Good long-term results for fusion surgery for high-grade spondylolisthesis
2010-09-13
(Press-News.org) A group of children who underwent fusion surgery for spondylolisthesis in the lumbar spine 30 years ago showed a clear reduction in back pain when followed up seven years later. A new study of these patients as adults has found that the benefits have lasted, reveals research from the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital presented this week at the International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT) annual international conference in Gothenburg.
Spondylolisthesis (forward displacement of a vertebra) in the lumbar spine occurs in 6% of the population and does not usually cause any problems. However, it can lead to back pain and/or sciatica, and in some cases the displacement is more pronounced, known as high-grade spondylolisthesis. The latest study is a long-term follow-up of around 40 patients with high-grade spondylolisthesis who underwent surgery as children to fuse the vertebrae together in order to prevent further movement and the risk of the symptoms worsening. From 1972 to 1985, patients' vertebrae were fused in situ with no attempt made to correct their position, due to the risk of nerve damage.
"There was debate about how patients might be affected by the back being bent forward as a result of the fusion operation," says Karin Frennered, PhD (Medicine), a researcher at the Department of Orthopaedics at the Sahlgrenska Academy and consultant at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. "This back position produces an unnatural gait, which could lead to problems in the longer term."
At the seven-year follow-up, however, patients reported low levels of pain and good function, and the same happened in the new follow-up study after almost 30 years.
"What's interesting – and remarkable – about the new study is that patients also describe low levels of pain, good function and high quality of life as adults despite the position of the back," says Frennered.
The researchers will now continue to examine the patients' posture, gait and X-rays in a bid to produce further scientific evidence for safe surgical techniques that can lead to better treatment strategies for these patients.
INFORMATION:
SPONDYLOLISTHESIS
Spondylolisthesis is where one of the lumbar vertebrae slips forward relative to the one below it. The condition occurs when children have their growth spurt. For unknown reasons, high-grade spondylolisthesis is more common in girls than boys. There are no known factors that can predict the risk of being affected.
For programme and further information about the conference: www.sicot.org
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2010-09-13
Today sees the presentation of a study that, for the first time, shows the results of treatment using prostheses attached to titanium implants in the bones of patients with above-the-knee amputations. It reveals that the treatment improves function and quality of life in nine out of ten patients, and is the result of research carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital that is being presented this week at the International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT) annual international conference in Gothenburg.
At a symposium ...
2010-09-13
Early childhood education can play a key role in relation to change when the world fails to adopt a sustainable approach economically, ecologically and socially.
This was highlighted at the World Congress "Children, citizens in a challenged world", which was hosted by the University of Gothenburg.
In a statement, the congress urges governments around the world to protect children's right to a childhood.
More and more people are realising that work with young children is a force for change in itself, towards creating a different society. Early childhood education has ...
2010-09-13
Sexual conflict is not only a human phenomenon. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg have shown that females of the rough periwinkle conceal their gender identity in order to avoid excessive copulation.
The females of most species of snail excrete a substance in their mucous trails that enables males to find them more easily, since they can distinguish between trails from females and those from other males. The males follow the mucous trails laid down by females in order to find a partner for mating. However, the females of one of the species studied (Littorina ...
2010-09-13
VIDEO:
This video shows UBR-box recognition of an arginine residue at the beginning of a protein (blue) targeted for degradation. The structural integrity of the UBR box depends on zinc (grey)...
Click here for more information.
Our bodies recycle proteins, the fundamental building blocks that enable cell growth and development. Proteins are made up of a chain of amino acids, and scientists have known since the 1980s that first one in the chain determines the lifetime ...
2010-09-13
The new Premier League season has begun and in Madrid the World Cup celebrations are barely over, yet according to research in WIREs Cognitive Science the world's best players may soon be facing a new challenge from football playing robots, which their creators claim will be able to play and beat a human team. The research reveals how building robots to play football is driving the development of artificial intelligence and robotic technology which can be used for roles including search and rescue and home help.
The author, Claude Sammut, from the ARC Centre of Excellence ...
2010-09-13
New findings from a major drug trial have brought experts a step closer to developing a drug which could prevent thousands of British deaths from heart attacks.
Dr Robert Storey, Reader at the University of Sheffield and Consultant Cardiologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, was the UK lead for international trials of a new drug, ticagrelor, which have been taking place over the last six years.
The new findings from one of these studies, the ONSET/OFFSET study, revealed that the platelet function in patients taking ticagrelor recovered much quicker after the drug ...
2010-09-13
Stroke patients who were left partially paralysed found that their condition improved after they received a simple and non-invasive method of brain stimulation, according to research in the September issue of the European Journal of Neurology.
Researchers from the Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, studied 60 patients with ischaemic stroke - where the blood supply is reduced to the brain - who had been left with mild to moderate muscle weakness down one side of their body.
Twenty of the randomly assigned treatment group received repetitive transcranial magnetic ...
2010-09-13
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms), MIT chemical engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more than a regular photovoltaic cell. Such nanotubes could form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays.
"Instead of having your whole roof be a photovoltaic cell, you could have little spots that were tiny photovoltaic cells, with antennas that would drive photons into them," says Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of ...
2010-09-13
Berkeley – Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a pressure-sensitive electronic material from semiconductor nanowires that could one day give new meaning to the term "thin-skinned."
"The idea is to have a material that functions like the human skin, which means incorporating the ability to feel and touch objects," said Ali Javey, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and head of the UC Berkeley research team developing the artificial skin.
The artificial skin, dubbed "e-skin" by the UC Berkeley researchers, ...
2010-09-13
Although overall mortality from cancer is decreasing in the European Union, its incidence increased by almost 20%, from 2.1 million new cases in 2002 to 2.5 million in 2008, says a special issue [1] of the European Journal of Cancer (the official journal of ECCO – the European CanCer Organisation) on cancer prevention, published today (Monday 13 September).
The current economic crisis threatens to affect cancer incidence in a number of areas, says a paper by Dr. José M. Martin-Moreno from the University of Valencia, Spain, and colleagues. Public donations to cancer ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Good long-term results for fusion surgery for high-grade spondylolisthesis