Preliminary Clinical Experience of Anterior Cervical Interbody Fusion with the AMSLU(TM) Cage

OBJECTIVE: The authors investigate the effectiveness and the demerits of the AMSLU(TM) cervical cage used in cervical spinal fusion for correction of cervical degenerative disc disease. METHODS: A total of 19 patients with cervical degenerative disc disease underwent anterior microdiscectomy and the AMSLU(TM) cage fusion. We made a retrospective comparative analysis between cases using the AMSLU(TM) cage and the classical autogenous iliac crest graft(AICG) with plate fixation about operative time, blood loss and hospital stay. The patient's neurological and functional outcomes were assessed on the basis of the modified Odom's criteria. RESULTS: The use of the AMSLU(TM) cage was found to save operative time(mean, 153+/-52min: P=0.004) and blood loss(mean, 236+/-171cc: P=0.032) as compared with the use of AICG. There was no donor-site complications and all patients were tolerable to ambulation at 1 day postoperatively. The patient's clinical success rate was 89% on discharge and 84% at 6 months postoperatively. CONCLUSION: The use of the AMSLU(TM) cage provides several advantages: no donor-site complications, brief instrument procedures, short operative time, small amount of blood loss and satisfactory clinical success rate. But it also has many limitations: short follow up period, kyphotic change and subsidence. Further investigations and clinical applications are necessary to use AMSLU(TM) cage in cases of spondylolisthesis and traumatic cervical disease.

Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome Following Intravenous Chemotherapy for Medulloblastoma in a Child

Posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome(PLES) is a rare neurological complication which is associated with malignant hypertension, pre-eclampsia, and some drugs including immunosuppressive agents. A 9-year-old boy who had cerebellar medulloblastoma showed seizure on the seventeenth day after intravenous chemotherapy including ACNU and vincristine. Radiologic findings were consistent with those of PLES due to vasospasm. After hypertensive therapy, the symptoms were improved. We present a case of PLES with medulloblastoma which developed following chemotherapy with the regimen of medulloblastoma in a child.