Intraoperative Neuromonitoring (IONM): Is There a Role in Metastatic Spine Tumor Surgery?

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective design. OBJECTIVE: We aim to report our experience with multimodal intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) in metastatic spine tumor surgery (MSTS). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: IONM is considered as standard of care in spinal deformity surgeries. However, limited data exist about its role in MSTS. METHODS: A total of 135 patients from 2010 to 2017, who underwent MSTS with IONM at our institute, were studied retrospectively. After excluding seven with no baseline signals, 128 patients were analyzed. The data collected comprised of demographics, pre and postoperative American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grades and neurological status, indications for surgery, type of surgical approach. Multimodal IONM included somatosensory-evoked potentials (SSEPs), transcranial electric motor-evoked potentials (tcMEP), and free running electromyography (EMG). RESULTS: The 128 patients included 61 males and 67 females with a mean age of 61 years. One hundred sixteen underwent posterior procedures; nine anterior and three both. The frequency of preoperative ASIA Grades were A = 0, B = 0, C = 10, D = 44, and E = 74 patients. In total, 54 underwent MSTS for neurological deficit, 66 for instability pain, and 8 for intractable pain.Of 128 patients, 13 (10.2%) had significant IONM alerts, representing true positives; 114 true negatives, one false negative, and no false positives. Among the 13 true positives, four (30%) underwent minimally invasive and nine (70%) open procedures. Eight (69.2%) patients had posterior approach. Seven (53.84%) true positive alerts were during decompression, which resolved to baseline upon completion of decompression, while five (38.46%) were during instrumentation, which recovered to baseline after adjusting/downsizing the instrumentation, and one (8.3%) during lateral approach, which reversed after changing the plane of dissection. Of the seven patients without baseline, five were ASIA-A and two were ASIA-C. The sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values were 99.1%, 100%, 100%, and 92.9%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Multimodal IONM in MSTS helped in preventing postoperative neurological deficit in 9.4% of patients. Its high sensitivity and specificity to detect intraoperative neurological events envisage its use in ASIA-grade D/E patients requiring instrumented decompression. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.

Long-term outcomes of patients admitted with heart failure in a tertiary care center in India.

There are limited studies on heart failure in Indian population OBJECTIVE: Present study aimed to assess the in-hospital 90-day and two year outcomes in patients with ischemic (IHD-HF) and non ischemic heart failure (NIHD-HF). METHODS: Patients with NYHA Class III & IV, who were admitted to our intensive care unit with heart failure (HF), were evaluated and followed up for 2years. RESULTS: In our cohort of 287 patients, there were 192 (66.9%) males and 95 (33.1%) females. Patients were divided into IHD-HF of 180 (62.7%) patients and NIHD-HF of 107 (37.3%) patients. Mean age of IHD-HF group was 66 (+/-10) and in the NIHD-HF group was 61 (+/-11). Prevalence of HF increased with age in the IHD-HF population and there was no relation with age in the NIHD-HF population .Patients readmitted within 90days in the IHD-HF were 56% (n-101) and in the NIHD-HF were 32.7% (n-35) [p- 0.001]. Two- year recurrent admissions were 69.4% (n-125) in the IHD-HF patients and 52.3% (n-56) in the NIHD-HF patients, respectively (p-0.004). Mortality at 90days in the IHD-HF patients was 26.6% (n-48) and in NIHD-HF patients were 14.9% (n-16) [p- 0.021]. Two-year mortality was 42.3% (n-76) in the IHD-HF patients and 29.9%(n-32) in the NIHD-HF patients, respectively (p-0.037). CONCLUSIONS: HF in IHD-HF heralds a bad prognosis with recurrent hospitalizations and high mortality when compared to patients with NIHD-HF.

Management of Tuberculous Infection of the Spine.

Spinal tuberculosis accounts for nearly half of all cases of musculoskeletal tuberculosis. It is primarily a medical disease and treatment consists of a multidrug regimen for 9-12 months. Surgery is reserved for select cases of progressive deformity or where neurological deficit is not improved by anti-tubercular treatment. Technology refinements and improved surgical expertise have improved the operative treatment of spinal tuberculosis. The infected spine can be approached anteriorly or posteriorly, in a minimally invasive way. We review the various surgical techniques used in the management of spinal tuberculosis with focus on their indications and contraindications.

Systolic Pressure Gradients in Aortic Valve Stenosis by Continuous Wave Doppler Echocardiography

No abstract available.

A Simple Two-Dimensional Echocardiographic Sign of Tricuspid Regurgitation

No abstract available.

Experimental Study of Pressure - Velocity Relationship Across Stenotic Orifices by Continuous Wave Doppler Ultrasound

No abstract available.