brain activation differences between GTS patients and 24 age/gender-matched normal controls. The anticipated differences were all evident in the form of hyperactivations in the GTS patients in the premotor and prefrontal areas for both motor tasks for both hands; however, the motor imagery hyperactivations also involved rostral pre-frontal and temporo-parietal regions of the right hemisphere. The blood oxygen level-dependent responses of the premotor cortices during the motor imagery task were significantly correlated with the YGTSS scores. In contrast, no significant brain morphometric differences were found. This study provides evidence of a different neurofunctional organisation of motor control between adult patients with GTS and healthy controls that is independent from the actual execution of motor acts. The presence of an explicit motor outflow in GTS mitigates the manifestation of tics and the need for compensatory brain activity in the brain regions showing task-dependent hyperactivations.

Repair of osteochondral defects in the minipig model by OPF hydrogel loaded with adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

AIM: Critical knee osteochondral defects in seven adult minipigs were treated with oligo(polyethylene glycol)fumarate (OPF) hydrogel combined with autologous or human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), and evaluated after 6 months. METHODS: Four defects were made on the peripheral part of right trochleas (n = 28), and treated with OPF scaffold alone or pre-seeded with ASCs. RESULTS: A better quality cartilage tissue characterized by improved biomechanical properties and higher collagen type II expression was observed in the defects treated by autologous or human ASC-loaded OPF; similarly this approach induced the regeneration of more mature bone with upregulation of collagen type I expression. CONCLUSION: This study provides the evidence that both porcine and human adipose-derived stem cells associated to OPF hydrogel allow improving osteochondral defect regeneration in a minipig model.

Like the back of the (right) hand? A new fMRI look on the hand laterality task.

There is a common saying for expressing familiarity with something. It refers to our hands, and strangely enough, in English, one says to know something like the back of the hand, whereas in other cultures, for example, Italy, Spain and France, the same expression is with the palm. Previous behavioural data have suggested that our ability to visually discriminate a right from a left hand is influenced by perspective. This behavioural finding has remained without neurophysiological counterparts. We used an implicit motor imagery task in which 30 right-handed subjects were asked to decide whether a picture portrayed a right rather than a left hand during an fMRI event-related experiment. Both views (back and palm) were used, and the hands were rotated by 45° in 8 possible angles. We replicated previous behavioural evidence by showing faster reaction times for the back-view and view-specific interaction effects with the angle of rotation: for the back view, the longest RTs were with the hand facing down at 180°; for the palm view, the longest RTs were at 90° with the hand pointing away from the midline. In addition, the RTs were particularly faster for back views of the right hand. fMRI measurements revealed a stronger BOLD signal increase in left premotor and parietal cortices for stimuli viewed from the palm, whereas back-view stimuli were associated with stronger occipital activations, suggesting a view-specific cognitive strategy: more visually oriented for the back of the hand; more in need of the support of a motoric imagery process for the palms. Right-hand back views were associated with comparatively smaller BOLD responses, attesting, together with the faster reaction times, to the lesser need for neural labour because of greater familiarity with that view of the hand. These differences suggest the existence of brain-encoded, view-dependent representations of body segments.