ABSTRACT
Alkaptonuria is a rare autosomal recessive trait. Symptomatic lumbar disc herniation warranting surgical intervention is a rare scenario in alkaptonuria and only a few cases have been described in the literature. We present one such rare case of alkaptonuria in a 31-year-old female presenting with low back pain and left leg radiculopathy not relieved with conservative management. Roentgenograms of the lumbar spine revealed wafer-like disc calcifications and MRI showed a herniated disc at the L4-L5 level with deeply hypointense disc spaces in T2 suggestive of disc calcification and associated modic type 2 changes. During the surgery, the disc material removed was black in color, which raised a clinical suspicion of alkaptonuria. Postoperatively, the patient was re-examined and urine homogentisic acid was found to be raised. This, along with a histopathological examination, was diagnostic of alkaptonuria. The patient had excellent relief of symptoms postoperatively. In conclusion, if a 'black disc' is found during surgery, retrospective analysis and re-examination of patient clinical features and urine examination have to be done to diagnose alkaptonuria. While making a differential diagnosis of degenerative disc disease in patients with a calcified disc seen on radiography, a high index of suspicion for alkaptonuria has to be maintained.
ABSTRACT
STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to analyze the epidemiological parameters and associated factors after spinal cord injury (SCI) in children, in the last 14 years admitted at a tertiary care center (Indian Spinal Injury Centre [ISIC], New Delhi, India). METHOD: The demographic and injury-related data was analyzed descriptively. The incidence, type, and level of injury were compared across the age groups using a χ2 test. Wherever appropriate, Fisher exact test was used. RESULTS: There were 1660 pediatric trauma cases admitted at ISIC from 2002 to 2015, where 204 cases presented with spine injuries. The average age of children sustaining spine injury was 15.69 years (3-18 years of range). There were 15 patients in the age group 0 to 9 years, 27 patients in the age group 10 to 14 years, and 162 patients in the age group 15 to 18 years. This difference in spine injury incidence among the age groups was statistically significant. Fall from height was a common mode of injury. In our sample, boys were 3 times more likely to be injured than girls. Burst fractures were common among the type of injuries. CONCLUSION: Our study confirms the predominance of cervical spine injury and the high incidence of multilevel contiguous with a lesser percentage of noncontiguous multilevel spinal involvement. SCIWORA (spinal cord injury without radiological abnormality) incidences were in a similar context to the literature available. There was a very low incidence of death. Neurological improvement was seen in 8 operated cases and 4 conservatively treated cases.
ABSTRACT
Hyperextension injuries of lumbar spine resulting in lumbosacral dislocation are a rare entity. We report a case of a 60-year-old male who presented to us in outpatient department with history of trivial fall from bicycle with fracture through the pedicles extending from L2 to L5 with lumbosacral dislocation with free floating posterior elements with intact neurology. This is the first case report of 4 level extension compression injury with lumbosacral dislocation leading to floating lumbar spine to the best of author's knowledge. Treatment consists of reduction of the lumbosacral dislocation first and fusion of the disc space followed by reduction of the other fractures proximally. These injuries may present with a trivial trauma in spondylotic spine in elderly patients. MRI and CT scan should be done early to identify it, reduce and fix it, as in many cases with trivial trauma there may be no neural deficit.
